Question about o henry's a midsummer knight's dream
In the story, o henry's describes the competition between two young men to win miss mary's heart:"It was all foolery—there was no stake; there was youth in it, cross reader, and light hearts, and something else that Miss Clay writes so charmingly about."
What does cross reader mean? And who is "Miss Clay" refering to?
Thanks

Question

Question about o henry's a midsummer knight's dream
In the story,  o henry's describes the competition between two young men to win miss mary's heart:"It was all foolery—there was no stake; there was youth in it, cross reader, and light hearts, and something else that Miss Clay writes so charmingly about."
What does cross reader mean? And who is "Miss Clay" refering to?
Thanks

Answer

Cross is used here as an adjective that means "annoyed". I assume Miss Clay refers to another contemporary writer who wrote about romance back then, but this is just a guess.