way change this, I--I wouldn't
ask you to marry me."

[Sidenote: The Shadow Rose]

Rising from her chair, she bent over, kissed him on the forehead, went
to the lattice, picked another rose, and came back. "See," she said,
standing in the light; "life and beauty and joy--all in a rose."

"And love," he added.

"And love." She held it at arm's length. Sharply defined, the shadow
fell upon the white floor of the veranda, perfect in line.

"And there," she continued, "is the same thing in another form. It is
still a rose--anyone can see that. Only the colour and fragrance are
gone, but one can remember both. To-morrow I'll write, and find out
which we're to have--the rose, or the shadow of the rose."

"It's chance," he said, "like the tossing of a coin."

"Most things are," she reminded him. "Did you ever stop to think what
destinies attend the opening or closing of a door?"

He made no answer. "Good-night," she said, with a smile.

"Good-night, my beloved." His face was illumined with "the light that
never was on sea or land," but he did not even attempt to touch her
hand.

XV

The Inlaid Box

[Sidenote: Beauty]

"'Beauty,'" read Grandmother Starr, with due emphasis upon every word,
"'is the birthright of every woman,'" She looked up from the pages of
_The Household Guardian_ as she made this impressive announcement.
Rosemary was busy in the kitchen, and Miss Matilda sat at the other
window mending a three-cornered tear in last year's brown alpaca.

"'The first necessity of beauty is an erect carriage,'" she continued.

"That lets us out," commented Matilda, "not havin' any carriage at all."

"Frank used to say," said Grandmother, irrelevantly, "that he always had
his own carriage until his Pa and me got tired of pushin' it."

"What kind of a carriage is an erect carriage?" queried Matilda, biting
off her thread.

"I ain't never heard tell of 'em," replied Grandmother, cautiously, "but
I should think, from the sound of it, that it was some kind that was to
be driv' standin' up."

[Sidenote: The Power of Ages]

"Then I've seen 'em."

"Where?" Grandmother lowered her spectacles to the point where they
rested upon the wart and peered disconcertingly at Matilda. The upper
part of the steel frames crossed her eyeballs horizontally, giving her
an uncanny appearance.

"At the circus, when Pa took us. After the whole show was over they had
what they called a chariot race, and women driv' aroun