The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1914-03-05
Where Two
Paths Meet
BY INA WRIGHT HANSON.

kept my house, should invite girl
to visit her and then insist that it
was my duty to help to entertain.
would do nothing of the sort, L
was thinking, when a turn in the
white blossomed pathway brought
her to my view.
She was slender and had a great
mass of brownish yellow hair, pin
ned up with gold pins, one of which
glowed sardonically at me with its
topaz eye. While / was wondering
why she didn't comb her hair
smoothly she turned, and her eyes,
of a wonderful vivid blue, seemed
to look down into my very soul.
"Stand perfectly still, Mr.. An
COVE, and shut your eyes. Is there
anything so sweet in this wide
world as a birch path in spring
time? Don't open them, Mr.. An
COVE. l want you to get the frag-
rance uninterrupted by any other
sense"
Why 1 should have stood there
with my foolish eyes shut tight L
don't know, but did until she gave
me permission to look at the white
feathery sprays and at her. Then
quite sociably we strolled the rest
Of the way together. | began to
feel interested in knowing what she
would say when we came to the end
of the path and she saw
"Why, l don't know your name"
! said abruptly.
"At first you are going to ad-
dress me as Miss Britland," she re-
piled promptly. "Afterward you
will say Frances, and at the end you
will call me Caprice"
''Why in the world should I call
you Caprice / asked.
81 don't know" she said. Don't
you ever say things just as If some
body inside of you were saying
them with your own tongue%
My reply to this amazing ques-
ton was hindered by the ending OF
the. birch bushes. We stood facing
a little pagoda of white marble. l
looked at the girl. Her hands were
tensely clasped; her red lips were
quivering.
dts like walking down the path
way Of love and suddenly coming
to the very temple of love itselfP
abe exclaimed.
I frowned. Why should my sister
prattle to strangers of our ances-
tors conceptions? She seemed to
divine my thoughts.
"Why do you look at me Like
that? What is it? What does it
mean~
! showed her the inscription on
the worn threshold "Temple OF
Love"-and with a sudden swift
grace she knelt above the lettering.
Then she sprang up. "Come, Mr..
Angove," she cried gayly; u will
run you a race~
So back along the birch lined
path we ran like two children, and
only my sisters amused smile at
the end of the race reminded me
of my forgotten dignity. l spent
the rest of the day among my books
and alone.
Next morning Miss Britland and
I selected walk opposite the birch
path. This was a straight path
through an avenue Of stately pines.
Yesterday the girl had been fanci-
full or merry; this day she was
neither. She walked sedately by
me, talking quite learnedly of the
future of radium. l began to see
why l might some time call her
Caprice.
aThis is the path of the pines" l
said when we had exhausted radi-
um., eve should have taken this
one first, for it leads straight and
true as the compass needle to the
temple, while the birch path me-
anders foolishly this way and that
and makes one many unnecessary
steps to reach the same place"
Zone welcomes unnecessary steps
when one walks with the spirit OF
the woods" she answered. "Any-
way, you should not have told me
that this path leads to the same
place. 1t would have been nicer for
me to discover it for myself"
$50 it would" l answered hum
bly,. 'How shall / atone%
'By telling me of yourself" " she
replied.
FsThere isn't much to tell" I said,
feeling pleased at her interest. We