d home
with a fearful joy in her heart. She was used to placing flowers on her
table, gay nasturtiums, delicate sweet peas, and gorgeous zinnias from
her own little back-yard garden. But to buy flowers for the table had
always seemed to her the acme of luxury. Often she had gazed admiringly
at the treasures of the florist's window, with never a thought that such
splendors of color and perfume would one day be within her reach. She
had really never accepted the change from poverty to wealth, and not
once had she put her fingers into the purse that the hand of fortune
held out to her. It was David who bought the house and its furnishings,
David who bought even her clothes, while she, fettered by the frugal
habits of a lifetime, stood aghast at what seemed to her a reckless,
sinful extravagance. But now the rich fragrance of the roses was like an
enchantment. Her hands trembled, a flush rose to her cheek, and as she
placed the blossoms in a cut-glass vase, unconsciously she stepped
across the boundary line between the old life and the new. Those
hothouse flowers and ferns were the signs of wealth, David's wealth. She
was David's wife, and she had a right to every costly and beautiful
thing that her husband's money could purchase. She drew back from the
table to observe the effect of the flowers drooping over the heavy
damask cloth set with sparkling glass and silver and delicate china;
then, moved by a sudden impulse that she could not have explained, she
drew one of the roses from the vase and hurried up to her room,
glancing furtively back to see whether she was observed by either of the
servants. Standing before the mirror, she broke off the long stem and
pinned the flower at her belt, then gazed anxiously into the glass.
Clearly the flower looked out of place. She unpinned it, noticing how
rough and coarse her hands were when they touched the satiny rose
petals. But she had seen other women wearing great clusters of such
flowers, and she too must learn to wear them. She heard David's step on
the pavement below; the front door opened. She replaced the rose, and
turning from the mirror with an air of firm resolve, she went bravely
down to meet her husband.

Ah, the joy of reunion! All her perplexities fell away from her as she
and David clasped hands and smiled at each other after the manner of
long married lovers.

"Thank God for home!" ejaculated David, sinking into an easy chair. He
looked around the room, looked ag