Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-05-02

| dOii X ifS lAO ouio OitoSliASoo "a tso wy
other man seen you 2"
mo, l think not" was tie serious
reply.
"Then why do you turn n1e away ?"
81 have been quiet and happy i'd the
voice behind the curtain. "Yo on oughtn t
to come and disturb me-"
"Haue disturbed you little? What
blessed thought! I can't go yet, Lsda.
[ ask you again to show me your face, If
its only in silhouette on the curtain. My
ideal is centered in you"
why do you wish to destroy your idea!
Keep it and carry it away all nicely wrap
[ ped up in your fancies.'
Ideals and fancies are nothing compar-
ed to glimpse of reality"
"Don't fatter YOURSELF" gurgled the
voice at the inside of the window. Are
you quite sure Pm not deformed and near
sighted 20
''Quite.''
| 'Oh yes, remember you made inqui-
ries about that."
Go on. invisible oracle" said I. You
know what have done in the past; tell
ne what I will do in the future"
| ''You will walk down the street to the
next corner, strike match, and light a
cigar"
Mo- L said, leaning against the
house. I'm stand right here as threat
ened. You will have to give me some
visible sign OF dismissal-a nice piece of
geranium leaf, or an old glove, or even a
| bit Of paper with 'Begone !" writing on it.
| Here are rose-g eraniums growing nearly
up to the window edge"
Help yourself" said L.eda.
you'll have to break the piece off for
me; and III carry it in my pocket, and
breathe its breath, and remember to never
come near Collegetewn again"
| "If you see me- she said, hesitatingly,
sit will all be different to you and you
won't talk so any more.'
| / remained silent and watched the cur
tain creeping rside. The sash was turned
back on its hinge Within The organ
which controls the flow of the blood shook
me with its fierce muscular action in my
| left side. She reached forth and downward
for the geranium scrap. She had become
hand and arm-a graceful arm and white
hand-which snapped off the perfumed
fragment and glanced back.
"Here," said Leda, pushing the curtain
quite aside-"now here 1 am. There's
nothing wonderful about me. Take your
| piece OF geranium.o
The background of lamp-light threw her
into relief, and rounded her small ears,
and shone through the golden frzzle
| about them. 1 took a gulping look at her,
if eyes can gulp. Her style was more
marked than Psyche's would ever be; she
had Mary Honor's keen vitality and in.
telligence, Miss Clara's archness, aud the
grape-bloom innocence of youthful
child, upon her face. She was beautiful,
and had discovered her, but STAN mer
ed when 1 tried to speak to her.
How many man had followed the hid
den goddess Of his thoughts to find her
mean sort F! knew 1 was happy, what
ever else came to me in this world. The
night swan around me in swift harmony.
Leaf smoke was incense, and the breath
ing of the woods was an anthem.
''Thank you for everything, Leda," |
breathed.
Even for the geranium leaf you wanted
as sign ?"
"But you've shown me your face" l
exclaimed, taking hold Of her wrists and
kissing her hands.
This will be nice tableau for the
girls OF the passers-by ~ she exclaimed
with a start, answering the beat of my
pulses.
"Only one word more, then, Leda.-
Drop that piece of leaf on the
ground"
"There it goes" she responded. "Now
take yourself and token off,"
myself, certainly. But here lies the
token under my feet. Do you think l
could step on anything you had plucked,
if that thing did not mean despair? I
trample despair underfoot, then. And 1
shall forever claim you by the right of
discovery, and bestow on you my
name"
She laughed, drew her hands from me
and pushed the cash shut. Just before
closing it she said, through the narrow
space, isn't it funny that father and
mother saw each other first through this
very window when they fell in Iove F'--
Harper's Bazaar.