The best of it was
that it was only a beginning, and there were few nights afterward,
during that long winter, when the warmth and light of Miss Waite's
room was not shared for awhile, at least, with the little seamstress.
The roses lasted more than a week; then Miss Waite helped Cicely to
gather up the petals as they fell, and together they packed them away
in a little rose-jar, according to an old recipe that Miss Waite read
out of her grandmother's time-yellowed note-book.
Then Cicely brought Miss Balfour's note.
[Illustration: "THE CHEER AND WARMTH OF IT ALL COMFORTED HER."]
"I want to preserve this, too," she said, dropping it in among the
dried rose-leaves. "You told me that Rhoda means 'little rose,' and
that line, 'Sincerely your friend,' was as sweet to me that day as the
flowers themselves. As long as I live I shall think of her as an
'American Beauty.'"
She lifted the little rose-jar for one more whiff of its faint, sweet
fragrance, and said, slowly, as she closed it again, "And as long as I
live the thought of her will help to take the sting out of all my
thorns."
ALIDA'S HOMELINESS
ALIDA'S HOMELINESS
With a sigh of relief Alida Gooding saw the dentist put away his
instruments. Her nerves seemed all aquiver as she slowly rose and went
into the little dressing-room to put on her hat and coat, and to wait
for the family carriage which was to call for her at this hour.
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