Show f S TWENTY FIFTH BIRTHDAY by genie de S wentworth james b sa J copyright by joseph bowles june 1 11 it Is five years to day since I 1 even opened my birthday diary at first after it was all over 1 coulden couldn t bear to see or to touch the little book then when that feeling bad dulled I 1 forgot all about it but this morning I 1 came across the volume which holds the flamboyant fancies from 17 to 20 and a mood has elded me that after alve years I 1 will again turn to my paper confidant poor little book you are faded and yellow on the margins like our ler the worse to wear from 17 to a Is a long long while who could help growing the worse cor weara I 1 don t s appose that many jilted wo men ot 2 can emile with perpetual success jilted it Is a marvelously ugly word to write bu as a birthday diary de mands the truth I 1 may not scratch it out yes at 20 I 1 loved madly riotously and wonderfully oh god how tu 1 of real romance I 1 was and at 21 I 1 had to teach myself to leave loving I 1 think I 1 should ever learn the lesson but I 1 suppose I 1 have now I 1 almost ish now that I 1 had entered in the birthday diary how my lover gave me up there was nothing par original about the proceeding or the way it was done but tor all that it was worth remembering it was after dinner I 1 was in my boudoir waiting tor him of going to the theater with the others beck se he had wired that he wanted to see me alone that wire had made me so happy it Is because he just wants to sit with his arms around me he and I 1 quite by ourselves I 1 thought with glad conceit as I 1 got into his favorite gown with curious punctuality he was usually late on ever occasion george arrived his mouth looked straight and get as he entered the room but when it was pressed against my own in the most passionate greeting he had ever given me I 1 forgot its almost cruel lines when I 1 had drawn back after that spontaneous kiss george did not make any effort to come near me again I 1 have come to tell you he began looking more napoleonic than I 1 had ever seen him I 1 have come to say delia that my people want me to marry ra woman with a great deal more money than you will ever have I 1 had better confess it all and oh it s no good writing down the THROUGH THE TREES ugly history of debt and difficulty the mercenary edicts of a snobbish family full of generals admirals unpaid bills and self importance and the pitiful cowardly weakness of a man aitu a firm jaw and napoleonic profile details are nothing its only results that matter and the results are in my heart and on my face this morning when I 1 woke I 1 looked in the glass just as I 1 looked on the day I 1 began my birthday diary eight years ago at first there dian didn t seem to be much difference but then gradually I 1 under stood why my only friends are clever ebald spinsters or sensible married women and my only admirers livery colonels or prudent people who would be likely to study insurance uses A woman of five and twenty I 1 remember how I 1 used to revel in the term woman while I 1 was young enough tor it to be absurd when ap piled to myself but now oh I 1 d give anything it people would only spon call me a girl it seems ages since I 1 was called a girl by anyone except mamma she of course will call me one when I 1 m 90 I 1 am always a nice little worn an a clever woman like yourself you who are such a charming woman etc I 1 don t want to be a woman not nice clever nor charming I 1 d give all my reputation for saying mart things being accomplished and well read and for dressing well it I 1 could just be a silly vain shy arro gant girl again but no youth s sweet scented man has closed tor me I 1 am 25 I 1 am clever I 1 am lone ly I 1 am admired I 1 am unloved and even dolt the boy lover who has faithfully remembered my birth days all theae years forgets me now to day 1 the first time since we said good by on my seventeenth birth day that no gift has arrived from the blazing past I 1 expect I 1 shall hear by jhb next mall that he has taken unto himself a wife some young fresh skinned thing sent straight over from home in der to test the anglo indian marriage mar ket before she runs the gamut of ex london seasons poor bolt he was full ot al a boy s passionate fidelity I 1 shall never never forget you 01 leave off loving you all my life sometimes I 1 can hear those bordi a he said them that wonderful june li just eight years ago when I 1 was lull of child girlhood s arrogance perhaps then oh here comes som one to bierk my solitude cannot they leave me alone with my birthday thoughts 6 p m although I 1 never believed that this birthday entry would itself into two halves like some of the others nevertheless it has done so I 1 began my diary on jhb river I 1 conclude it in the bedroom such aj tiny bungalow bedroom where my aln ner frock 13 laid out ready ahe some one who came through the trees to break the solitude of my birthday thoughts was dolt the boy lover bronzed and grown into a strong almost stern looking man I 1 thought I 1 would bring your pres ent myself this year delia were hia first words as he stepped into thai punt and dropped a packet into my lap in a strange inexplicable way I 1 gasn wasn t surprised to see him it almost seemed as though the water and the wind and the birds had prepared me tor his coming I 1 I 1 thought ou had t f tor gotter me this yi ar I 1 stammered tearing the string and paper off the packet I 1 told you eight years ago that 1 should never never forget you he answered quietly as I 1 raised the lid 0 a small cardboard box and there was my birthday gift another gold heart just like the on he had given me when I 1 was 17 I 1 have come home to give you m heart over again will you take it this time delia then I 1 realized that there are som men who never forget and than god for them but dolf I 1 have changed so much let me move into the sunlight here so that you can really see my face and remember I 1 powder now no no you must hear me I 1 hav loved some one very much and and he gave me up jilted me doltl you will be only taking the leavings 0 another man you can t want me dolt you can t want me with a tender smile on his face dolf took both my hands in his yes dear I 1 can want you and I 1 de want you he answered I 1 have wanted you all these years lonely blazing years delia and in my own way 1 ve been praying all the time that some day we might be together A sudden feeling of resentment rushed over me perhaps bis prayers had been responsible tor my being loved and left but then as I 1 saw the great honesty of his eyes but thankfulness and humility re in my heart it you really mean it dolt ia am ready but it Is a risk tor a man tr pick up broken threads after eight years I 1 said it Is no risk because with me the threads have never been dropped then he bent down and kissed my hand now the second gold heart 1 I lost the first one years ago la banging round my neck and everyone knows we are going to be married we have been up to the houseboat and erica has kissed and cried over u both and mamma Is so happy too everyone seems happy and surely it can t be true but Is it that I 1 w happy as wella it would be wonderful if it were so but 1 I sit opposite the glass as I 1 write it almost looks like it I 1 caught myself smiling withof knowing it and the smile has taken away that long line put on my white frock and and why to night I 1 believe I 1 can bear to ear roses ah there Is dolf he 13 calling to me from the garden below when are you coming down yo vain little girl little girl girl girl not ceet woman but just vain little girl at last I 1 have come back to my heritage I 1 am 25 but some one has called me a girl it Is very dear to be loved and my thankfulness Is great please god the future will be all right I 1 think it where are the roses put one in my hair and a on my breast yes dolt I 1 am coming A little girl |