though
Peace looked inquiringly about her for her small playmates who usually
rushed eagerly to meet her, not one was in sight. From the rooms above,
however, floated the sweet strains of Giuseppe's violin and the
unrestrained, riotous melody of the lame girl's pet canary, and Peace
skipped lightly up the wide stairway, eager to greet each member of this
happy family.

The door of the invalid's chamber stood open, and beside the window,
shaded by the great oak, still hung with autumn colors, lay the beloved
form of the Lilac Lady among her silken cushions. She was clad in simple
white, with the heavy bronze braids trailing across her shoulders, and
the waxen fingers twined in a familiar pose upon her breast. A soft
smile wreathed the colorless lips, but the beautiful blue eyes were
closed in slumber, and she looked as if she were resting after a
hard-fought battle. So lovely a picture did she present that Peace
paused on the threshold, and the gay words of greeting bubbling up to
her lips died away in a deep breath of awe.

The room was flooded with autumn sunshine and banked with the flowers
the invalid loved best; a plate of luscious fruit stood on the table
beside the wheel-chair, a late magazine lay open on the floor close by,
and Gypsy sang deliriously from his perch in the big bay window. All
this Peace saw, and more. The thin fingers clasped a knot of the
once-despised, bright-faced pansies, and a single white one nestled in
the red-brown waves at the left temple.

"Oh," breathed Peace, scarcely above a whisper, "isn't she beautiful?
She got tired of watching and fell asleep while she was waiting for me!"

Softly she tiptoed across the thick carpet and laid her burden of golden
chrysanthemums in the arms of the sleeping girl, and once more repeated
the words, "She fell asleep while she was waiting for me! My Lilac Lady
has fallen asleep!"

"Yes," said Aunt Pen softly. "'He giveth His beloved sleep.'"

THE END

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lilac Lady, by Ruth Alberta Brown

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LILAC LADY ***

***** This file should be named 23782.txt or 23782.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/7/8/23782/

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editi