303 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



October 



A SECRET. 



Sunk deep in a sea, 



A sea of the dead, 

 Lies a book that shall b* 



Never opened or read. 



Its sibylline pages 



A secret inclose — 

 The flower of the ages, 



A rose, a red rose. 



That sea of the dead 



Is mj- soul, and the book 

 Is my heart, and the red 

 Rose the love you forsook 

 -Julian Hawthorne in Lippincott's. 



A DAY OF KOSES. 



A s(''3nt of roses made Aylmer think 

 of something tbat was over long apo 

 and that he had almost forgotten. The 

 roses were everywhere in the drawing 

 toom he had just entered. They stood 

 m jars on the mantelpiece. Flat howls 

 held them on tables, and singly in slen- 

 der vases they were to be seen here and 

 there among the china and the odds and 

 ends of silver and enamel, and delft 

 and marble that filled the dainty room. 



Audrey bad loved roses. There was 

 one day in the little cottage under the 

 beech trees where Aylmer had spent 

 many an hour that seemed of a sudden 

 passing happy now — one day which he 

 and she had called the day of roses. Ee 

 had only to shut his ^yes — indeed, had 

 not to shut them — to see again the 

 flower strewn room. It was Audrey's 

 birthday, and be had brought her roses. 

 They were in the hamper first in which 

 they bad been packed. Ah, Audrey's 

 little cry of delight as she raised the lid 

 and saw them lying softly among their 

 damp leaves! Then they were on trays, 

 two big tri^ys that yet would not hold 

 them, and they overflowed on to the 

 table, whtre, with their foliage, they 

 lay, a litter of crimson and yellow and 

 green, over which, with caressing touch, 

 leaned Audrey, the sweetest flower of 

 all. He could see her gather up a hand- 

 ful and buiy her face amid the petals 

 that were scarcely more delicate than 

 herself. Then there was the seeking of 

 things in which to put them. Every 

 suitable vase and jar and pot the cot- 

 tage contained was requisitioned, and 

 there were still roses. He had been re- 

 XDluded vaguely of the woman of thr 

 sons of the prophets — without caDini/ 



tier all that — and the miraculous pot of 

 oil, for, as with her: "It came to pass 

 when the vessels were full that she said 

 * * * Brin»n; me yet a vessel. " And 

 there was no vessel found. Four roses 

 remained over. One of them he must 

 wear. He chose the smallest, an open- 

 ing bud. The other three Audrey, kiss- 

 ing them first, put into the girdle at 

 her waist. 



That was the day of roses, and Ayl- 

 mer, back from his two years' travel, 

 had forgotten it till a chance scent re- 

 called it and the idyl that had been an 

 incident among incidents in a somewhat 

 thoughtless life. 



But he was dreaming, and here was 

 Diana. She came in with an apology 

 and a rustle of silk. She was grieved to 

 have kept him waiting. She put up her 

 face to be kissed; the first time of his 

 dining with her, and not to be there to 

 receive him! But it was inexcusable — 

 inexcusable. She had had an afternoon 

 of delays — just that ; delays everywhere. 

 First the tiresome lawyer people, and 

 then the trustees, and at the last mo- 

 ment a young woman from Antoinette's 

 about her tiousseau. What a business 

 maiiiage was, and the fact of having 

 been through it before did not ease mat- 

 ters at all! 



Complicated them, Aylmer suggested. 



Ccmplici.ted them, she agreed. 



'.'I'm giving you a lot of trouble, I'm 

 afraid," he said smiling. 



There vas lo be no sentiment in this 

 marriage. Diana had "geld and green 

 forests." Aylmer had spent his gold, 

 and the potential cutting of certain tim- 

 ber at Aylmer's Keephad brought about 

 the engagement. Lady Aylmer had per- 

 haps a hand in the matter, when she 

 asked the comely widow of Fontenbrink 

 Granton of Broad street to the Keep to 

 meet btr son. 



"All that will have to go," she said 

 one day to Mrs, Granton, and waved 

 her hand toward a wood on the hill. 



Mrs. Granton raised her eyebiows. 



A day or two later, driving through 

 the wood in question, Mrs. Granton ob- 

 served a couple of men with notebooks 

 and pencils who saluted the Aylmer 

 carriage as it passed, and she observed 

 Aylmtr's face, too, as he returned their 

 salute with a wave of bis whip. 



Lady Aylmer caught — perhaps sought 

 — her eye and .siahtd. 



