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Show lt$trange: J)cacc Gllt> 1Rose anll $11\?er bring disillusion with it." Hence she post~ paned it as long as she could, but the Colonel himself gave the signal by moving back his chair. An awkward pause followed, which lasted until Rose went to the piano of her own accord and began to play. At length she drifted into the running chords of a familiar accompani~ ment and Allison took his violin and joined in. As he stood by Rose, the mere fact of his nearness brought her a strange peace. Had she looked up, she would have seen that though he stood so near her, he had eyes only for Isabel and was playing to her alone. Isabel did not seem to care. She sat with her hands folded idly in her lap, occasionally glancing at the twins who sat together on a sofa across the room. Madame Bernard and the Colonel had gone out on the balcony that opened off of the library. The night was cool, yet had in it the softness of May. Every wandering wind brought a subtle, exquisite fragrance from orchards blooming afar. High in the heavens swung the pale gold moon of Spring. uWhat a night," said Madame, almost in a whisper. "It seems almost as if there never had been another Spring." u And as if there never would be another.'' "That may be true, for one or both of us," she replied, with unwonted sadness. "f{eeping tbe ,faitb "My work is done," sighed the Colonel. "1 have only to wait now." "Sometimes I think that all of Life is waiting," she went on, with a little catch in her voice, 44 and yet we never know what we were waiting for, unless-when all is done--" A warm, friendly hand closed over hers. "Do not question too much, dear friend, for the God who ordained the beginning can safely be trusted with the end, as well as with all that lies between. Do you know," he continued, in a different tone, "a night like this always makes me think of those wonderful lines: "'The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand And the stars in her hair were seven.''' Francesca's eyes filled and the stars swam before her, for she remembered the three white lilies the Colonel had put into the still hands of his boy's mother, just before the casket was closed. "I wonder," she breathed, "if-they -know." "I wonder, too," he said. The strains of the violin floated out upon the scented night, vibrant with love and longing, with passion and pain. Something had come into the music that was never there before, but only Rose knew it. I$7 .:llo1tbt:'2 1\nowl |