The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-10-20
ROSE
BY lola

ing W int tltNdltu SldllOn anu
lay in the trodden snow, a pink La
France rose. He was late, yet he
stopped and picked it up, trying TO see
where it had come from.
The neighborhood was far from
fashionable. Rows of seeond-rate
apartment houses lined both sides of
the street, with stores on the ground
floors and the elevated tracks between
them. But as he looked up he caught
a glimpse of a face at a second-story
window. a face that matched the rose.
Young and very girlish it was. with
eyes full of mischief and dismay, too,
seeing him with the rose in his hand.
Just IA moment. and il was out of sight
in the room back of the window.
Bartram went up the long stairs to
the elevated station with a curious
tingling at his heartstrings. Romance
did not usually stalk his footsteps.
All the way downtown and during
the days work he was wildly con
sciOus of the rose in his waistcoat
pocket. Several times he surrepti-
tiousiy took it out and looked at it
when he was alone in the office.
The next morning when he came to
the newsstand at the foot of the ele-
waited stairs he glanced up at the win
dow. There was no sign of the face
he wanted to see, and he rode down.
town feeling the joy of the day gone.
Bartram puzzled for several days,
seeking to meet her. Then toward the
end of the week there came a sudden,
blessed relief. A small, discreet sign
hung in the upper left-hand corner of
one window.
Room to Let"
Bartram tool his noon hour, and
vent up to engage the room. The
door in the second hallway vas opened
by a middle-aged woman, pleasant
faced and hopeful. Yes, she had a
room to let, the front bedroom off the
parlor. The young lady who had oc-
cupied it before had just left.
Bartram stared at her. Could fate
be so unkind?
Nothing happened to her, 1 hopper"
he said slowly.
vi, uOlHluS COHldSlOuS, Sh, Ic-
piled the woman. "She was just hurt
a little bit in an automobile accident
run down on Columbus venue.
She's at the hospital now, but you
mustn't be afraid of that. 1t don't
hurt the room a bit"
NO" Bartram answered. "Tll take
the room. II expect to be called
out of town for a little while, but I'll
keep the room"
He paid a couple of weeks in adj
vance, got the name of the hospital
and went out on the street again.
From a booth in a cigar store he tele-
phoned to the office. They must ex-
cuse him that afternoon. He was not
well, and had gone home. That done,
he started for the hospital. He had
her name now, Dorothy Bennett. 1t
sounded like the lame of a girl who
loved roses. AT the desk he asked
for her. They looked up the name,
said it had been an emergency case
brought in during the night. She
was not badly injured. He could go
up to the ward and see her. Bar
tram held tightly the big cluster of
pink roses he had brought and made
his way to the elevator.
At the door of the ward a nurse d.
rected him to the right cot, and he
tiptoed to it cautiously. She vas
sleeping. Her hair was braided in two
girlish plaits down her shoulders. She
looked pale and wiStful. There were
no flowers IN the little stand beside
her. After Bartram had sat down the
nurse took the roses and brought them
back in a tall green glass vase. Then
he waited.
When she opened her eyes without
stirring there was no alarm or sur
prise in them. She smiled at him, ever
so little, and looked at the roses I'M
d~erstandingly.
81 wondered if you'd find out" she
said. "Tm not hurt much"
Dorothy smiled up at him when he
left, and watched him as he went
down the o 1t had been horribly
lonely, coming into the strange hos
pital with no friends at all. She had
been in New York two months now
trying to get work, and each day
had made the quest more hopeless.
She lay smiling at the roses a long
while, thinking of all he had said. He
had promised to come every day to
see her.
1t was q month before the broken
ankle was healed and her shoulder
felt right, but there came the day
when she was to be discharged. Bar
tram came for her in a taxi, his eyes
eager and purposeful.
"You know" Dorothy said, as she
came down the wide steps, leaning On
his arm, "it's so good to get out again,
but I haven't any idea where I'm 60
ing. Do you suppose Mrs. Kinney
would take me back into my same
little room just until 1 could get
work."
ITS waiting for you now" Bar
tram told her. "Warm as toast, and
your going to stay there until we're
married. Oh, l know | haven't asked
you regularly before; but you knew,