Flower of the Dusk

Le

aging P

aid to hope for any tangible results from Miss Wyn

f them even loo

bought anything. This young lady said she was busy just then, and she wanted to come up and look over all the t

it was too low,"

ted that it was equally possible for canary

e look?" que

siasm was not one of

id she

Linen, I

d material. Was her

have be

ey and is used to spending it for clothes. I'm sure she me

She didn't s

it

rbara, "all we ca

e down a jar or two of preserves. I wish you'd write to the people who left orders last year, and ask if they want preser

went cheerfully to work, with the aid of Aunt Miriam's s

y?" she asked, as she blotted

woman paid six dollars for once, do you remember? I've always

her e

easant, and I must say she has nice ways. She didn't make me feel like a ped

ything." Barbara threw back a golden braid impatiently, wishing it were copper-colour

r came in and sat down near her. "Mo

ng Le

his time. I'm jus

ou ever got any

in a while, you know, and after they go away, Aunt Miriam and I o

e changed. "Are y

ns. I have you and my books and my sewing and these letters to write, and I ca

u to be ha

make her voice even. "With you, and everythin

r quietly, and the blind man dre

ea

that you can walk and I can see. What do you

ttles, with a cupola of lovely glass arches, built on the white sand by the blue sea. Inside is a winding stairway hung with tapest

like a song

. Can't you ma

make our own. I ma

me, pl

Never

It is simply transferred from one person to another. Sometimes it takes a different form, and

s the colour upon the robin's breast, scents the orchard with far-reaching drifts of bloom, and scatters the pink and white petals

etime, somewhere, there has not been enough love. The balance has been uneven and some have had too much w

old; the more we give, the richer we are. And Heaven is only a place where the

ly, D

must come back to me sometime, somewhere. I th

are like your dear mother," he said, softly. "If I could know that she died loving me, and if I could see

ou, Daddy-I

Old

. Sometimes the old, torment

would never have me

and sick to death of the world and its ways, make him sure. When he thinks himself defeated, make him sure. When you see him tempted to swerve even the least from the straight path, make him sure. When the last parting comes, if he is lea

ng of

to pat her cheek and stroke the heavy braids of silken

he said. His fine old face illumin

for years upon that single strand of large, perfectly matched pearls which A

e pearls, dear? A b

e are al

day, Barbara. Your mother's was buried

give me an engagement

, dear. You are all I have, but, if you loved a

e yet, Daddy, so cheer up.

hey were laughing together like two children wh

l

leading, of longing so deep that it was almost prayer. Barbara finished her letters by the light of the lamp, while Miriam sat in the dining-room alone,

Then he went upstairs. Miriam came in and talked a few minutes of quilts, pic

which had come the day before, and she lacked the impulse, in the face of such discouraging prospects as Aunt Miriam had encountered at the

in the

he front window. Within twenty minutes Roger had come, entering the house so q

into the hall. "I'm not a burglar-only a struggling y

a, "that the Bascom li

be affected by another man's liver while y

losophy can account for," she replied, with a wicked perversion

of Judge Bascom's bull pup keeping regular office hours with us, but he has, ever since the day he waddled in behind the Judge with a small chain as the connecting link. I got so accustomed to his howling in th

tho

ity, that he did not desire for a pet anything which had to be tied up in order to be retained. He obse

?" laughe

rotherhood' and all the other 'hoods' are good English, I see no reason why 'pethood' shouldn't be used i

e size of the dictionary. However, we

to-day. Fido got an important legal document which the Judge had just drafted, and literally chewed it to pulp. Then he swallowed it, apparently with great relish. I was

ried Barbara, with

was long enough and complicated enough to make

Barbara, "and believes, with Macaulay, that 'a pa

u now, if you don't mind. I would fain improve mys

hat even you will enjoy talking to me," she returned,

ew

them until Sunday, when I was rummaging around up there. I haven't read them-I thought I'd make a list of them first, and you can choose those

t is

tters to Fa

deathless passion, were still warmly human and alive. Roger had a deep, pleasant voice, and he read well. Qui

lded

he was half-way through the volume; then, as he turned a

, in astonishment. "It'

is it-

ter like those in the book. It is all in pencil,

Le

her for the rest of our lives, with that consciousness between us. We must pass each other on the str

not say I am sorry. That one hour of confession is worth a lifetime of waiting-it

y a glittering sword. You will not be unfaithful to your pledge, nor I to mine. Nothing is changed there. It is only that two

he Great Light goes out. When the white splendour fades, we must be content with the misty gold of night, and not mind the shadows nor the great desolate spaces where not even

at one word holds it all and there is nothing more. As you can take your heart in the hollow of your hand and hold it, it is s

t both sun and stars are God's. Past the unutterable leagues that divide us now,

uld ask nothing more than to tell you once more, face to face and hea

isc

ly at the fire. Barbara's face was very

nge tone, "Constance was my

had not gone so far as her intu

milies have always lived here, in these same two houses where you

arr

w and terrible seemed to have sprun

is own words sounded dull and far awa

eventh," said Barbara, s

ngs, they tried to get back upon the old friendly footing again, but f

er it all and try to reason it out-try to discover if it were true. Barb

ntly, Roger went home, and was glad to be alone in the free outer air; but, long after he was gone, Barb