The Red Cloud chief., 1892-06-03

| ing her small brown curly head over
the fragrant blossoms. There was al
ways u great deal to do. Wrcaths and
crosses for the dead; bridal bouquets;
sprays and graceful trailing clusters for
ball dresses. Her dcft fingers did won
ders with flowers, arranging them
among many shaded leaves and delicate
maidenhair. Tho window was filed
with specimens Of her handiwork;
passers-by paused s~pellbound; the
charm of her fancy gave n new beauty
10 tho fair, frnil things that she touched
with dainty skill.
Ono day some one came into the shop
and ordered q spray of yellow roses.
Olive was as busy as usual; but when
he spoke she looked up. lie was n well
built man, slightly above middle height,
and he was looking at her with n pair
Of thoughtful gray eyes, dark ana
rather lcthargic. He had q clear, gentle
voice and slow manner in which, how
ever, there was not the slightest affec-
tation. Nothing in his face was re-
markable; the skin was bronzcd, the
features irregular, and u tawny mus
tachc dropped over the mouth. Yet
there was something in those heavy
liddcd gray eyes that made Olive think
Of them again.
There was n lady with him; q well
made woman, not beautiful, but dis
tinctly thoroughbred. She wore n
Jacket and gown of brown tweed, m
the plain costume seemed to adapt itself
to oil the easy movements Of the wcarer.
She too looked at Olive; and the girls
quick car caught the sentence that the
man said to her in n low voice. 1t was
something about Dantc's Matilda, ''who
on the edge of happy Lethe, stood
wrcathing flowers with flowers"
They departed. and Olive went on
with her wreathing. Often, In n silent
fashion, she talked with tho blossoms
us she picked them carefully OF of the
scented heaps before her, and confided
her thoughts
ITO tho lily.beils tender.
And gray hcliotropes."
And they in their turn brcathed out
fragrant memories of her childhood and
early girlhood; of the plants that her
father md mother had tended in their
: cottage garden; Of tho May gnrlands
. that the village children had carried
l from door to door; Of the noscgay thai
s Michael had brought her ono summer
. morning, his first love-gift. Simple
I memories indeed, yet they helped tc
keep her spirit fresh and sweet, and
! cherish her old love for the humble
= country homo that was now so feI
, away.
Nowadays, with oil the stores Of
Uncle Wakes shop ut her command
she spent q great deal of time in book
Y world. And the books filed her mint
. while her fingers were busy, and keep
! her brain SO happily occupied that she
missed many undesirable things which
> > she might otherwise have seen ant
= heard. While she set cluster beside
y cluster, she thought sometimes OF Per
dita ut the shecp-shcaring, offering
Y posies to the shepherds guests; or per
> haps Of Nydia, the blind flowcr-girl o
= Pompeii, weaving her chnplets in tn
Thcssalian fashion; or Of those heaven
!, ly flowers which st. Dorothca sent u
Thcophilus after her martyrdom. Ant
all the while the q of the grea
world was going on, and the endles
procession went sweeping along pala
y tial Regent street, while one quie
y maiden dreamed her dreams and WOW
her %garlands in peace.
Q She did not forget Lucy Cromcr, thu
dear friend who had once sat in thi
: very place, busy with the same daint,
o work that she was doing now. Littl
rs Olive knew Of Lucy's story, she ha'
! guessed at some of its details, and fel
If hat n weary, passionate heart ha
J. throbbed over the flowers in those days
l. Why had life been made SO bitter I
It Lucy, md SO sweet to Olive herself
Why had tho one been taken md tn
other left? This bright girl, young IN
D. undismaycd, thought pityingly Of he
d who had lcant upon u broken reed, an
ID rejoiccd proudly in the trusty staff tha
supported her own footsteps. The tim
ID Of loneliness and descrtion was nigh q
h hand; but she was happy and conf
h dent still.
70 Nothing Of importance happened 1
these days Of early summer. while o
10 i've sat wrcathing flowers in the R.
NJ gent street shop. The routine Of he
IL business life was seldom broken. On