“MR. DANUEL SHADRACH PLAISTED,”

and carried it herself to the post office.

As she passed the fish market her attention was attracted by some very fine shad displayed for sale, and they immediately suggested a further means of accomplishing her revenge, so she ordered a supply.

Dexie sought her mother directly she arrived home.

“Don’t you think we might ask Mr. Plaisted to dinner to-morrow, mamma?” she asked.

“Please yourself, Dexie; but if he is asked, you must see about the dinner yourself.  It will not do to trust Eliza to get up anything extra, you know.”

“The dinner shall be well served, but I have a favor to ask, mamma.  If Mr. Plaisted is present, will you praise or condemn the fish course—­at the table, I mean; praise it highly, or condemn it heartily.”

“Well, I cannot see your object in making such a request, Dexie,” said her mother in surprise, “but I will not be indifferent, if that is what you mean.”

The next morning, when Mr. Sherwood was drawing on his gloves to go to his office, Dexie followed him out to the hall, and as she brushed a few specks from his coat, asked: 

“If you see Mr. Plaisted this morning, will you send or bring him up to dinner; but don’t say that I told you to ask him?”

“Well, what’s in the wind now?  I thought you did not care for Mr. Plaisted’s society,” regarding her intently.

“An invitation to dinner does not mean that I have changed my opinion of him, does it?  He has been quite unbearable, so I’m going to ’heap coals of fire on his head.’”

The roguish gleam in her eyes, and the smile she could not conceal, made her father think that there was more in the invitation than he understood, and he surmised that the “coals of fire” were not absolutely figurative.

“All right!  I’ll see that he gets the invitation.  What shall I order for dinner?”

“Nothing, papa; I have everything ready for our expected guest, so don’t let him disappoint me.”

“Hum-m! there’s something up, sure enough; though I can’t see through it yet,” he said to himself as he walked thoughtfully away.

“So far, so good,” said Dexie, sotto voce.  “How I wish I could have seen Shadrach when he opened his valentine this morning!”

Dexie would have felt satisfied that her shaft had struck home had she seen Plaisted when he had “taken in” the contents of his valentine.

He had stepped into the office to mail Gussie’s valentine, and was much surprised when a beautiful envelope was placed in his hands.  It held something very sweet and delicate, no doubt, and as he turned aside he pressed it to his lips.

Observing the name of Shadrach, he felt sure it must have come from Gussie; no one else knew his second name, so she must have sent this sweet love-token.  It was hardly fair to write out his name in full; but, of course, it was only done to make known the identity of the sender.  He thrust it into his pocket and hastened to his hotel, where in the privacy of his own room he could enjoy it without interruption.  The loving words he expected to find were certainly there, yet as he read them a dark frown gathered on his brow: