The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-05-25
THE EVENING STORY
Where Two Paths Met.
(By Ina Wright Hanson

and then insist that 1t was my duty tc
help entertain her. I would do moth
ing, of the sort. was thinking. when q
turn in the white blossomed pathway
brought her to my view.
She was slender, and had a great
mass of broWnish-yellow hair, pinned
up with gold pins, one of which
glowed sardonically at me with its
why she didn't comb her hair smooth
ly, she turned, and her eyes, of won
4 derful vivid blue. seemed to look
down into my very soul.
i stand perfectly still, Mr.. Angove
and shut your eyes. Is there anything
so sweet in this wide world as birch
j 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 I did. until she gave me
permission to look at the white feath-
| cry sprays, and at her. Then quite
sociably we strolled the rest of the
way together. I began to feel inter-
ested in knowing what she would say
| when we came to the end of the path,
why, don't know your name"
said abruptly.
'fAt first you are going to address
me as Miss Britland,' she replied
promptly "Afterward you will say
Frances, and at the end you will call
me Caprice
''Why in the world should I call you
Il don't know" she said. "Don' t
you ever say things just as if some
| body inside of you were saying them
with your own tongues?
My reply to this amazing question
was hindered by the ending of the
| birch bushes. We stood facing a little
pagoda of white marble. 1 looked at
the girl. Her hands were tensely
l., IiT1cJ ~
TITS like walking down the pathway
of Love- and suddenly coming to the
very Temple of Love itselfH she ex-
claimed.
prattle to strangers of our ancestors
conceptions? She seemed to divine my
thoughts.
"Why do you look at me like that :?
What is it? What does 1t mean ?"
showed her the inscription on the
worn threshold-''Temple of Love-
and with sudden swift grace she
knelt above the lettering. Then she
sprang up.
Come. Mr.. Angove.' she cried gay
ly, 81 will run you a race"
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 a walk opposite the birch
path. This was straight path,
through an avenue of stately pines.
Yesterday the girl had been fanciful
or merry; this day she was neither.
She walked sedately by me, talking
quite learnedly of the future of ra-
dunn. I began to see why I might
sometime call her Caprice.
This is the path of the Pines" I
said. when we had exhausted radium.
1--WE should have taken this one first,
for it 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
unnecessary steps to reach the same
place.
Zone 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 it for
myself
$50 it would" I answered hunbIy.
'IIow shall I atone?''
by telling me of yourself" she re-
Piled
There isn't much to tell" I said,
feeling pleased at her interest We
sat in the pagoda, and for me at least
will pirate of long growing affection to |
me love came as the sun rises suddenly |
over the mountain.
I told her of my life as a boy in
college. as a man in the business world |
till this estate came to me, neglected |
and long upinhabited.
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 it's shy
but ending just as surely |
at the temple
What was the young wife's name?"
she asked
II don't know. His diary is full of
her beauty and sweetness and accom-
plisaments. but he never mentions her
name. He bad his own names for her
Sunbeam. Starlight. Heartease. Love
like that should not die when the
bodies of the lovers are dust"
How do you know that it does?' she
How do you know but
their souls are living again and loving
Just the same2"
this little Frances, and she had SO
many moods-gay. serious, learned.
chiIdlilxe. How I loved her, I could
not wait much longer to tell her so.
but seemed to lack the right words.
One day in the temple I had been long
silent though I had not realized it, till
she interrupted my thoughts most
I wish that it could speak. for 1t
looks so very kindly that its voice
1T is going to speak, I said. turn
ing suddenly toward her. but she
pointed, laughing, toward the door.
Down the path of the pines came
my sister, eager, breathless, waving a
etter.
"a secret drawer in the wall. back of
ny WARDROBE" she gasped. '.And three
nights since she has been here, has
Frances dreamed of finding 1etters!"
saw with curious feeling the