Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/26

 will observe that my hair is in good order, and that the pillow is quite dry."

"I cannot fancy you less than composed in any circumstances," said her visitor, who found her own composure returning to her, accompanied by a strong sense of surprise and interest in the personality of the woman before her. This was not the Helen Brandow of the press, but an infinitely more interesting character, who should be given to the public, through "The Searchlight," in a pen-picture to be long remembered. Miss Herrick's spirits mounted high at the thought.

"I am glad you like the roses," she added. "I did not send them to win a welcome, but because a nice old woman in the village gave them to me as I was coming here this morning. She was working among them, and the sight was so pretty I could n't help stopping. It made me think of my own home, down South. The roses are the common or garden variety, you see, but they have the delicious, spicy fragrance which seems to belong only to the roses in old-fashioned gardens. The owner of these succumbed to my youthful