got a
perfectly horrible one from the very same place."

It was quite true, a very ugly and insulting thing it was, with the
same post-mark, El Monte, and furthermore, it transpired that there was
one for John and one for Jimmie in the same queer printed hand with the
same postmark! and as for Uncle Neil's--a foolish old man with a
fiddle--it was quite the funniest thing Christina had ever seen.

When John and Uncle Neil had received their insults and laughed over
them, there was much speculation. The family could scarcely eat their
supper through wondering who had sent them.

"El Monte," spelled John, spreading them all out on the table before
him. "Now, who is it we know in that place? I've heard somebody talk
about going there."

"Oh," cried Jimmie with one of his high-pitched yells, "that's where
The Woman went! Mrs. Johnnie Dunn's there for the Winter. That's
where her sister lives, I heard Trooper say so the other day."

The family looked at each other dumbfounded.

It surely could not be possible. The Woman had always been a faithful
friend of Mrs. Lindsay and it was hardly likely she would take all this
trouble to send such foolish messages to her family. Indeed Mrs.
Johnnie Dunn would think twice of the money before she spent it on such
nonsense.

"Indeed it would not be Sarah," declared Mrs. Lindsay as they argued
and speculated. "She would be far from doing such a thing. Maybe you
will find soon who it is."

But further light on the subject only went to fasten suspicion upon
Sarah. It appeared that the Lindsays were not by any means the only
ones in Orchard Glen who had received valentines from California.
There was such a rain of love's tokens upon the village on the
Fourteenth of February that Tilly and her father were nearly drowned in
the deluge and had to call in the aid of Mrs. Holmes and Aunt Jinny to
help keep their heads above water!

And the day after the Fourteenth was almost as bad, many having been
delayed, probably owing to congestion of the mails between El Monte and
Orchard Glen.

And every person in the village, almost, from Granny Minns to the
Martins' youngest and naughtiest child, received a valentine, a very
ugly and insulting valentine, too, from that place in California where
The Woman had gone to spend the Winter!

At first the universality of the insult was not recognised, as each
person strove to conceal his own personal injury. But neighbour began
to confi