The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 6 July 1911, Page 1227

The Storyteller

—■ ♦ A HAPPY MISTAKE (Concluded.) ' A lady, richly though plainly dressed, entered the room; and Nora, instantly recognising her visitor, started up with a cry of astonishment and pleasure. The lady, smiling brightly, came forward. * - ‘Well, Nora—that is your name, is it not? Did you, think I had entirely forgotten you? You have remembered me, I see though, after so long a time, I had scarcely thought to find you in your old quarters.’ ‘lndeed I have remembered you, ma’am!’ Nora exclaimed, her face glowing with surprise and welcome. ‘I could never forget your kindness, with the beautiful lily you gave me always ready to remind me of it.’ She pushed forward a chair; and the lady, still panting from her long climb from the street, sank into it with relief. ‘ I never hoped to see you heje again, ma’am; but I always wanted to tell you how much good the lily did me, especially after I got sick and had to stay up here by myself all the time.’ Then you have been ill, too?’ Mrs. Lanson’s voice expressed sincere sympathy. That is too bad! I did not intend to neglect you so long, my dear but I was away for some time, and since my return to the city have been quite ill myself.’ She motioned the girl to take the one other chair the room offered: ‘Shall I tell you how I chanced to come this afternoon ? I was down-town this morning, and, among other things, I purchased a very beautiful lily. I intended to come to see you soon, as I had a little proposal to make to you; but the sight of the lily brought you particularly to my mind, and I determined to look you up before the day passed. But lam afraid’ (glancing around the room) ‘ your plant did not prove a very lasting pleasure, as I do not see it here. It has died of course Nora flushed painfully, but she answered with her usual truth; ‘No, ma’am, it did not die. I took good care of it; and, oh, you can’t think how pretty it looked when it started to bloom ! I’m so sorry it isn’t here, that you might see it. But—— ’ her head was bent low, and Mrs. Lanson could see a tear resting on the cheek —‘I sold it this very morning.’ r Mrs. Lanson wondered at the tears; she looked a little surprised, but did not appear offended, as sensitive Nora had fancied she would be. 1 Sold it!’ she echoed. ‘My poor child, you must have needed the money very badly to have parted with it!’ ‘I didn’t sell it for myself, ma’am. I think I’d have done almost anything else first. But ’ Her explanation faltered ; she did not care to tell this stranger, kind though she had been, the story of her sacrifice. But the latter came at once, to her aid. ‘ My child, I really do not wish to hold you to account. I merely— ’ she paused, as a hasty knock was followed by the entrance of a red-haired lad of twelve. ‘Hi! Nora! I thought you’d be lonesomer than ever this evenin’ without your lily, an’ —’ Reddy came to an abrupt halt on perceiving that Nora was not alone. He eyed her visitor for a moment in amazement; then he turned to Nora and said: ‘ Why, this is the lady that— The lady answered for herself: ‘I believe this is the little fellow, Nora, from whom I purchased my lily!’ She turned to Reddy with a smile. ‘Did I not meet you down-town this morning?’ , _ ‘ Yes’m—yes, ma-am,’ he stammered bashfully. Wasn’t it all right, ma’am he added in sudden alarm. Nora, who had watched this mutual recognition with surprise, now. understood the boy’s fear, and hastened to set his mind at rest : m x‘J h 4 s * s * h ® kincl who gave me the lily, Reddy, lo think that she should be the one who bought it from you.’ _ _ ‘Why, it ’most broke Nora’s heart to sell it,’ said Reddy. I just know it did ! An’ I bet she never would have done it if ol’ Mrs. Mason hadn’t wanted the money so bad. J • Nora gave him a glance that was a signal for silence, but she was too late. Mrs. Lanson’s interest had been aroused, and she proceeded to question the boy as to old Mrs. Mason,’ and why the lily had been sold. Reddy remembered his promise of secrecy, but he had his own ideas on the subject. He was not going to tell the neighbors, of course; but if this nice lady with the sweet voice who had given Nora the lily in the first place, wanted to. know the-reason.of its being sold, she should know it. So; nodding definance at the girl, he poured out the story of Mrs Mason’s rent; what the other people had done for her* and how Nora, who had nothing to give, made him sell the lily and take the money to make up the deficit. Reddy had lost his bashfulness, and was waxing eloquent when Nora broke in with the story of Reddy’s foremost part in the affair, which the boy had tactfully omitted to tell. Then overcome by his friend’s eulogy, and Mrs Lanson’s warm concurrence in it, he ran out of the room, leaving the' lady to look at Nora with a smile on her lips and a tender moisture in her sympathetic eyes. '

The kind lady did not say much, but her few beautiful words filled to overflowing the void left in Nora’s heart by the sacrifice of the plant she had cherished. And then, when Mrs. Lanson finally rose to depart, leaving behind not only an abundance of fruit and other delicacies, but, of more value still, the lasting sunshine of her cheerful presence, she made a proposal so wonderful that the girl could scarcely, credit her ears: ‘ I want you to come and live with me, Nora. I need a seamstress one whom I can like and trust, as I want her to be a companion also. I will pay yon more than you can ever earn in this way’ (pointing to the bundle of finished sewing that was lying on the table); and you will have a home as well, — home in the suburbs, where 1 have decided to move, and where you may have all the flowers and fresh air you likeno, T won’t listen to any thanks, my dear child! You will more than earn it. lam sure; and before lone you will have regained the strength you have lost through this hard life. You know lam now the owner of your pretty lily but I am sure it will not thrive without its usual mistress, so you must come to take care of it.’ And, without giving Nora a chance to reply, the goodhearted lady hurried off; while the girl she had thus befriended poured forth the most fervent prayers she had ever uttered in her life. —Ave Maria.