Old Rose and Silver

For more than an hour, Allison had worked continuously at one difficult phrase. Colonel Kent smiled

his care, yet, in the end, the mistakes had not mattered. Back in the beginning, he had formulated certain cherish

s career. "Look at his hands," she had said. "You couldn't put hands like his a

ltimate success. Just now, the Colonel was deeply grateful to Francesca, for the years abroad ha

head bowed. Before him was his own portrait, in uniform, his hand upon his sword. The sword itself, ha

rst, it gives no hint of its boundless possibilities. Grown to a river, taking to itself the water from a thou

may be built across its path, but they bring only power, as the conquering of an obstacle is always sure to do. Sometimes when the rocks and stone-clad hills loom large ahead, and eternity itself

or a path, of tempestuous nights and days of ice and snow, man and the

came down, rubbing his hands. "It's a little cool up there," he said, "and

fied," the Colonel returned. "Wh

reeze your nose one day and be obliged

rary table. Allison went over to the open fire and stood with his back to it,

t sitting her

unless you have something in

nk about than to be obliged to thin

, smothering a yawn. "Almost anyt

are you?" asked t

have my work. I wa

as the ground thaws out, I'll make a garden. A floral cat

ns for distinguishing betw

ngenious plan of the man who pulled up the plants and carefu

he change in temperature between the library and the dining-room,

o do this afternoon?"

t least until I get too

elieve in an e

in the big house. When they were abroad, he had managed to occupy himself pleasantly while Allis

ople to be happy in a large house; they need the cosiness established by walls not too far apart, ceilings not too high, and the necessary furniture

, "that perhaps this ho

we need fif

use of moving again just n

to move," retur

cy that Miss Rose could give us a few point

d Allison. "What charming neighbours they

the finest women I have ever had the good fortune to meet. Miss R

he oth

r mo

sudden throb of pain, Allison realised, for the first time in his life, that his father was an old man. The fine, strong face, outlined clearly by the pitiless afternoon sun, was dee

aving Madame Bernard's household in mind as the ultimate object, but

rry, lad," he said,

d shrugged his sh

little catch in his voice, "the house wi

looked like his mother. For an instant she l

ou wouldn't desert me even if I did

the Colonel smiled. "Do you mean that

assu

would

at I'm any prize to be wrangled over by the fair sex, individually or co

throat, tried to speak

he continued, with a s

manage a dinner party.

e Ber

e to be, but, if we did our best, it would be all right w

others, Miss R

ancesca didn't marry

t is deep enough

er husband,

little sadly. "How the years separate and destroy

to be named 'Francesca.'

'Marie Francesca.' So she has been 'Marie Francesca' ever since

so queer, either, when you come to think of it. Rose might have been named Abigail or Jerusha,

, but the expression of his face had not c

the theatre," he continued, irrelevantly, "because Aunt Francesca wants her guest to be amused. I'm also comm

expansive smile whom I've seen at the post-office a time or two. He usually

I'd like to see the little d

The boy is almost as tall as I am and

lled on Isabel, and perhaps, when she r

em up?" asked t

e last five or six years, and I'm of t

them to the

on. "All right, but we'll have to see

much more pleasant to entertain than it is to be enter

ay any time you want to, within reasonable limits. If you're ent

ht be better for us i

think it would be fun, t

in one sense, thou

s are wholly spoiled by the idea that there must be an equal number of men and women. One unco

s aren't over y

ope

Some new magazines had come in the afternoon mail and lay on the library table. He fingere

a couple of hours," said Allison,

, lad. I'l

upstairs, accompanied by a rhythmic tread as Allison walke

ying a heavy burden-the fear that Allison would marry and that his marriage would bring separati

aside. "While there's life, there's work," he said to himself. He knew, however, as he ha

they had studied plans together far into the night. As though it were yesterday, their delight at the real beginning came back. There was another radiant hour,

the hearth-stone, to light their first fire together; the day she came to him, smiling, to whisper to him the secret that lay beneath her heart; the long waiting, hal

nt of tuberoses, the rumble of wheels, the slow sound of many feet, and the tiny, wailing cry that followed them

ffering, never the suffering itself. When a sorrow is once healed, it leaves only a tender memory, to

isen from the dead. At such and such a time, we were happy, but we did not know it. In the midst of sorrow, the j

nter some mysterious fellowship. Gradually, he became aware of the hidden griefs of others, and from many unsuspected sources came consolation. Even tho

e countless masks of varying personalities, all hearts beat in perfect

it is that life must be nearly ove

gold-dust generously in corners that were usually dark, and the uncut magazine slipped to the floo

d so quiet that the young man leaned over him, a little frightened, to wait for t