The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1907-07-10


first, and my mind was full of annoy
ance because my sister, who kept my
house, should invite girl to visit her
and then insist that it was my duty to
| help entertain her. would do moth
Ing of the sort, was thinking, when
turn in the white blossomed pathway
brought her to my view.
| She was slender and had great
mass of brownish yellow hair, pinned
up with gold pins, one Of which glow
ed sardonically at me with its topaz
eye. While was wondering why she
didn't comb her hair smoothly she
turned, and her eyes, Of wonderful
vivid blue, seemed to look down into
my very soul.
STAND perfectly still, Mr.. Angove,
and shut your eyes. Is there anything
so sweet in this wide world as birch
path in springtime? Don't open them,
Mr.. Angove. l want you to get the
fragrance uninterrupted by any other
sense
Why / should have stood there with
my foolish eyes shut tight / don't
know, but l did until she gave me
permission to look at the white feath-
cry sprays and at her. Then quite So
ciably we strolled the rest of the way
together. l began to feel interested in
knowing what she would say when we
came to the end of the path and she
saw
"Why, don't know your name,"
said abruptly.
"At first you are going to address
me as Miss Britland," she replied
promptly. "Afterward you will say
Frances, and at the end you VIII call
me Caprice"
"Why in the world should call you
CapriceT" asked.
IT don't know" she said. Don't you
ever say things just as If somebody
inside of you were saying them with
your own tongueg'
My reply to this amazing question
was hindered by the ending OF the
birch bushes. We stood facing a little
pagoda of white marble. l looked at
the girl Her hands were tenSely
clasped; her red lips were quivering.
Its like walking down the pathway
of love and suddenly coming to the
very temple of love itself!' she ex-
claimed.
frowned Why should my sister
prattle to strangers of our ancestors
conceptions? She seemed to divine my
thoughts.
"Why do you look at me like that?
What is it9 What does it meanw
| / showed her the inscription on the
worn threshold =. Temple of Love-
and with a sudden swift grace she
knelt above the lettering. Then she
sprang up 4'Come, Mr.. Angove," she
cried gayly; Il win rnn you a racer
So back along the birch lined path
we ran like two children, and only my
sisters amused smile at the end of the
race reminded me of my forgotten dig
nifty. spent the rest of the day
among my books and alone.
Next morning Miss Britland and I
selected walk opposite the birch path.
This was straight path through an
avenue OF stately pines. Yesterday the
! girl had been faneiful or merry; this
day she was neither. She walked Sc
dately by me, talking quite learnedly
Of the future of radium. l began to see
/ why / might some time eau her Ca
price.
"This is the path OF the pines"
said when we had exhausted radium.
I'VE should have taken this one first,
for 1t leads straight and true as the
compass needle to the temple, while
the birch path meanders foolishly this
way and that and makes one many un-
necessary steps to reach the same
| place."
"One welcomes unnecessary steps
when one walks with the spirit of the
woods" she answered. Anyway, you
should not have told me that this path
leads to the same place. 1t would
have been nicer for me to discover 1t
for myself
$50 it WOULD / answered humbly.
"How shall / atone?"
''By telling me of yourself she re-
piled.
There isn't much to TELL" said,
feeling pleased at her interest. We sat
in the pagoda, and for me at least it
was the temple of love. Let he who
will prate Of long growing affection.
To me love came as the sun rises sud-
denly over the mountain.
told her of my life as boy in col
lege, as man in the business world
till this estate came to me, neglected
and long uninhabited.
Another day told her about the
temple, how my ancestor had laid out
these paths to typify his love for his
fair young wife and her love for him
one path, quick and true as the COM
pass needle, the other sweet in its shy
reflections, but ending just as surely
at the temple.
"What was the young wife's name? 2"