The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-08-17
THE LAST ROSE

I tation-"have some hyacinths ready
for Christmas? l should like to buy
them >"
Her radiant glance repaid him.
| Really" she asked
Yes" He wondered if he should
have to wait so long to see her again.
/ He felt that he would not be per-
mitted to pass certain bounds.
That night he asked questions at
the hotel. The next morning he pre-
scented himself at Miss Persists door
( i have found that my father knew
your father he said. Their vessels
sailed from the same harbor. | won4
! der II / may come in and talk about
it "A little.
There were treasures In the old
I house of which MICS Persis did not
! know the value. and had she known
1t she would not have sold the fan
which her father had brought from
! China, the little carved figures which
| had ten picked up In Japan, the
vonde sul vases and worries on which
her new friends eyes rested with ap-
! probation. Ny name is sanderson."
| he said. as he was presented tn Miss
/ LaVlnia-, I've been a rover myself,
| IN the haHy. I never married-be-
cause / didn't want my wife TO live
alone, and because I never met q
woman | cared about
Something famed up in Miss Per-
slSs heart as tic gave this little ftfS-
tory OF himself. He was NOT married
and he wanted To be their friend Be-
yond that her Imagination did not go
Years ago she VA given up all
thoughts OF marriage. She had found
no one in that seaport town with
whom she could have mated
captain Sanderson went away that
! day. with an invitation TO come again.
An unexpected cali TO Washington
interviewed before he saw the sisters
! again, but be sent box Of roses
which maize Miss Persis gasp To
think of such roses In winter Peter.
she said To the yellow cat. and 1t
was Peter who saw her bend and
kiss them.
The day he was expected was
cold one, bur Miss Persis put on
white dress. Il never heard of any
| thing so silly complained Miss La
Vinia, lat your time OF life. You'Il
! catch your deaths of cold"
The phrase your time Of life"
made Miss Persis feel olf ana worn.
She went to her room and changed
her dress, and when Philip Sander
son arrived from the city, he faced.
not the little lady with the rose.
flushed cheeks, whom he had seen
last. blooming in Ser garden. hu,
wan, thin person
Ent the sight. instead Of bringing
dlsillusaou brought rage
Miss Lavinia kn'Tting steadily al rhe
other end of the living room could
not see the pair. but she caught the
steady murfnur of voices
Then suddenly she heard sound
that nSde ner sit Up and stare.
IT ! didn't know 1t was Impossible.
Peter" she said to the cat who lay
at her feet. II / didn't know 1t wax
impossible, ! should say that Some
one had been kissed"
Miss Persis came out Of the corner
looking twenty years younger Amid
the folds Of her black gown wsx
pinned spray of pink hvacinth.
Captain sanderson had pat it therc IT.
matches Your checks, Persis, he had
stsid. for all the bushes of youth had
come back TO the transformed iittie
lady 1t was then he had bent and
kissed her and Miss Persis had
started guilty. and had said Hush"
ashamed to own the truth. SO ha
came straight TO Miss Iavinia
Il am going to marry ~ersis." he
said. and YOU mustn't think I shall
separate YOU because YOU are going
10 live with MS. and SO is Peter" and
he caught hold OF the yellow cat, try
Ing by this subterfuge TO hide his
emotion
At her wedding Miss Fersis wor.
her old white gown. She would nor
accept penny of the captains
money to supplement her poor little
rousseau. But When She came back
from the honeymoon she displayed to
Lavinia's astonshed eyes an array
of wonderful creations, which were
the expression OF the captains adj
miration for his pretty wife
He made me get these soft pinks
and whites and green's" said Miss
Persis. II said / was too old for
colors, but he says they made him
think of my garden; and do YOU
know they seem to make ma
younger"
But she did not tell all that the
captain had said when he saw her
first in rose colored gown How
did It ever happen that you We're left
to bloom so long in your GARDEN
Fate has surely been good to me. to
let me be the first to pluck Your
sweetness"