The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-08-10
White Llacs.
By GENEVIEVE NJ. B0ICE.


The last stroke Of midnight sol
emily doomed over the sleeping city
as Edward Brewster laid aside his
pen with infinite WEAKNESS. All the
world was at rest but him, he
thought, bitterly; and yet. he, too,
might have been at peace in his old
home tonight in Lindenlea had the
w%anderlust never seized him.
He stirred uneasily; around his
desk seemed to cling the faint haunt
ing fragrance of the lilac bush, al
though no spray of the blossom could
he find in the room. It vas a forbid
den flower in the Brewster mansion.
Twenty years it was since he had
touched a spray Of white lilac, and
that was the night he had hidden Ev-
elyn Leicester and Lindenlea a long,
last farewell.
It was spring time now in Linden
lea, he unused dreamily, and the lilac
bush by the fountain had donned her
bridal robe of misty, shimmering
white, and the dew was lying On the
gently waving branches like fairy
Jewels.
Evelyn had come to him that night
down the shadow haunted path that
led to the fountain, her regret at his
? going plainly visible in the sweet,
dark eyes. Of all his friends, she
alone believed in him; the others
called him a dreamer. The wide,
wide world was not for such as him,
they said, he who had never known
labor. But Evelyn Leicester vas not
one of these. Il will believe in you
always, Ned. come what may" she
had told him. her beautiful head
tilted back. and a light in ner eyes
that rivalled the starshine in the
heavens above.
Because I love you, Evelyn he
had answered. "and desire your hap
piness above everything else in the
world, always during your life re-
member that somewhere I am near,
waiting to do something to prove my
love for you, and that a spray Of this
flower, however small, sent to me at
any time or any place. will grant
whatever wish you may make, that
it my be in my power to grant, even
at the cost of unhappiness to myself.
Years and oceans may divide us, but
the white lilac will always be to US
the emblem Of our unity"
Bird-wing and bird-song were ST.
lent as they parted; the wind sighed
softly through the weeping willows.
and the great. white moon shone full
upon the lilac bush.
He would return, he told her, when
he had become rich and famous; they
would be married in the little stone
church on the hill half buried in ivy.
and together they would roam
through the broad. beautiful world
like children IN a holiday.
He had fought his way in the city
step by step until he had secured a
foothold; the way was hard and
paved with many difficulties, and left
him little time for the sweeter things
of life. His letters to Evelyn we're
short, and as he now remembered,
must have been unsatisfactory, and
yet she was ever in his thoughts,
queen of his castles in Spain, the
bright particular star of his lonely
life.
The blow that had shattered his
every dream came with terrific sud-
denness. In a paper from his home
town he read the notice of her mar
, riage to John Brinslee, the rich man
of the village. He had uttered no
sound as he read it, the wound was
too deep. For Evelyn he had no
blame, but in his heart he registered
a VOW OF vengeance against the man
who had taken her from him. Fate
had early taken a hand in the game,
for Edward Brewster had risen to the
Office OF president Of an immense
corporation in which John Brinslee
held a high and trusted position.
The two men nevsr made am pre-
tense Of friendship; each che was
wary Of the other.
YEARLY the great fnancier rose
from his desk. At the same time opeD-
ing an important looking envelope
that had escaped his attention.
AS he read its contents the shadows
dropped from his face as by magic,
and a light Of almost insane triumph
dawned in his eyes. The moment for
which he had longed. prayed and
hoped for twenty years had come at
last.
During his absence abroad John
Brinslee's enemie. had been busy
weaving a web around him from
which he had found it impossible to
extricate himself. and they had COM
PEELED him to resign his position. His
friends, claiming him innocent Of the
charges brought against him. had for,
warded his reinstatement to the
president with the request that he
sign it and place John Brinslee back
in his old position.
Would he sign it? Yes. when John
Brinslee could give him back the
vanished years Of his life with the
fulflment of his youthful dreams;
when he could repay him eve in
part for the loneliness and misery OF
twenty years. Then and not till then
would he sign it.
He threw the paper on his desk