Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1902-12-25
ga Knot of
Daisies - *
BY JULIA M. KNIGHT.


made Lucia Of the evening, sits resting
in her dainty dressing groom while her
maid restores order from chaos. On
chair. sofa and table, roses, .yiolets ant
the rarest exotics, tributes from un-
known admirers, are piled in riotous
confusion while the-air is sweet with
a subtle fragrance, but in her hand
she clasps a simple knot Of white
daisies. while a dreamy look steals
over her exquisite face
Each night for month past has the
same token come TO her from an I'M
seen hand, till she attaches a certain
significance to the flowers, a hidden
meaning that none other could read. \
knot Of daisies-a watt from the open
country, a reminder Of the past the
past, when as a careless, sunburnt
girl she had strolled through green
lanes and byways, undreaming Of fu-
ture greatness.
A lovely voice, gift of bounteous ma
ture which Knocked the wild birds in
its sweetness and melody, a passing
stranger who heard her by chance one
day, an impressario who in the simple
rustic traced the future prima donna
and the opportunity Of her life came
Years of ceaseless work, high ambi-
tion and taxing experience lay be
tween her and that careless past; May
Walton, the nut-brown maid. could
scarce be recognized now IN Persis Bell.
the famed cantatrice, in the bloom Of
her beauty. the fulluess Of her pow
ers: vet at this moment memory holds
her in its thralldom and eXaets its due
A knot of daisies she closes her
eyes and can see them still, rank upon
rank, field upon field, tan. slender ano
fair, rocking, rollicldng in the wine
that blows; the breath Of spring d
abroad. blue skies are laughing in the
sunlight, robins sing in the treetops.
nature has awakened from her long
sleep to life and beauty once again.
She signs; does she know regret foi
the past? She has won all that a won
an may, and in a few short years
From the obscurity Of an unknown
village she has risen TO an enviablt
height in the world Of music. Now. III
the flush and charm of her youth. She
tastes the sweet intoxicated draught
of fame; yet is she happy
If she knows pang Of regret for the
old careless days, the light heart, the
girlish dreams, the friends of her
youth, tits but a mood of the moment
that will pass. One must pay some
penalty for greatness; she would moi
go back if she could-she could not 81
she would Yet tonight memory isl
insistent, conjures up visions she
would fain forget; the fiiend Of her
childhood, the companion of her
youth, the lover whom she sacrificed
to ambition. besieges her haart storm
lily; speaks to her in these innocent
makes accusation offaithless
ness and the blacklist treachsry.
Without one word she had passed |
from his life-broken her plighted |
vows-hidden her identity under an
other name, that none might follow
and find her. In all these years she
had made no sign to recall him.. atone
for the cruel suffering she had caused.
Yet some day they viii meet again;
she feels it-she knows it. These sim
pie flowers herald his coming, il may
be, and the hour. of their meeting is
close at hand. Her woman's heart
quickens IL the thought, for through
out her brilliant, charmed career, the
incense of the worlds homage, these
early memories still hold her fast, and
assert their claim.
For the first time in her life she
looks beyond the glamour of the foot
lights, searches her audience for
familiar face and form, and not in
vain. An hour later they clasp hands
behind the scenes, exchange greetings
as friends may who have been separat-
ed by time and chance; while her WON
ans wit and GOODNESS tide over the
temporary embarrassment of the Oe-
casion.
Frank Granger had changed. too, in
all these years, yet she can still trace
her boy loter in his simple manliness.
he, too, has won his way in the world
since he left the old home-nest, which.
after her mysterious fight, had be
come uncomfortable.
Yet he has no word of blame for her;
he makes no single painful aliusion to
the past and the claim he onre had on
her love and devotion. He listens with
apparent pleasure to the tale of her
vivid, changing life, her trinmphs at
home and abroad, her ardent ambition
in the career Of her choice.
He seems content 10 accept the stu.
alton, to drop the veil of oblivion over
the vanished past. II is well-and yet,
in a sense, strange beyond belief. She
had dreaded that first meeting. know
ing her lover as she aid; she had forti-
/ fed herself TO encounter just blame
and recrimination from one who had
Z the right 10 speak. one who had been
outraged in his deepest feelings.
For a few breathless moments she
had felt somewhat as the Indian does
when his slight canoe slips over tn.
rapids; and then il passed, and sht
,ealtrad the folly If her fanrS Il,