Evening star., 1911-08-20

maid, my Sister had said iaughngly; shes
someone's very young, fairy sort OF grand
mother And perhaps that was why we
did associate the spinster aloofness OF Miss St.
Ann" with dear Miss Agatha Mary.
For she unmarried, we learned when we came
to know her better Yet that unforgetabe face must
have been very lovely once, with tranquil beauty as
soothing her sweet, unhurr1ed voice. 1t was pale
with the clear paor of advancing years faint ghosts
OF roses the checks and in the curvlng lips that met
each other firmly. network OF tiny wrinkles about
the brown eyes seemed only enrich their charm And
such eyes they were So bravey, gloriously young
with everlasting youth, yet all unquenched shadow
Law in their bright depths like the reflection in
woodland pool of far off, hoverIng bird.
with those eyes, said Meg, 4she might be any
thlng-eXcept commonplace little OLD maid with
fancy for roses.
Meg is fond Of speculating about people; she can
make romance of the most unlikely material
Which is all very we'll tell her. but if she IN my
place and had it to do for living, she'd be than
glad to take things for granted out Of working hours
Nevertheless, there certainly something nyster1-
Gus about Miss Agatha Mary she utterly differ
from the of the world that sometimes she did
not seem quite real In the East, in New England per
haps there others like her. at least SO one would
suppose from the frequency of charming maiden ladies
in the New England story. But here in our busting
West she anomaly, from her plain little brown
gowns with their gathered skirts to the spicy roses OF
her garden.
Roses do not grow well in Colorado either they
droop and die of homesickness they lose the delcacy
of their bloom young girls cheek is roughened and
tanned by western wind and sun. But Miss Agatha
Mary's garden brmrned with from the middle OF
Nav till the coolest days of fall and spilled its sweetness
and color the paings in all directions through sun
washed, sapphire June And even in winter her beloved
Smonthes 1owered and lowered again in their glassed
in of the sitting until the whole house was
haunted with their fragrance Moss roses tea roses
and cinnamon roses red and white and plnk-oh, Meg
and were mad about that garden!
WYE chose the tiny dark north room for own be-
w cause the windows opened on it; we brought our
sewing that end of the porch and sat adorg silence
through the twilight, drinking It's loveness;
and spent much of our time as we decently could
visiting with the gardens gentle mistress There were
other things that grew there mgnonette and sweet
ayssum, heliotrope-I had any since my dear
grandmother used to tend her wndowbox carefully,
-pennyroyal and tansy and scrubby, bue-green
little bush anything but notable for its beauty What
is that thing?' asked Miss Hannah morning, and
she looked at me queerly for moment before she
swered Land don't you know, Child? That's rue.
Miss Hannah had been "dong light housekeeping
in Miss Agatha Aarys front rooms tor the last twenty
five years Some of cousin she to Miss Agatha
Mary; distant knship, yet enough to claim hospi-
tality when her asthma drove her West She stout
and energetic she rocked from side side when she
walked; her black hair always strained tightly
back from her face; and though there no thread
of gray she conrved to look than her ten
years older than her cousin Latterly it Miss
Hannah who did the heavier work for them both;
though she still maintained that she only had rooms
in the house. But Agatha Marys natural born
mender and she hasn't the strength of cat said Miss
Hannah so she does the sewing and do the house
work, and we're both satisfied"
Afternoons, when my typewriter behaved badly and
Meg not yet home | was apt to pick up some bit
of sewing and the lawn through the side gate
to Miss Agatha Mary's cool piazza. She always
busy herself with the softest of lawns and laces and
fairy enbroderies and could sit the steps at her
feet and chatter my hearts content. Meg and
talked nearly everything with her, and she made
the most sympathetic of conhdans. But we wondered