Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 4 — page 166: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

636 When the breakfast dishes had been done Margaret May shifted wigs and attended her devotions. Irwin sat in the same chapel, but aloof from her. One thing at a time was his motto. At the close of the service he did not exercise the traditional privilege of a ‘‘ steady,” and escort her home from church. At exactly half past three that afternoon he opened the Rogers’s front gate and made his way around the house toward the back porch, where the wisteria blossoms hung over Margaret May’s black-wigged head, and a4 scorching sun had usurped the romantic moon. The squeak of his shoes heralded his com- ing, and Margaret May smoothed her black silk in anticipation. He turned the corner, and approached the back porch with out- stretched hand. ‘Here! I’ve brought something for you,” he said, as he extended a filled paper bag. ‘Oh, thanks,” said Margaret May. Like the Saturday night serenades, this formula of Sunday-afternoon greeting had known no change in eleven years. The pre- sentation, acceptance, and the form of gift had remained the same. Romance had been served good and proper. | “Sit down,” invited Margaret May. “Hot, ain’t it?’ said Irwin, as he ac- cepted a seat. “Ves,” admitted Margaret May. There is no need of reporting in detail the conversation. It was meager, stilted, and by rote. Monosyllabic assents and dis- sents, time-honored discussion of weather and crops, careful avoidance of personalli- ties, robber it of any interest except to the two who talked. Eleven years of repe- tition had not varied it nor made it stale. It was exactly such conversation as ro- mance has been served with these many years. The paper bag is deserving of far more attention. For eleven years such prosaic containers had brought Margaret May con- crete evidence of her lover’s regard; they had held during that period protestations of his interest and sincerity; they had been guerdons of his constancy. Margaret May was very fond of the THE ARGOSY. paper bags, not for what they eontained, but for what they meant. For eleven years Irwin had purchased each Saturday night from the Twitcham general store these paper bags filled with his gifts. His selection never varied. The storekeeper had grown so used to his habit that he kept the confections ready weighed and waiting for his weekly customer. The bag always contained candy motto hearts. The saccharine comfits were pungent of such strong flavorings as sassafras and birch, colored in pale pinks and bilious yellows, and bore succinct declarations, eco- nomical of expression and letters. ‘““May I C U Home?” “I Want 2 B URS”; “Will U B Mine?” “U R My Ideal,” “‘ My Heart Beats 4 U;” so ran the legends on the hearts. whole language of love, the whole gamut of affectionate vocabulary. The ingenious condensations, pithy and direct, made a complete lexicon of amours. Search as you will the code of romance, none of its essen- tials was missing on those candy carriers of Cupid’s creed. For eleven years Irwin had heaped these declarations in the lap of the coy Margaret May, and for eleven years she had accepted them modestly and with gracious thanks. They had played long at the game, and its rules had never changed. So again, for the ae hundred and SEV- enty-second time, Margaret May emptied the paper bag in her black silk lap and be- gan her Sabbath compilation of the lan- guage of romance. Every Sunday for eleven years she had sorted the hearts into neat piles, each pile containing only those with the same motto. When the classification had been completed she had tabulated the result., For eleven years the score had stood very much like this: Twenty: ‘““ May I C U Home’s?”’ Thirty-two: ““U R My’ Ideal’s.”’ Twenty-eight: “ My Heart Beats 4 U’s.” But never in the eleven years had there been a stack of hearts devoted to direct dec- laration of love or to propounding the cul- minating question of romance. But romance will be served, all the same. There was the JOO (C(O) SJ (CC)