The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-03-20


yourself have felt and suffered. You
There are facts in life even for signs"
"'Tis true he answered softly,
'yet sighed for pleasure"
what pleasure?" she asked curl
ously.
.'Or it may be hope" he added.
He looked at her, and his gaze was
mild and wistfuL She regarded him
in perplexity. and then wild flush
took her in the cheek and throat
pooh! pooh!'' she cried, and turned
off, p1ucking at the hawthorne bush
The white may smelt rank, but
strange and soothing; the petals
shivered and fell. Miranda's heart
beat on, wondering. Something
clapped at its doors again and again
Would she open? What was this inn
patient visitor that pleaded SO for
entr ance? She had so little knowl-
edge; she was but newly arrived upon
the world. Her emotions were still
strangers to her; she was a pilgrim
still among her new sensations.
Ought she to open? Nay, to stay SO
and wonder was surely pleasantest.
One day she would throw wide the
doors and look But now it was
sweet to feel that hand upon the
knocker, that clutching at the latch,
and lie trembling within in feigned
insecurity. She turned and faced
him. Straightway the clamor ceased,
and in her heart was silence. She
looked him coldly in the face.
''You smile for love?" she asked.
Eyes, DEAR" said he, land for the
thought of you.
''Oh, you take me too lightly" she
broke out. ''You do not guess what
a solemn thing this love may be.
You autter into thousand follies on
the scantest reflection. You will
dance, and you will play, and you
will jingle jangle through your holt
day world without thought for any
thing but pirouettes and jigs and
whirligigs of laughter. The most
sonorous of sacred sorrows may sound
in your ears and wake no echo but a
cape within your heart And you
would put me upon that dead plane
| of ribald merriment with yourself?
| will laugh with you. Yes; will go
seasons. I am willing to shrek over
your whimsicalities at my own pleas
ure. In my serene unthInlzing mo-
ments 1 will be content to exchange
humors with you, and to vow life
were void and dull were not such as
you at my beck. But when I've
opened my cham Der and fastened the
door upon myself, my soul and shall
be alone together, and I will weep,
and pity, and repent, and ache out
my heart with sorrows in which you
can have no lot I am young, but
have an inkling Of what the world
may mean"
'The world,'' said he, 'smeans hap
piness."
1.-The world she retorted, ''means
tears and bitter wringing of the
hands. Have 1 not heard of death,
and have 1 not seen pain2 You think
me CAV, yet how long shall L keep
this gaiety in my heart? 1 go round
upon the wheel 1t turns and changes.
What shall befa1 tomorrow that
shall not weep today? You would pluck
Ine with no greater consideration
than you would pluck flower from
its stalk wherewith to deck your coat.
Should it wither or fall adjust, another
will serve until the coming of the
wine. Look you, you will sigh and
weep for love, and your signs will be
smiles, and your tears will be laugh
ter. Fortnight your heart is singing
like lark. YoursI yours is the shall
lowest of paltry passions"
81 would do much for you," said he.
''Give me your dimples." cried Mi
randa, land SO to the churchyard with
a wry face?"
even that" he answered, nodding.
''Pah! You will not contain youl
face lugubriously for five minutes BY
the clock. Though you shall remem-
Der to be sober for two sentences, al
the third you will be whistling, and
the fourth will find you holding your
sides"
He moved a step toward her.
"And if should die for you," ht
asked, pleadingly.
Miranda gasped. She contem platet
his face with uncertainty. His eye:
shone with the dew of tears; hi
: hands trembled; it was the corner Of
his mouth that betrayed him. Mi,
: randa burst into laughter.
} your she cried. ''Youl Why, you
would forget my coffin as it passed
and the color of my face ere my bacl
\ was upon you ''See here" she said
81 will give you to the hedge for mis-
r cry; but 1 swear you will take to thu
, lane as jauntily as an hour since
Get you gone, my merry man. and
/ come again to dispute with me in ar
idle humor. FieI fiel to think on yoJ
and death in the same company"
, He sighed and turned away.
I ''You have the smallest heart of an,
, maid I know" he said. shaking hi
head.
5 'sThe better for my laughter,
D laughed Miranda.
, He moved across the meadow, hi
head hanging, his eyes downcast, hi
sficlr dr.a rrinr among the daisias