Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-12-11
Evening Star S
Daily Story
MIGNONETTE AND THE
MOONLIGHT
BY AGNES VINCENT.
n y zHVlFN1 FELFNAIaFf ' + =
Copyright, 1914, by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate.


his health and spirits so rluch bene-
fited by rural life that he had de-
cided to spend at least q part of the
winter away from the city. His Of
flee did not require his presence
either early or late so that the trip
ping back and forth to the city in
convenienced him little.
The new rooms he had taken We're
in a private home and he felt a trlhe
lonely as the autumn chilliness pene-
trated his being and the quietness Of
his surroundings began to impress
itself upon him. 1t was very different
from the life he had just left at
gay summer hotel.
He pulled aside the curtains at his
window and drew up chair. A bright
moon was making her appearance be-
hind the trees at the rear of the house
and the moonlight scene before him
was enchantingly lovely. Even in his
loneliness Gordon Kennedy recognized
the unusual beauty of the garden into
, which his windows gave view. 1t
was an old-fashioned garden IN the
grounds of the family next door.
Suddenly Gordon started and
moved closer to the window. Ies-
there was a white figure moving
about in the garden. AS the moon
became high and shone directly on
The flowers the man saw that it was
a slim white form of a girl bending
low over the gardens.
How strange!' he breathed aloud.
'sOr--is she real?" He leaned out as
far as he dared and watched the
graceful wraith-llke figure glide from
lower to flower. Presently the girl
began to hum and Gordon sat there
fascinated by what he heard and
saw Her voice was low and rich
and she sang bits of an old song his
mother used to sing when he was a
boy, "Sweet Lavender
won't you buy sweet lavender"
he could not help repeating softly to
himself, and the old refrain fingered
in his mind for days.
Every night he watched, as the
moon came up, for another sight OF
his fair neighbor, but it was as II
she had been a wandering moonoeam
that came never again into the gar
den below.
Almost a month later the frost was
threatening to lay low the heads or
the flowers in the garden that had
become source of much enjoyment
to Gordon Kennedy.
And that's a cold moon," he was
saying to himself as he took his
nightly glance into the garden be-
fore his tiny log fire with his books
Yes, mother, I'll be careful, he
heard a girls voice say in the next
garden 81 have on a wrap, dear. /
won't take cold, but l must get some
mignonette before the frost.
Gordon sat down quietly and
watched the girl step in and out
among the paths until she came 10
the low fragrant bed of mignonette.
lrn "a
in the cinder path and began TO
pick.
"She must be romantic thought
Gordon. Or he stopped suddenly,
as If loath to let the suggestion
enter his mind, "she may be erratie.
when the sun shines all day, the
moonlight is a strange time to pick
flov ers I-no, never heard of the
like"
rEe ri gathered a large cluster
OF the old-fa shioned blooms ana
then, with her face buried In them,
retraced her steps to the porch, onto
which the warm lights Of the library
sbone. He saw her for moment
IN this glow and then she disap-
"odd or not odd, I'd like to know
.her', Gordon said 81 like her voice
and | like her garden.
IT was almost weird the next day
when he entered the private office or
Milton Psiaki an exporter, whom he
had to see on business, to find a
bowl of mignonette staring him IN
the face.
chap2" Psiaki said in his bluff,
hearty manner "Dn't you like it?'
He had seen the young mans eyes
fan on the bowl of flowers and ne
had followed the expression.
Il like them-yes, but it's an odd
coincidence.
the foreigner.
HThe mignonette-not you,' Cor
don fastened to reply.
MY wifes sister sent them TO me-
It's my favorite flower. She has so
much of it In the family garden AT
home and every year since lnaTrleu
her sister she has picked the last
BOUQUET before frost and sent 1t to
me. Nice girl, Marjorie! What is II
this morning, Kennedy? knitted
gloves for the war or canned beans!
Business was uppermost in the eloer
mans mind this morning-not MOVERS
Kennedy laughed. ITS neither one
its those flowers. They've put all
else from my mind.
4Tuti tut Here!' He pulled out
sprig and handed it to GORDON
.sWear that and forget it.
"I'll wear it, but | won't forget IT,
retorted Kennedy, placing the flower
in his coat. And it is canned beans
If YOU insist on business. | want
1000 dozen cans for immediate ship
ment."
Psiaki whistled and began to figure
and with that the two men began to
get deep in business matters and the
Eiowers for the time being were for-
gotten.
when Kennedy returned to his
ONCE he put the blossom In water,
and at night he carried II home. He
was almost ashamed of himself at
his age, nearly thirty, doing anything
so sentimental.
.'I'm like schoolgirl he told him
self. "The next thing I'll play a
guitar under her window
And yet, underlying the outer senti-
nent, there was determination to
meet that girl. He decided to remain
in the country, and he began to long
for the time when suburban folks
made garden. Never before IN ms
s,ophisticated city existence had he
ever known or cared about when
gardens were dug.
In time spring came. And one Sat
urdav afternoon he saw the girl
again. This time he saw her through
the hedge and she was standing In
the iddle of her garden spot evil
dentIy deciding what to plant and
where to plant 1t. She was even more
lovely in the sunlight than she had
seemed in the tale moonlight and
Gordon Kennedy glued his face to
hole in the hedge as If he had been a
small boy stealing a look at a circus
through a slit in the canvas.
"Rnf LIN as hadlY off as ever" he