The villagers were not wont to waste time on the printed word;
in fact, such was the profundity of their unenlightenment, few of them
had heard of the magazine with a name beginning with "A." Even John
Graham paid little attention to the secular periodicals; besides, if
absolutely necessary, John's attention might be diverted.
So Melinda went away on a visit. Her health demanded it. The doctor was
unable to name her malady, but she herself diagnosed it as
_magazinitis_.
Toward fall Melinda, entirely recovered, returned to Mossdale. Entirely
recovered, yet she turned cold, unseeing eyes on the newsboy when he
passed through the car with his towering load of varicolored
periodicals, and rather than be forced to the final resort of the
unaccompanied traveler, she welcomed the advent of an acquaintance
possessed of volubility of an ejaculatory, eruptive variety. After many
gentle jets and spurts of gossip much remained to be told, as the lady
hastily gathered up her impedimenta preparatory to alighting at her home
station.
"How like me in the joy of seeing you, to forget! What a sweet, clever
story! And to think of _you_ having something published in 'A----'! I
never was more surprised than when Mr. Ferguson brought home the
magazine. Those delicious Mossdale people! I could not endure that the
dear things should not see and know at once.
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