The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-12-16
MY LADY OF
THE ROSES
By Richard King
By Richard King

"Bewitching." Yes. that was the
word which best expressed her. Be
witching. Absolutely betwitching
Waving masses of nut-brown hair
held together Grecian fashion in bands
OF gold and arranged becomingly with
all that apparent carelessness which
bespoke a nrst-rate coiffeur; pretty.
piquant, somewhat indefinite, features
set in face whose contour was a per
feet oval; the dearest little rosebud
mouth, all pouts and infectious laugh
ter.
AS it so happened, the table where
she and her companion were seated
stood in close proximity to our own,
though from where / was sitting
had an absolutely uninterrupted view
OF them both, while Shiela, who was
with me, was placed with her back
turned towards them-which, after
all, was just as it should be, seeing
women never can understand these
things.
So, you see. | was wise in not tell
ing Shiela anything about the lovely
creature sitting opposite me. For one
thing, because she would not have
understood, and for another thing, the
fair stranger and myself had carried
on our language-of-the-e love affair
so well that in spite of the distance
between US, and huge bowl Of GRIM
son and white roses placed upon her
table nearly hiding her from my sight,
when she raised her glass of cham
payne to her lips she looked at me
lovingly over the brim and deliberate
ly smiled.
The note ] scrubbed TO my lovely
vis-a-vis was the absurdest thing in
the world Yet now, as l look back
upon the incident, 1t strikes me as
being wonderfully discreet for man
whose friends imagine his whole life
ia be made up of blundeIs.
In the dead OF night l wrote. "the
world is full Of ghosts-restless be
lngs seeking happiness and repose.
Should there be hope for one of these
tonight. take from the bowl Of roses
in front of you a crimson rose; II,
however, there is no hope, then take
= white one"
| saw the waiter slip the note into
her lap. | saw her unfold it under
shadow of the table and | saw her
read it and double it up, slipping it
quickly into the jeweled Satchel at
her side; and then. all on the tiptOs Of
excitement, | waited impatiently for
her to act as | desired. Yet, for q
long time, she did absolutely nothing
at all but look about her, and l was
in despair lest some wording Of my
letter should have given offense.
Then, suddenly, in supremacy quiet
way, as if the most natural thing in
the world, she stretched out her hand
towards the roses in front Of her. She
must have known that my eyes were
upon her. devouring her every move
ment. she must have heard. too, the
beating OF my heart, for she tantGl
| izingly played. first with a white rose
and then with red one. until could
have almost cried out in the agony
of suspense. At last. just as the ten
sion was becoming wellnigh unoear
able, she suddenly broke OF the red
! dest among the red roses and fast
! ened It carelessiy to the front OF her
| corsage over her heart.
| Then, indeed. 1 was happy Then
! indeed. l felt at last that life was
worth living. and that if this world
/ was not exactly as happy as heaven
/ it at least had moments that all the
pleasures Of paradise could not sur
! pass.
/ In the middle of my perplexity
saw my lady of the roses and her
| companion rise from their seats I
observed, too the covert looks OF
admiration that she excited among
/ the onlookers by all the graceful sup
/ pleneSs of her superb figure
AS she moved forward. gathering
her beautiful wraps around her, our
! eyes for one brief delirious moment
met in perfect understanding l saw
! the beautifully-m arm and the
/ pearltipped fingers that l so lOnged to
! grasp and l saw, to my utter aston,
( iShment and dismay. that. as she
I
/ rose fastened to her cOrsage and
crumpled it up, disdainfuIly, scatter
! ing its crimson petals at my feet
/ L had hardly recovered from my
modification when, on looking up with
/ the greatest effort at complete indif-
! ference l have ever striven after in my
life, found to my dismay, that the
/ -, T.,
pSniOn had suddenly disappeared.
The only thing that anyone was able
! to tell me was that they had both
casually entered the hotel, taken din
ner in the restaurant, and disappeared
directly afterward. Beyond that, ali
was enveloped in inpenetrable mys-
terry. In fact, I never saw either of
I them again. though it is true that
few days afterward. learned she had
returned the next day. asked some
/ leading questions concerning myself
Z =