The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-24
Copyright. 100. by Daily Story Puslishins Co,

Ahc HscscuHcTs WlLH a Cn1lQ nec0- iessness. had loitered on the way, his mind diverted by a dozen things :. When he picked np the note for the last time. 1t had been laid down care fully while he took part in q fight, he carried 1t without further delay to tho rose-covered cottage.
 The glory of sunset was upon the earth and sky as the minister turned In at the cottage whose portico was covered with great clusters of crimson roses. He had agonised over the note, for he was tender man; he had prayed over 1t. and led by the spirit he had come to tell Eliza Ellington, who was one of his best church workers and faithful. conscientious woman. that the letter she had received be- lonEed to another. He would be very lender with her. he assured himself He sat in the parlor trenlblingly, awaiting her approach, and when she iiuttered in Rowned in a simple white dress. with a great cluster of the crim- son roses on her breast, he noticed that she tTembled, too. The roses were aquiver, the color came and went in her face. her eyes were shy as a doves.
 Tho minister went forward and took her hand. He didn't speak, he couldn't break her dream of happiness at on" blow. He held her hand. looked down at her with troubled eyes. when she suddenly met his gaze and in her eyes he thought he saH faint re- proach. Was 1t thus that men wooed the women they loved? Sorely per plexed. the minister bent and kissed her on the brow.
 They sat down on the wide. old- fashioned sofa. She. noting his silence and seeming coldness, pitied him, and told herself that his unaccustomed- ness to women made him shy. end that by sweet. womanly means. she when she became his wife. would woo him from such ways; and he looking at her and thinking that he must break her heart, pitied her. An. sweet. sweet pity. % near akin to love. Woman-like and to cover his em- barrassment she began to talk in a nervous. hurried way. Of her gera- niums that had not done so well. of the violets that had finished bloom Ing. of the beautiful. bountiful roses in their wealth of flower. She told him timidly that she had wanted to send him some of them from the day the first violet had lifted it's head. If I had known" he said fuskily. A rose unfolds its crimson heart to the sun-she moved nearer the minis | ter
 HUSH OI IuOuHI6u InO fteV.
 erend Mir. Wiggesworth's brow. He mopped his face with his handkerchief, that thought had crossed his brain that the Widow Mclean didn't know a blessed thing about his sensations dur | ing the last twenty-four hours.
 The girl talked on with a shy con- sciousness. The minister had never thought her pretty before, and now her earnest. almost somber eyes looked at him gravely as If questioning this thing that held them apart.
 crimson roses clustering on the veran- crimson roses clustering 0 nthe veran- da came to him. and down a trellised walk above which crimson roses grew. Eliza. and not the widow. moved with eyes alight with happiness.
 Miss Ellington" he asked. unhesi- tatingly. She gave him a look of sweet reproach. Eliza. was there ever an- other?'
 Never" she said.
 And you have loved me?" question ingly
 | Prom the first" she said simply
 The Widow Mclean had been mar ried twice. The last scruple had van ished from the Rev. MT. Wiggles- worth's mind. and he drew her into i his arms and held her silently. A man has wisdom straight from the gods who Is silent at such a time.
 Some hours later when he went home by way of the stars. he didn't even glance at the young widow s house. he didn't even remember that she lived there.
 She. although she did not remain ! the Widow Mclean. when tender thoughts of her former pastor came to her. felt always flush Of shame when she remembered that night on the church steps. And to the day of her death she believed that by her unseem- ly conduct on that night she had lost | the minister.
 Eliza. secure In a good mans love, and unconscious of any debt to the ] widow. dwelt at peace.
 , IS," by Edward w. Townsend.