“Of course! but Dan_u_el gave it as Samuel, and had to answer to the name of ‘Dan_u_el Sam_u_el’; but that was better than the changes they would have rung on my right name.”

Dexie was an unintentional listener to this explanation, and it did not raise Mr. Plaisted in her estimation.  It was so like him to treat another in a way he would object to himself; but after awhile the name came back to her, “Shadrach.”  Where had she seen or heard that name before?  “Shadrach; Shadrach,” she mused.  “I have it!” she said at last; “the ’Widow Bedott’!” and with the thought she flew up the stairs like a whirlwind.

Dexie was soon in the attic kneeling beside an old box filled with books and papers.  All housekeepers are apt to know by experience the state and condition of this box, and to possess its counterpart in some out of-the-way corner of the house.  After a diligent search Dexie was rewarded by finding a package of loose leaves which once formed a much-loved volume.  The very leaf she wanted seemed lost; but to her great joy a leaf, crumpled and torn, proved to be the object of her search.  She smoothed it out carefully, glanced over it, and then laughed softly to herself.

“Now it is my turn, ‘dear Shadrach, my Shad.’  With the help of ’Widow Bedott,’ I fancy I can impress this visit upon your mind quite as indelibly as your unwelcome visits in Halifax,” and she slipped the loose leaves into her pocket.

Still, as yet she had no definite plan in her mind as to how she would play her game of retaliation; but during the evening she heard her father inquire how long Mr. Plaisted intended to remain in the town.

“I leave the day after to-morrow,” Plaisted replied.  “I have an appointment in H——­ on the fifteenth.”

“Oh, to-morrow is St. Valentine’s day!” cried Gussie.  “I really had forgotten it.  You must send me a valentine to remember you by”—­this to Plaisted, who had seated himself beside her on the sofa.

“Am I likely to be forgotten without some reminder?” was the low-spoken reply.  “I was hoping something quite different.”

The mention of valentines gave Dexie an idea, and during the evening she visited several stores where these tokens of sentiment were kept for sale, but found nothing in the shape of a picture that would suit the verses of tender sentiment so touchingly expressed for her beloved Shadrach by the fair widow.

As she was returning home she passed a little shop, the windows of which were decorated with valentines of the one and two cent variety, and one of these caught her attention.  It was one of the most common sort, and showed in variegated colors a large fish with two tails for legs, two elongated fins for arms, on one of which was a basket containing some smaller specimens of its own species, while the other held to its mouth the melodious fish-horn that delights our ears every morning.

Purchasing this caricature of a shad, she pasted below it a version of the affectionate lines of Widow Bedott; then enclosing it in an elaborate envelope, she addressed it with many flourishes to: