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Show I ""1,r.7pi,i r w . s - a KJ . a I '..Z. .IZZ'D LEJLT. It was a teaut:;-l dy In October. A frler.3, tea years clier thaq X. arid I were wa'.kir lntlie palm garden telling 'each ' other c? Ue harper.Jnga of the rammer. . , llT friend, Auj-urt E elm art, took from his pocket a r.hotcgraph of a view which be had learned to love during the past summer. : s ." 1 spent a rammer which 1 haU never forget," he said. "How beautiful were the,valley which I overlooked from the top of the lovely spot I had found on a hlU. How picturesque- the costumes of the 'peasants as they walked through the woods to the little chapel In the village vil-lage on .Sunday-, , , ' . (. . "I worshiped In a greater church In God's own beautiful nature. The swimming swim-ming m rvan knew me,' the deer learned not to be araid of me, even the fishes did not swim away from my boat a I drifted along on the limpid waters of the mountain ' lake, on . the ehores . of which the tree now stand bare and the flowers have faded. away." . ' He showed me the photograph, and when he took it from his portfolio I saw In It between two sheets of paper a withered leaf, which had evidently been there for a long time.- It struck me that this poor, dried up leaf had a history. "Why have you never married, JLu-gustT" JLu-gustT" I asked abruptly. He turned pale, looked at the leaf and blushed. "The story of my life," ha exclaimed; "do you want to hear UT" Of course I wanted to know the history his-tory of a friend I had known more than forty years. The sun was going down in splendor behind the Tannus. We climbed over artificial rocks and cam to the artificial arti-ficial lake, made by the hands of man. but ever ao beautiful in the last ray of the dying sun. "Let us row out," raid August, and slowly we were soon gliding across the dark green waters of the little lake. The figure of a lonesome girl walking across a bridge stood out as a sharp silhouette against the evening sky as our boat passed under the bridge. A yellow maple leaf fluttered slowly through the still air until it dropped Into the water close to our little boat. I saw tears in the eyea of my friend, aird for several minutes we were silent; then suddenly he began, with a deep sigh: "Here In this spot I was once young, here I loved a girl. It was the old, old story. She was the daughter of an aristocratic and wealthy family; I was poor and unknown. Her kin were high among the people of the world; I had only my youth and a talent which wai worth nothing, as they measured value. But we loved each other, and in spite of all difficulties we often met secretly, se-cretly, though never alone, always in the presence of her old governess. "The home of Lucy's parentsiwas surrounded sur-rounded by a large park and under the dark shadows of the old trees we often met evenings and spoke to each other of our young love. Lucy was a girl for whose love one felt that it was worth while to brave everything, and I prorn.-lsed prorn.-lsed her to use all my energy, all my talent to win a name for myself that I might be found worthy of her in the eyes of her parents. She, poor girl, could promise nothing. She was the powerless creature in the hands of her cold, stern and worldly parents, who were kind to her only as long as she obeyed them like a slave, but became brutal tyrants as soon as she showed signs of a wlU of her own. She was not only the loveliest, most beautiful creature I have ever seen, but the beauty of her heart and character even surpassed that of her face and form. "Never have I met another girl whom I have cared to call mine, and I am sure that had we ever been married the world would never have beheld a happier hap-pier couple. But when she was IS her old governess, who had loved her as If she were her own child, and who had understood our innocent love, was cent away, and an old, stiff English woman became her companion, who immediately immediate-ly told her parents of our secret meetings. meet-ings. Then the storm broke out over our heads, and, though her aristocratic parents carefully avoided a scandal, which in their eyes would have made Lucy impossible in good society, ehe was kept locked up irf her room . until I nearly despaired. "For many, many weeks we did not meet, and If the poor girl suffered one-half one-half of what I did I pray that God will forgive her proud parents I cannot even now. We had met each other af a dance, and as long as I remained in the town Lucy was not permitted to go to a ball. I decided to go abroad to win fame and come back rich and with a name to ask for her hand. At last one day luck was with us. A day in October, a day just like this, I was rowing in this very rpot. Lucy walked across the bridge, her parents, a little ahead, the English companion followed at a distance. Lucy fcotnd.a large withered leaf on the bridge and wrote a message on It with her pin at 6 in the park outside her home. The leaf fluttered through the air just like that one tonight and fell at my feet. But the English woman must have eeen It, I waited for her In vain that evening, even-ing, many evenings. Lucy did not come. She never came. Without love phe married mar-ried a worthier nobleman who gambled her money away and shot himself when he had lost all. "Today I am rich and famous and Lucy is a widow with two children. That Is why I have never married and that is the story of the old withered leaf you just saw." |