The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-10-01
A A DAY OF ROSES.
4 BY RICHARD PRYCE.
Observation-Disclosures

Eo1g ago, and that he had almost for.
gotten. The roses were everywhere in
the drawing-room he had just entered
They stood in jars on the mantelpiece
Flat bowls held them on tables, and
singly in slender vases they were to
he seen here and there amongst the
china and the odds and ends of silver
and enamel, and delft and marble that
filed the dainty room.
Audrey had loved roses. There was
beech trees, where Aylmer had spent
many an hour, that seemed of a sudden
passing happy now-one day, which he
and she had called the Day of Roses.
He had only to shut his eyes-indeed,
had not to shut them-to see again the
Aower-strewn room. 1t was Andrews
birthday, and he had brought her roses.
They were in the hamper first, in which
they had been packed. All, Andrews
little cry of delight as she raised the
lid and saw them lying soft amongst
their damp leaves. Then they were on
trays, two big trays that yet would not
hold them, and they overlooked on to
the table, where, with their foliage,
they lay, little of crimson and veil
low and green, over which, with caress.
ing touch, leaned Audrey, the sweetest
flower of all. He could see her gather
up handful and bury her face amid
the petals that were scarcely more del
icate than herself. Then there was the
seeking of things in which to put them.
Every suitable vase and jar and not
the cottage contained was filed and
there were still roses. He had been
reminded vaguely of the woman of the
sons of the prophets without calling
her all thatD and the miraculous not
Of oil. For, as with her, 1T came to
pass when the vessels were full that
she said. Bring me yet YES
Sell" And there was no vessel found.
Four roses remained over One of them
he must wear. He chose the smallest,
an opening bud. The other three, Au-
drey, kissing them first, put into the
girdle at her waist.
That was the Day of Roses. and Avl-
mer, back from his two years travels,
had forgotten it till a chance scent re-
called it and the idyll that had been
an incident among incidents in some
what thoughtless life.
But he was dreaming, and here was
Diana She came in with an apology
and rustic of silk. She was grieved to
have kept him waiting. She put up her
face to be kissed. The first time of his
dining with her, and not to be there to
receive him! But it was inexcusable-
inexcusable. She had had an afternoon
of delays-just that; delays every.
where. First the tiresome lawyer peo-
pie, and then the trustees, and at the
last moment a young woman from An
toinette's about her trousseau. What
a business marriage was! And the fact
OF having been through it before did
not ease matters at all!
Complicated them, Aylmer suggested.
Complicated them, she agreed.
I'm giving you lot of trouble, I'm
afraid" she said. smiling.
There was to be no sentiment in this
marriage. Diana had gold and green
forests" Aylmer had spent his gold,
and the potential cutting of certain tim
Der at Aylmer's Keep had brought about
the engagement. Lady Aylmer had per-
haps a hand in the matter, when she
asked the comely widow of Fonten-
brink Granton, of Broad street to the
Keen tn meet her son
"All that will have to CO." she said
one day to Mrs. Granton, ard waved her
hand towards a wood on the hill.
Mrs. Granton raised her eyebrows.
A day or two later, driving through
the wood in question, Mrs. Granton OBJ
served couple of men with notebooks
and pencils, who saluted the Aylmer
carriage as it passed. and she observed
Aylmer's face, too, as he returned their
salute with wave of his whip.
Lady Aylmer caught (perhaps sought)
her eye, and sighed.
That evening Mrs. Granton was the
first to come down from dressing, and
she strolled out on the terrace. The sun,
setting behind her, shone upon the
doomed woods. Gold stepped them.
The shorn hill would be an eye-sore.
She heard step on the gravel, and
saw Aylmer approaching from the
house.
''The prettiest view in England" she
said.
He came and stood beside her, and
the eyes of each were ON the woods.
II am told you are going to spoil it."
she said then.
For time"
"A lifetime"
He nodded. The lady's gaze assembled
the hill to the top, where the trees stood
up against the sky
1T seems a pity" she said.
The gong sounded presently, and they
went in. You could see the shining hill
from the windows of the dining-room.
Midway through dinner, as the evening
closed in, q servant went to draw the
curtains. Mrs. Granton faced the VIM
dow.
"Oh," she said, to Lady Aylmer,
might he wait little? 1t is so beau
tiful from where | sit"
Lady Ay1mer turned and looked, and
Aylmer looked too. In truth, the scene
was too fair to shut out.
leave the curtains as they are,
Charles"
Very good, my lady"
So Mrs. Grapton saw the woods to
the disappearing point of dusk.
Later, when the moon rose, Aylmer
and she found themselves uuon the ter.