Newton High School - Newtonian Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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THE NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL 17 Angelica Roslind, what are you talking about? Have you-I mean, are you making up all this silly nonsense? Of course I don't believe a word of it, bu-but I can't let you go on. She was preparing to go into the house, and just before she went upstairs she called out to her bewildered niece :- I forgot to tell you, Angelica, but I'm expecting a guest tomorrow, an old friend, Mr. Roberts. i Aunt Marie! you don't mean to say I-. But of course, I just told you someone was coming, and, she added, teasingly, we'll leave the rest to fate and Mr. Roberts, hey, Auntie? But Auntie was gone. It was evening again, but this time the little house on Maple Road was not the scene of such quiet repose as usual. The awaited guest had arrived, and all was astir to bid him welcome. The dainty muslin curtains at the windows fluttered in the cool breeze, and the front door stood wide open. The little mistress herself fluttered back and forth from the piazza to the sitting-room, arranging the newly cut flowers in vases and straightening the disarranged pile of magazines on the piazza table. Had she ever looked daintier, and more girlish? The lavender frock that she wore was low at the neck, and very soft and becoming. The delicate color in her cheeks was heightened by excitement and her silvery hair looked almost golden in the soft light of the late afternoon sun. The evening meal was eaten quietly, but to Angelica's occasional remarks the old gentleman replied in the quaint old-time manner that was particularly fascinating to the young girl. He was a typical old-fashioned gentleman, she thought. Tall, imposing, and still handsome. His gray hair and beard were streaked with white, but his face was ruddy, and his carriage erect. He was not a great talker, but he charmed his hostesses with brief but glowing accounts of his extensive travels and was very enthusiastic in his pleasure at being there. Miss Roslind was cordially hospitable, but very quiet. The evening was spent out in the garden, the old gentleman leisurely smoking his pipe, and going over, in a graphic way, the events of the intervening years, since last he saw his old friendg while she sat with hands folded, her eyes moist, and her heart full, listening again to the voice whose sound had so long been as dead to her ears. Upstairs, alone at her window, Angelica sat thinking, and her cheeks were wet with tears. She had come up to bed with a heavy heart, tonight, with a heart that was touched with an inexpressible sadness. A sudden realization of the pathos of her aunt's life had come over her, and had awakened a note of pain in her sympathetic, loving heart. For the first time she was able to interpret, in the sweet, patient face of the old lady, the record of a broken heart, bravely hidden away. When Angelica was only a little girl, her mother told her that she must always be good and kind to her Aunt Marie, for she had had a great disappointment

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16 THE NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL The young girl, who was spending several weeks of her vacation with this dear little aunt of hers, had learned from experience, and from the instinct of her own generous heart, to restrain her curiosity where her Aunt Marie was concerned. But this time she was genuinely curious. She had never been able to understand her aunt's changing moods, nor had she ever been able to see very deeply into the heart of this sweet little old lady, whom she admired ex- travagantly. This admiration was generously returned by the old lady. The strong, jolly, confident nature of the young girl was almost incomprehensible to her frail, timid, retiring little aunt, who, nevertheless, took great comfort in her strength, and was exceeding proud of her knowledge. Miss Roslind was always glad to have Angelica with her, and perhaps the happiest event in the year for her, was the occasion of Angelica's spring visit. She did not, however, like ,to have her ask questions. Miss Roslind poured the tea, and absent-mindedly dropped three lumps of sugar into her own cup, upset the tea caddy, and coughed violently, before Angelica dared break the awkward silence. Aunt Marie was undoubtedly perturbed. I see you have given me your pet 'Prophetic Cup' this afternoon. Thank you so much, Auntie, she said, as she picked up an odd little fortune-telling cup which had been given to her aunt when she was a girl and which she invariably used for the sake of its associations. May I have some more tea, please ?', asked the girl. The tea is not at all well made, replied Aunt Marie, nervously, I must speak to Katie about it again. But, my dear child, you really must not drink so much tea, it will make you ill. Oh, Auntie, I really don't want the tea, but I do want some more leaves. Did you know that I could tell fortunes beautifully? VVe do it at college all the time, and have such fun. I'm really quite good at it, and with this cup I could do it much better. I have always wanted to use it. Now you just listen, Aunt Marie, and I'll show you what a 'Seer' I am--. Now don't object, please ! Why, of course I'll listen, child, but I shan't believe a word of it, with a furtive motion toward the letter tucked safely away in her dress. Aunt Marie, I see many interesting things here! Yes, the first is a great event-let me see-yes, its going to happen at home. But it comes from far away, and has something to do with horse-reins,-isn't that funny? and--it's a man l He is coming from very far off, and is very grand, he isn't young, nog but he is wise, because, you see, one of the leaves has caught fast over the owl's head. Isn't this exciting? Well, this will be! You are going to have an affair of the heart-isn't that a professional phrase? Yes, I distinctly see a reference to the heart, and there are two leaves over the heart, which means, of course, that it will be a happy affair. But the most important thing, she concluded, laughing, puzzled by her aunt's expression, is about a flower. It means, I'm sure, that those pansies you planted today are going to flourish, and--

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18 THE NEWTON HIGH SCHOOL ANNUAL and was very sad. From this time a friendship had grown up between aunt and niece which became more and more devoted and intimate as the years passed. When she grew older she learned that her aunt had had a very sad love affair, but she never asked any questions about it, for fear of causing pain. She had always been sorry for her aunt, and when she was very young she used to weep bitterly when she had to go home after a visit, and leave her aunt there all alone, in her pretty, but lonely little house. ' But yesterday her own unwitting, joking prophecy, and her aunt's agitation, at the coming of their guest, revealed to her the old lady's well-guarded secret. This splendid old gentleman, then, was perhaps once the heedless object of her aunt's girlish and ever faithful love? Who knows? Angelica did not know, but her heart told her that the happiness of one whom she loved was at stakeg and at this thought she had the passionate ambition to be the means of re-uniting, if possible, these two souls that had been so long apart. She knew nothing definitely, but she felt that she had been given a revelation. So, relying un- consciously on the guidance of her own heart, she planned to do her best to aid Cupid in a piece of tardy, long-neglected work. Angelica went about her tasks all the next day as in a dream. Her mind was full of half-formed plansg but a sense of great responsibility, and of some- thing impending, dampened her usual buoyant spirits. The first of her little schemes failed miserably. An early caller interrupted the quiet morning on the veranda which had promised to be the auspicious time for the fulfillment of her hopes. Nor did the cozy luncheon in the garden, tete-Ez-tete, which she had arranged and prepared herself with the greatest care, prove the instrument for Cupid's dart. She began to despair, however, when Mr. Roberts insisted on having her join her aunt and himself in their afternoon tea, so that he could explain to her the botanical history of a flower she had asked him about the day before. There was only one thing that consoled Angelica in her perplexity, and that was hearing Mr. Roberts consent, in answer to his friend's cordial invitation, to prolong his visit until the next day, instead of leaving that night, as he had intended. The very interesting discourse on botany, which he was delivering, was worse than lost on Angelica. The evolution of her next plan was absorbing her whole attention. Now, for one last attempt, she thought, desperately. He leaves tomorrow, perhaps forever, and tonight is his last opportunity to reveal the purpose of his visit, and his reawakened love for Aunt Marie-if he has any. I can't seem to arrange an opportunity for them here at home-in this quiet, stupid little place, too. It's absurd! So they will have to be gotten away to- gether, alone,-somehow! By some happy chance part of that silly fortune telling of mine has come true, and I must make the rest of it come true. A drive is my last resort. A moonlight drive. Praises be, there is a moon! This will account