The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1897-10-06

ated with poor plays. such things nap
pened then. She remembered the two
men with the business-like air and the
notebooks.
She laid her arm on the stone ledge OF
the balustrade.
There must be way out" she said
"If could find it,"
An hour or two later, when she took
her candle from his hand, she said:
"Look for the way out.
She smiled, and he followed her with
his eyes as she mounted the stairs, her
skirts trailing and the candle held high
She did not look back at the turn in the
staircase. Aylmer in the smoking
room was ruminant. 1t was impossible
to mistake her.
Nor did he misunderstood. She said
"Yes" when he spoke the next day.
Lady Aylmer said: Diana, Diana,
dear woman, God bless you'll"
Perhaps he will" said Diana
Now, in her drawing-room, the woods
saved and his future mortgagedinstead,
Aylmer took rapid survey of his life
up to the point it had then reached, and
decided that he had pursued the only
course open to him. Neither did he i'm
calmness repent the step he had taken.
Diana Granton had not her money alone
to recommend her. She was of the
world, and admirably fitted for the po-
sition he offered her. That she was
comely, has been said; and she took a
sensible view of the situation. He was
not in love with her, and she was wise
enough to conceal from him the secret
that her own heart had been revealing
to her gradually for some time past.
At dinner that evening she looked at
him and knew that she loved him. He
looked at Diana and thought of forgot
ten Audrey. 1t was the fault of the
roses in the drawing-roodn.
The scent of them haunted him-fol-
lowed him home. Poor little Audrey!
what would she think? But near as he
had come to loving her, he had never
made love to her, and had nothing to
reproach himself with; for which now
he was fervently thankful. Yet he was
not quite happy as his hanson took
him to Charges street. A memory of
something that was wistful at times
in Audrey's eyes stirred him. The thing
was absurd, inconceivable. Her mother,
gentle as she was, was woman of the
world, and had known he had meant
nothing. Audrey was a child to caress
and to pet. 1t was he who had suffered
at the parting, Her tears were the
Crank tears of childhood, and rolled
down her cheeks unconcealed.
His misgivings told him he had done
we'll to go. He thought of the restless
ness that had possessed him during the
early days of his travel. He had written
letter that was never posted, and had
refrained himself until time and dis.
tance allowed him to write calmly
Presently the need to write at all ceased
and he knew himself cured.
But tonight Audrey haunted him
He could be thankful that he had moi
made a fool of himself; the girl was
not of his world, and he knew the folly
of an ill-assorted marriage.
But she had been very dear to him. =
y How fair she was! Her face in
sinuated itself persistently between
him and sleep. She must be grown VI
now-yes, Audrey must be 10. Th,
curves of her slender figure would b
rounded, and many subtle change
mark the time that had seen the cross
ing of the borderline of womanhood
But she would be the same Audrey tina
he had known, and been so near loving
/, 1t was late before he slept. Thel
Audrey came to him in dreams that ha,
NO definite shape. He tried vainly
afterwards, to remember in what guis
and to what accompanying circum
stances, she appeared to him. He oul,
knew that she had been with him, sleep
ing as waking, through the night.
The air and the light of day, how
ever, cleared his brain. He spent
morning with Diana, and by the tim
she was sitting opposite to him a
lunch, he could view the situation calm
| ly, and see that his happiness lay il
the direction he was taking. Nor wa
he consciously selfish. He parted wit
Diana and walked homewards. 1t wa
time of roses. The roses in flowe
shop caught his attention. They file
the window. He found hin
self in the shop. He,had been attracts
by red roses, yet in the end it wa
white roses he chose. He believed tina
he made his choice by hazard and no,
he sometimes wonders. 1t may be tina
some thought of Audrey's nature il
fluenced him
He took out card and paused. Wha
to say? His love? He hesitated an
wrote: 'For auld lang syne." The
he gave his directions as to the sent
ing, and left the shop.
Three days later a letter reached hin
He opened it carelessly, not recol
nizing the handwriting. His finger
tightened suddenly upon the sheet.
II put your roses on her heart" wrot
her mother-"loose, as they came. Sh
would have loved them so."-Peterson
Magazine.