The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-06-07

she known. and with what CALCULATIONS
would she have complained against the
crowded stiffness of the train!
"Fairviewr called the conductor.
Mrs. st. Aubyn looked at her time
table. Four stations more!
1t was noon when she stepped out al
Meadowbank. The narrow platform
was deserted save for young tele-
graph operator. who looked apprecla-
! lively at Mrs. ST. Aubyn's tailor made
costume OF gray and violet and in
| quired If she would like team. She
shook her head She would rather
walk How well she knew the road!
And how little it had changed! She
followed it by a cluster of trim fenced
houses, pSst the general store and on
| to where the fields widened and
stretched away to hills whose SUBMITS
were misty blue. Blackberry vines,
rusty with fall, tangled at the roadside,
and here and there asters glowed like
purple fame. At the far edge of the
village outskirts she came to RAM
bling white house. Grass grew knee
deep in its yard. Its windows were
suffered. Its door bore a placard,
For Sale.' Over its porch the bare
tendrils of a honeysuckle vine stirred
with every passing wind. BY path
still family discernible through a net
work of wcetfs Mrs. st. Aubyn took her
way to the orchard. There she came
upon sight which held her stock still
with amazement.
Jimmy cried Mrs. st. Aubyr.
What in the world are you doing
here?'
Jimmy Varringcourt forsook the az
pie for which he had been reaching
and colored to the roots of his iron
gray hair. Then he came forward.
my dear Helenew he exclaimed
"Who ever would have thought of see
Ing YOU"
Il came by the noon train" said Mrs
st. Aubyn.
"Ah! And I by the one before It,
Hasn't changed much, has it?" he con-
tinued, nodding toward the old house
Except that the grass is ragged 1t
looks just the same as that summer
you spent here with your aunt. Have
you ever been back here since?'
Never said Mrs. St Aubyn, flush
ing.
Nor I. Strange, isn't it, that we
should meet? What prompted you TO
come todayi'
"Oh, l don't know. ! think the social
merry -go-round has begun to pail. II
got so tired of people and things, and
wanted to get away from them
There was q moments silence. The
wind stirred the fallen leaves with Il
soft rustic, and bit of thistledown
loated lazily by.
II thought" said Mrs. st. Aubyn
presently, that you were in Europe"
$50 l have been for the last six
months. l got back yesterday. And
this morning l had the strangest long
ing to see this old place, and so l
came"
1.-TWO worldlings in Already" laughed
Mrs. St. Aubyn, land hunger reminds
me that have brought lunch"
"Goodw He spread his coat out on
the grass. "Will you sit here? And'if
you don't mind waiting bit I'll go to
the village and skirmlsh for q kettle
and some tea"
and two teacups would be an adj
junct also"
I'll try" said Vanringcourt.
They lunched in gypsy fashion, the
kettle singing over fire of twigs,
while the glow of midday softened into
the long light Of afternoon.
"A mellow light to see visions by"
observed Vanringcourt.
"Visionsw
"All day I've been longing FOR
glimpse of girl that l used to know.
She used to wear a pink linen gown
and her hair in braid and carry
frilled sunbonnet on her arm. The last
time saw her this orchard was all in
bloom, and she promised to love me for
ever and ever, and In token Of that we
exchanged rings made of grass"
"My dear Jimmy" protested Mrs. st.
Aubyn.
vanringcourt fumbled in his pocket.
"There it is" he said, smiling whim-
sically.
"How absurd" said Mrs. st. Aubyn,
but her voice trembled.
Eyes, isn't ito cherish that little
bit Of dried grass as I've cherished
nothing else on earth, although the girl
that gave it to me decided six months
later that love in cottage was only
another name for folly and that money
and position were what counted most!
For, you see, in the meantime, like the
fairy godmother in the nursery tale, n
rich relative had come and whirled her
away to town, and when next / saw
her the wild rose had become an Amer
lean Beauty, the greatest success of a
brilliant social season. VOLTA tout!'
But you
"Oh, yes, know. I've had success
too. I've gained it. I'm counted for
tunate as the run of men go, yet the
thing I've wanted most I've never had.
Nothing else ever really mattered ex
cept the girl / knew in this orchard
All my life and all my heart have been
empty because of her."
1T was spring then. and 1t is autumn
now"