Flower of the Dusk

he G

mer E

nches to murmuring and hushed the incoming tide as it swept up to the waiting shore. Out in the illimitable darkness of the East, g

iry lamp-bearers starred the night with glimmering radiance, faintly seen afar. A cricket

rangely brought back after all the intervening years, lay beside the book. The ink was faded and the paper was ye

four days? In one day, Columbus found a world. In another, electricity was discovered. In one day, one hour, even, some immeasurable force moving according to unseen law

rring

lived on. The grave was closed against it, and in neither heaven nor hell could it find an abiding-place. Ghostly and forbidding, it had sent Constance to haunt Miriam's troubled sleep, it had f

ow across the way said "come." The sword that had lain, keen-edged and cruel, between Constance a

y, changing face had come between his eyes and the musty pages of his law books, while the disturbing Bascom pup cav

the room. Preoccupied and absorbed, he was staring vacantly out of the window, when

ndous

deaf and dumb and practically paralysed. Your pa was the same way. Reckon I'll read a piece myself and

a curiously unsympathetic voice which gra

rich as a draught of poppies to intoxicate me-write the softest words and kiss them, that I may at least touch my lips where yours have been. For myself, I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form; I want a

'll be made into a butterfly. Your pa couldn't have been far from bein' a butterfly when he bought this b

o the light. She read it through, calmly, without haste or excitement. Roger's hand

ent's

attie took off her spectacles and leaned back in her chair

as a

. Your pa was crazy-as crazy as a loon. What with buyin' books so steady and readin'

maybe get it printed. I knew he set great store by books, but it comes to me as a shock that he was allowin' to write 'em. Some of the time he s

for his breakfast every mornin'. I told him humans couldn't expect to live on horse-feed, but, la sakes! He never paid n

ed her, in a forced voice. He coul

n' as this. I found it once when I was cleaning, but I never paid no more attention to it. I surmised it was somethin' he was copyin' out of another book that he'd b

ght to her from the post-office that same night, and began to read. Roger sat back in his chair with his eyes closed, meditating upon t

r Tu

n she got another chair and moved the lamp closer. At last she clucked sharply w

he matter

said, fretfully. "I can see a lot be

ou wipe

t's a wonder the polish ain

eyes instead of wearing the

he more I can't see. The further away they are, the bet

on't you ta

d more'n twice as much for my gold-bowed ones, that I ain't goin' to use 'em and get the benefit of 'em? Your pa

yes may have changed

attie'

cracked mirror. She studied the offending orbs by the li

Your pa bought 'em for me soon after you commenced readin' out of a reader, and they're just as good as they ever was. It must be the oil. I

ead it to y

t know. Do y

if you wa

ew story, because I'm more'n

t off, Mother. It doesn't make

of it. I'd like for you to en

I've always been fond of books. If there's

This is the place: 'With a terrible scream, Crystal sprang toward the

Si

ho was only sixteen, and engaged to a floor-walker in 'one of the great city's finest emporiums of trade.'

t lovely

all 'different,'" he t

by a rival suitor just after she had paid off the mortgage by sav

't think i

is always what you wouldn't expect. It's what mak

y yawned and tapped impatientl

o'C

ting her spectacles carefully upon

le afte

I've got to get up early in the mo

ight, M

long. Oil is t

ight,

ed on the wall near the match-safe, and close the green blinds that served the purpose of the more modern window-shades. Soon,

in the

enjoying the beauty of the night. Across the way, the little grey house seemed lonel

," mused Roger. "

fully toward the window, bent, and struck a match. Star-like, Barba

y was inextricably mingled with pain. "She

and his conscience repli

ned mind, versed in the intricacies of the law. The deprivations of the fathers need not always descend unto the childre

ours

aside before eleven o'clock. But, in two hours, she could have made little progress with her embroidery, and

Barbara took her crutches an

said. "I'm c

n was near the moonflower that climbed over the tiny veranda and was now in full bloom. The whi

ught Roger, with a pang, "

him a cool, soft little hand. "I b

st, but afterward it was

de better to-morrow. That's why I wanted to

with chill foreboding

and a few other things. They're going to see if I can't do without the

ped. "You mustn't

ble any more," she

t I meant. You

derfu

lf, and he says he is very sure that it will come out all right. And when I'm straight and strong and can walk, he's going to try to have father made to see. A fairy godmo

t bear it. I don't want you cha

e returned. Her eyes were laughing, but her voice had in it

ng-ever

ing lonely? Miss Wynne has promised that he shall never want for anything, and, at the most, it couldn't b

our place, but I'd try-God knows I'd t

ny 'if.' It's all co

y of

, seemed like those of a little child. Her deep blue eyes were lovelier than ever in the enchanted light-they had the calmness of deep waters

ked, with a little

ong time, and, after that,

d t

crutches! And if Daddy can see me-" she stopped, but he caught the wistfulness in her tone.

ou neve

s house and garden but once

out for a drive almost any time during the last eight years. She could have been lifted into a low carria

ides, I've been too busy, except Sundays. But sometimes, when I've heard the shore singing as the ti

if I hadn't been such

than

ays. You've given me the magic carpet of the Arabian Nights, only it was a book, instead of a rug. Through your kindness, I've travelled over most of the world, I've met many of the really

ng softly from an upper window. "You mu

o hint of impatience. "I forgot that we weren't

e reason, he could not bear ev

other and-your father. Of course we can't understand-we only know that they cared.

es. I hadn't t

rrier

held no wrong-no betrayal of another's trust. His father would not have done anything which was not absolutely right. The thought made him straighten hims

ow"-bega

rrow i

raight in. To-morrow is mine, but-will you come and stay with fa

ll, g

to do that for me again," she said, as she took them, "but there

a brief but valiant effort to recover his self-control, Barbara was standing at the

"my father loved your mother. For the sake of th

Good-night," she said, softly, but he could not answer, for, at the touch, the white fire