Lavender and Old Lace

"Yes, I do," replied Ruth, "but I've never seen it growing."

"It's a little bush, with lavender flowers that yield honey, and it's

all sweet--flowers, leaves, and all. I expect you'll laugh at me, but

I've planted sunflowers and four-o'clocks and foxglove."

"I won't laugh---I think it's lovely. What do you like best, Miss

Ainslie?"

"I love them all," she said, with a smile on her lips and her deep,

unfathomable eyes fixed upon Ruth, "but I think the lavender comes

first. It's so sweet, and then it has associations--"

She paused, in confusion, and Ruth went on, quickly: "I think they

all have associations, and that's why we love them. I can't bear red

geraniums because a cross old woman I knew when I was a child had her

yard full of them, and I shall always love the lavender," she added,

softly, "because it makes me think of you."

Miss Ainslie's checks flushed and her eyes shone. "Now we'll go into the

house," she said, "and we'll have tea."

"I shouldn't stay any longer," murmured Ruth, following her, "I've been

here so long now."

"'T isn't long," contradicted Miss Ainslie, sweetly, "it's been only a

very few minutes."

Every moment, the house and its owner took on new beauty and charm. Miss

Ainslie spread a napkin of finest damask upon the little mahogany tea

table, then brought in a silver teapot of quaint design, and two cups of

Japanese china, dainty to the point of fragility.

"Why, Miss Ainslie," exclaimed Ruth, in surprise, "where did you get

Royal Kaga?"

Miss Ainslie was bending over the table, and the white hand that held

the teapot trembled a little. "They were a present from--a friend," she

answered, in a low voice.

"They're beautiful," said Ruth, hurriedly.

She had been to many an elaborate affair, which was down on the social

calendar as a "tea," sometimes as reporter and often as guest, but she

had found no hostess like Miss Ainslie, no china so exquisitely fine,

nor any tea like the clear, fragrant amber which was poured into her

cup.

"It came from China," said Miss Ainslie, feeling the unspoken question.

"I had a whole chest of it, but it's almost all gone."

Ruth was turning her cup and consulting the oracle. "Here's two people,

a man and a woman, from a great distance, and, yes, here's money, too.

What is there in yours?"

"Nothing, deary, and besides, it doesn't come true."

When Ruth finally aroused herself to go home, the old restlessness, for

the moment, was gone. "There's a charm about you," she said, "for I feel

as if I could sleep a whole week and never wake at all."

"It's the tea," smiled Miss Ainslie, "for I'm a very commonplace body."