The Falls City tribune., 1911-05-19
WHITE ROSES
BY CELIA MYROyER ROBINSON

aAeAlZ VI RAidutu l0Ai 10 anu lAt ltN
glow of TN open fire and redolent of
the spicy breath of roses. On Il little
spindle-legged table the blossoms
were glowing in a mass of deepest
crimson. Their heavy fragrance made
Margaret's head throb and she pressed
her hands to her eyes, YEARLY.
In her ears the applause was still
ringing. From pit to gallery the
storm had swept and again and again
she had been recalled. When she
had, with difficulty, eluded the black
coated throng about the stage en-
trance, she had sunk back in the cush-
toned depths of the barouche, too
weary to do more than smile family
In appreciation of her managers ex-
travagant praises.
Only the insistent ticking of the lit
tie Dresden clock broke the silence
OF the room, but from the streets be-
low a dull. muffled roar came to her.
She crossed the Don and looked out
on the busy lighted streets.
How the people jostled and ell
bowed! A good-natured crowd it was.
She. in all the wide city, seemed to
be alone.
From the little church on the corner
came to her the hymning of the chorls-
ters, practicing the Sunday music,
their fresh glad voices rising exult.
antly.
She put her hands to her ears, as if
to shut out the sound, and then. cross
ing the room, seated herself at the
piano. touching the keys softly. At
first her fingers wandered idly, caress.
ingly, but after awhile they evoked a
~plaintive little air, and she sang her
glorious voice filling the room with
melody.
She broke off with a little discord-
ant note and leaned her head against
the music rest, like a tired child.
Presently she rose and stood regard
ing herself in a long glass. Her cloak
had fallen to the floor and she stood
revealed in all the magniicance Of
her stage gown, glittering with Jew
eled trimmings and billowy with cost
ly lace. The coils of her hair were
thrust through and through with jew
eled pins and about her throat was a
necklace of diamonds. She turned
her head this way and that, watching
the gems flash and sparkle. Then she
drew from the bosom of her gown a
note and read the words again that
she had read and reread many times,
a smile of scorn curving her lips.
He had sent her the note with the
diamonds and the roses this morning;
and tonight she had promised him an
swe 1t was much that he offered
her-wealth, position and an old, il
furnished, name-and his lovel
She drew the crimson roses from
the bowl and then thrust them back
with a gesture of loathing. They
were too heavy, too sweet, too
gorgeous. They reminded her too
forcibly of him. They suggested too
strongly the dollars and cents ex-
pended on them. She sank into a
carved chair, and, taking a photo
graph from a silver holder on the desk
looked critically at the cynical, world
worn face. AS she pushed the picture
back into the holder a pile of letters
her maid had reminded her of her
mail, ON her return from the theater,
but In the crowding thoughts which
had submerged her, she had forgot
ten it. She pushed aside the letters
contemptuously. She was used to,
and weary of the illusions.
But as she pushed them from her a
little oblong box met her eye, and be-
side it, addressed in the same hand
writing, lay a letter. With a smoth-
cred exclamation she bent nearer,
and her face showed oddly white I'M
der the rouge.
With trembling fingers she tore
open the letter and read:
MY Little Love:
You will doubtless be surprised to
hear from me. In your new and gor-
geous surroundings the old life must
seem to you like a dream; the old
friends, like people of a dream. But
to me you are ever the same Margaret
my little love.
Even in this sleepy village rumors
of your great fame come to us. hear
you have the world at your feet. But
it has not spoiled you. | know. For
with your beautiful voice and your
beautiful face, God gave you a beau
tiful soul. You will grow weary of
your gaudy, empty life some day, for
love must conquer in the end.
II passed our old trysting place to-
day. The roses were in bloom all
about it. A rush of old memories
came to me and l plucked some of
the ~half-opened buds to send to you.
Goodbye, my dear, my dear,
with faith and love,
"R."
She tore the cover from the bcx and