The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-06-01
THE EVENING STORY
White LiIacS.
(By Temple Bailey.)

they brought memories to Donovan
| OF days that were past. There had
been a hedge of white lilacs about
his old home. And in the spring.
when they bloomed, he had picked
great punches of them to carry to
Margaret.
Margaret was the little girl next
door. She was thin, fair haired
confiding manner. Her father and
mother were poor and her home
lacked the prosperity which belonged
| to Donovan's. He carried her other
things besides white lilacs-surrepti-
tious tarts saved from his own lunch
| con, little cakes and squares Of ginger
bread, and in return she gave him her
| friendship.
Later she gave him love in response
to his impassioned plea. 1t was a
shy unfolding. and he had to work to
obtain an admission of her liking for
him.
And when he had obtained it he
had flung 1t away. It had not been a
thought Of the ambition which had
drawn him to the city. where. in the
midst of the fight for riches. he had
learned to underestimate the worth of
| a woman's love.
He had not given her up easily, but
he had felt that she would be drag
upon his success, SO he had let weeks
| elapse between letters, until finally her
to write to him.
Yet he knew the consistency that was
in her, and others wrote of her fragile
appearance.
He had silenced the demands of his
heart with the demands of his business
and except now and then, when the
fragrance of a flower or the STRINGS Of
old romance walked him out of his
lethargy, he lived in a state of dull
content Today the sun was shining,
there was the warmth of spring in the
air and white lilacs were in the for
lists window. He longed for the old
home and the fragrant hedges. and he
longed, too, for Margaret.
On a sudden impulse he telephoned
for his car and started for a tour
through the country. It was not SO
many miles to the old gray house. Yet
near as II was, he had not visited it
since boyhood. AS he came upon it
he saw that the white liiacs were in
bloom. The old house was closed, and
in the implanted out-houses and neg
lected garden he read the signs Of
decay.
On the other side of the hedge.
where Margaret had lived, a trans
formation had taken place. The bare
brown cottage where the little girl had
made her home was no longer there.
In its place was a stone palace with
broad terraces leading down to the
shining stream where he and Margaret
had waded in those early days.
w nose mouse Is II ne asked Oh d
passing countryman, and heard that
there lived a great singer who came
home only now and then between en-
gagements. He wondered what had
become of Margaret. And even as he
wondered a woman came out of the
big house and made her way across
the green terraces toward his own
lilac hedge. She was q tall woman,
all in white, with her pale gold hair
wound about her graceful head. He
SQxU a great hllnCh
fragrant flowers. and then, as she
turned. he caught glimpse of her
face. She was very beautiful. and
there was something vaguely familiar
in her carriage and features.
over the hedge he spoke to her.
Can you tell me- he asked. where
Margaret" Then he gave a little
recognize him. It gave him a queer
feeling. He knew that he was stouter.
grayer. different person altogether
from the slender boy who had left his
home to seek his fortune.
Don't you know me?" he asked.
IT'S Philip Donovan. Margaret
Phillip" There was a CULVER in her
trembling voice. "I should not have
known you"
1T knew you." he said. "You are
more beautiful than ever. Margaret"
81 was not beautiful when you last
saw me-" she said. 81 was only
slender slip of a girl, full of dreams"
did none of your dreams come
true?" he asked.
zone of them did," she said. st had
my ambitions. I wanted to excel in
some way. Now sing, and the world
says that I do it WE'LL
He looked at her in Amusement.
''Then it is you who are the great
singer that lives in the big house." he
said.
She nodded. yes"
He felt suddenly old and tired. The
spring day brought no joy with 1t. the
fragrance of the lilac made him faint.
"I had hoped he began and stop
ped.
THAT 1 might find you the same.
That I. might try to make PREPARATION
for what did years ago. Life has
never been what it would have been If
kept you in it. If I had come back
and found you poor, might have
made up to you for all that you have
suffered. But now 1 can never make
mo" she said softly. you can never
undo the past
when we are young" he said. eve
do not value the priceless possession of
a woman's love. 1t was not until I lost
you that knew what had done"
Now I have my art" she said. 'I
1t seemed to be her final word, SO
he held out his hand. Good by he
murmured and left her standing by
the lilac hedge in the sunlight.
bunch of white iilacs, and the next,
and the next, and on the fourth day he
gathered courage to go back to her.
"At least You will let me be your
friend ?" he asked.
Then she put him on probation. test
ing his love in every way she could
invent.
"If could serve seven years." he