by Myrtle Reed
IX
Rosemary and Mignonette
"Sweet Lady of my Dreams, it cannot be that you are displeased. If youwere, I should know, but do not ask me how!
"Day by day, my eyes long for the sight of you; night by night my heartremembers you, for that inner vision does not vanish with the sun. Youhave unconsciously given me a priceless gift, for wherever I may go, Itake you with me--all the grace of you, all the beauty, and all thesoftness. I have only to close my eyes and then I see.
"But do not think I keep your image always before me, for it is not so.In the work-a-day world, you have no place. You belong, rather, to thosefair lands of fancy which lie just beyond the borders of this world andare, or so I think, very near the gleaming gates of Heaven.
"I am not always at work, but sometimes, even when I am, you cometripping before my eyes, so dainty, so wholly exquisite, that I forgetwhat I am doing, and then I must put you aside. But when the day isdone, and the light of it shows only through the pinholes pricked in thecurtain of night, then I can think of you, as radiant, as beautiful, andas far above me as those very stars.
"All unknowingly, you are the light of my day. Whatever darkness mightsurround me, your eyes would make it noon. However steep and thorny mypath, your hand in mine would make it a sunny meadow, swept by shadowywings, where the white and crimson clover bloomed all day.
"You give me life. You make the birds sing more sweetly for me; you makethe roses more fragrant, the moonlight more like pearl. You haveglorified the commonplace affairs of the day with your enchantment; youhave put the joy of the gods into the heart of a man.
"Do you wonder that, loving you like this, I do not make myself known?Sweetheart, it is because I fear. Already I have more than I deservebecause you are not displeased with me, and since I wrote last I havemade progress. Would it surprise you very much if I told you I knewwhere you lived?
"I fancy I see you now, with the scarlet signals flaming on your cheeks,but, Iris, I shall never intrude. It is for you to say whether I shalllove you in silence and afar, or face to face, as I dream that some dayI may.
"I want you, dear--I want you with all my heart. Of all the women in theworld, you are the one God meant for me. Otherwise, why have I been sostrangely led to you?
"Since the first day I saw you, I have knelt at your feet. Not for onemoment have I forgotten you, so flower-like, so womanly, so dear. Sowill it always be, whether I live or die. Even to my grave, I shall takethe memory of you.
"To-night my memories are few, but my dreams--they are so many that Icould not begin to tell you all. But one of them you must know--thatsome day you will let me tell you how much I love you, and promise methat I may shield you all the rest of your life.
"The wind should never make you cold, the sun should never shine toofiercely upon you, the storm should never beat against you, if I had myway.
"Iris, may I come? Will you let me teach you to care? So sure am I of mylove that I ask only for the chance to make you believe.
"Put a flower on your gate-post when the moon rises to-night, if you arewilling that I should come. Two flowers, if you are willing that Ishould come sometime, but not now. Then, when your name-flowerembroiders the marshes, you will know who loves you--who worshipsyou--who offers you his all."
* * * * *
That night, when the moon swung high in the heavens, Iris tiptoed outinto the garden, with the letter--sentient, alive, and human--crushedclose against her heart. So conscious was she of its presence that shefelt it blazoned upon her breast for all the world to read.
Dew made the grass damp, but Iris did not care. Threads of silver lightpicked out a dainty tracery, and here and there set a dew-drop togleaming like a diamond among unnumbered pearls. Drowsy chirps camefrom the maples above her, where the little birds slept in their swayingnests and dreamed of wild flights at dawn. A great white moth brushedagainst her face, as softly as thistledown, and she laughed, because itwas so like a kiss.
Down toward her corner of the garden she went, her dimity skirtsdaintily uplifted. The moonlight touched a cobweb woven across therose-bush, and made a rainbow of it.
"A little lost rainbow," thought Iris, "out alone in the night, likeme!"
She stooped and gathered a sprig of mignonette, then a bit of rosemaryfrom Mrs. Irving's garden. "She won't care," said Iris, to herself; "sheused to love somebody, long ago."
She bound the two together with a blade of grass, and put the merestkiss between them, then impulsively wiped it away. But, after all, sometrace of it must linger, and Iris did not intend to give too much, soshe threw it aside, as it happened, into Lynn's garden. Then shegathered another sprig of mignonette, another leaf of rosemary, boundthem together, and held them very far away, out of reach of temptation.
Back toward the gate she went, her heart wildly beating against theimprisoned letter. She hesitated a moment in the shadow of the house.The great white moth had followed her and again touched her facecaressingly. Suppose someone should see!
But there was no one in sight. "Anyhow," thought Iris, "if one wishes tocome out for a moment in the evening, to walk as far as the gate, it isall right. If there should be rosemary and mignonette on the gate-postin the morning, someone who was up very early might take it away beforeanybody had seen it. There would be no harm in leaving it thereovernight, even though it isn't quite orderly."
She went bravely toward the gate, and the moonbeams made an aureoleabout her hair. The light of dreams, shining through the mist,transfigured her with silver sheen. The earth was exquisitely still, andthe sound of her little feet upon the gravelled path echoed andre-echoed strangely.
Timidly, Iris put the rosemary and mignonette, bound together by asingle blade of grass, first upon one gate-post and then upon the other."Such a little bit!" she mused. "One couldn't call it a flower!" Yes,mignonette was a flower, but rosemary? Surely, no!
She walked backward, slowly, toward the house, and to her consciouseyes, the tell-tale message dominated the landscape. The moonlightfairly made it shine. Almost at the steps, Iris was seized with panic.Then her light feet twinkled down the path, and frightened, trembling,and ashamed, she thrust the nosegay into the open throat of her gown.
"Oh," murmured Iris, as she went hastily into the house, "what could Ihave been thinking of!"
* * * * *
But across the street, in the darkness of the shrubbery, Someone smiled.