, 1897-09-18
IN THE GARDEN OF 4RoMANCE.
Showing How the Modern Anglo-Saxon
Conducts His Tragedy.

The fact tina he was riding a bicycle
should have kept him to remembering
that he was moi living in an age OF ro-
nance. But he forgot it. And to live
in the midst OF a matter-of-fact world
and forget that it is such is what makes
most of the tragedies Of that world.
There were excuses for him, OF course.
The first, hat he was young, the Sec
,ond, that he was care-free, and the last
and as the nursery rhyme has it, the
best-that he had come from the early
California.
He had ridden through willow paths
along the gravel roads that. a month
before. had been the bed OF the San
Gabriel; he had crossed the shallow
cleaning branches Of the stream time
and again: he had doomed from the
green swell of the divide over as green
a valley, where wild flowers were thick
on the ground and where peach and
almond-trees made pink and white
patches. Just across the valley the
mountains were half covered with snow,
but the air was warm from the sea and
the sky was bright blue. So there was
excuse for his forgetting the bicycle and
thinking the world a place for romance.
"A. place for romance. but there can
be none without a woman. And there
was no oma
He coasted down the incline o.. the
divide and made for the Monte read, by
t~ree-tordered by-ways and paths. There
was not a flake OF lust in the splendid
air. All kinds of picturesque. Old
World things ought to happen. In a
garden Of this sort. man ought certain
ly not to be alone. Some nymph should
come dripping and glittering out of the
zanja; some slender figure should push
its way through the high. green barley
and the fluffy branches Of the peppers
and stand beside him. He forgot the
barbed-wire fence between the barley
field and the road. The grasses. and
towering weeds, and the peppers hid
1t But the zanjar rippled and puzzled on.
the barley waved in the wind from the
sea. and the sun CLEANED on an unin-
habited world.
Then a bell rang out. just ahead. by
the roadside. and t he silence @: the
spring high-noon was filled with the
voices Of children and young girls.
u>no ,..-,,n o,t,-ol ,to n,rJa- St,a
was neither nymph Of the zanja nor
sprite of the field. only a black-gownei
schoolgirl. who stood on the school,
house steps and waved a handkerchief
at the passing tourist. The tourist was
a man and young-which was all the
schoolgirl cared about. The girl was
pretty and w~illowy-which was all the
man cared about. He raised his cap
and motioned to a clump of trees down
the highway. OF course she would I'M
derstand. 1t was all a part OF the ro-
nance and the country. and she under
stood She left the calling, screaming
children and her older companions and
strolled toward where he sat. on the
grass under the trees. II was out OF
sight OF the s%chool-house. He watched
her black. 1.-the figure moving through
the fecked sunshine that came in
through the plumy branches Of the pep
pers. They were all alone in the m;ds,
of spring and the garden, birds were
singing from the earth. he sun was
rbipi,r Fr~n TIM e.Lp ard tho cnft upipi
blew from the sea beyond the valley.
The snowy mountains were far away,
and the world on the other side o. them
yet farther.
Her name, she said. was Alicia. How
sweet the double es Of the vowels. how
different the stern Nelson to which he
had to confess. But even that was pref
ty when she said it. How old was she?
were that age. Where did she live?
Some vague way over there among the
pink blossoms. He remembered that
when he was a child those questions had
Is your name? How old are you?
Where do you !:ve?" All the wisdom
he bad accumulated in the years be-
tween then and now had vanished. He
did not want. He forgot that he had
meant to reach the hotel Of the valley
by luncheon time. He was not hungry;
bu: Alicia was. She put her plump
brown hand into her pocket and brought
out a newspaper roll. Inside OF the
paper there was a tortilla and boiled
meat. She ate these while she talked
to him, and when she had finished she
started to draw the back 81 her wrist
across her mouth: but remembering the
teachings OF school and the presence OF
the foreign young man. she took out her
handkerchief. He had meant to ask
for that handkerchief. the white signal
which mad f1uttered In the air; but he
saw that 1t was grimy and ink-spotted.
so he asked for the wire ring she wore
instead. Alicia parted with it as though
1t had been very precious.
Then she brushed the crumbs from
her black frock and stood up. Il must
go now she said, with an accent that
kept the words from being common
place.
First tell me where you live" he ask
ed.
She pointed over to the patch OF feath-