Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1881-08-05
ROSE GERANIUM.

HATE bu6 OuOf
Harry Penryth dropped the tinv
spray of rose geranium which he held. |
and shudder crept over him. 1t was
on the wide, cool veranda of a large
hotel at one of the fashionable watering |
places, and his companion was Mrs.
Warburton, young and lovely widow |
She looked up into his handsome face
with peculiar glance from under her
long, black eyelashes.
"Why, Mr.. Penryth,". she cried,
gayly, "what an idea To hate a
flower /"
He tried to smile, but it ended in a
aI viii tell you, Mrs. Warnur'on, 9a''a %n1,
Le .3,g nT"I ,,naorstsnd me better. In the hrsU
Me- mia1 ovar since I can remember-eVen
when a child-the odor OF rose gera-
MUM causes curious sickenlng sensa-
tion to creep over me. 1 cannot uhder-
stand it it is sort of antagonlsm, or
repulsion, for which L fail to account.
Then later"
He paused, and far-away look stole
unto his dark eyes, as though recalling
the past leaf turned down on some
kpage of his life-history.
II IL had dear friend once" he went
I Ann after pause, Gear lriehu-
oayer had another. Gerald Brookes ane
IyT we're like brothers; moaerh ecu
q tiops of Damon and Pythlas they s use'
TO ~ a+od had no hopes or aspira
ledlfaVeo. -. - = ~-.-I ;s4.,seuinia I alv-ra
ssreSsse@ wi.h strange pang of jealous,
when at last, in the course of 49,, ~
5eraid fell in love. The Jadv raa nenes a.''
wnom he had met while trayal;ro S Qii' sn'
tne nrn which employed him. r 80 ~
pmet MISS Delorme, but I Iearno5 lev w u l
was the perfection of grace and beon3r ~ !.
an elegant and accomplished worao,, y ,
and wlthal, an arrant coquette. Sba
was heartless and unprincipled. and sat
about breaking my friends heart
co0fly, deliberately and systematicesS
Mrs. Warburton, that woman
certainly the murderess. ficn Cbrly
! B1ookss ss .saasa School Of 'was ..
5oa ~ oy5a iN,Sssis N,Sssisss&s f.&ss had slain him
him on with her false, a,' deseftssi deefti a
: and her glorious beauty, until he con.
2 fesSed his love and cast his heart. his
;, great, noble, manly heart, at her feet,
only to be laughed at and told scorn-
f1lly that she was on the eve of mar
rage with decrepit old millionaire.
: "Now Miss Delorme's favorite per-
INC iume-sO Gerald had told me-was rose
S5s Sis !eranium. She wore the flower fire.
nently; its scarlet spikes glowing in
can ayid relief in the braids of her let
any Jack hair. Somehow | came to asso-
oT our ate the two-the woman and the
we We ower-which | so unaccountably dis
zed, and feeling sprang up in my
nall sart for Miss Delorme which grew
:, ad hourished like the blossom itself-a
~ cling Of strong aversion.
Dor. And so time passed, and poor Ger
ID was daily fed with false hopes and il
With lsions until at last the blow fell. Had 7
:, zen in his place when the knowledge
Sio. her baseness came to me l should
ave spurned her as I would noxious
ad. sptile from my path but Gerald was
nch ot made of as stern stuff as [ am, and
lees tts he could not recover from the shock.
lh ! Mrs. Warburton, it was an awful
Gblow to me when they told me the
= Dreadful truth that Gerald Brookes had
/ taken his own life
d SIT all occurred in the far South,
y where he was travelling. I sent at once
y for his body-poor murdered boy 1t
.
% lying there, white, cold and dead, his
80 hands folded over the heart that had
beat with true and faithful love for the
woman who was the cause of all this,
( and clasped in his dead hands l found
spray of rose geranium tore it from
his grasp could not see his body
desecrated by anything she had
touched or cared for From that
hour I have hated the odor and sight of
M the blossom with greater intensity than
u ever. 1t may be childish and weak in
ne; if so, I confess my weakness, but
cannot resist it"
He paused and rested his handsome
IS. lead on one white shapely hand. Har-
nks y Penryth was young and wealthy, and
nsS many a woman had endeavored to
FL Swaken a responsive chord in his
ip- Aeart. But although he moved in
N gay society and was courteous to all, and
ry attentive to some, no woman had ever
sw fally touched his heart until he had
N Z, met sweet Lily Moreton. But Ethel
no Wmburton, the rich young widow, loved
hin with a most wild, absorbing pas
sion which carried everything before 1t.
The crafty Mrs. Warburton soon dis
= covered that there was no engagement
II existing between Miss Moreton and
20 Mr.. Penryth, and racked her brain ii,ol iol
D. some method of disseminating the
n Young man. and turning his love fol
l. IiIy into aversion and dislike.
y While Harry Penryth related the
e story of his friend and his tragic deatf
e Mrs. Warburton's face had grown yer!
T white a wild, haunted look stole int
|, her eyes, and the little hand, which
q held a sprig of the obnoxious rose gera
] II LII o1I frapoh1ad