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the red roses,ā€ said Leslie. ā€œAnne likes the pink ones best, and Gilbert likes the white. But I want the crimson ones. They satisfy some craving in me as no other flower does.ā€

ā€œThese roses are very lateā€”they bloom after all the others have goneā€”and they hold all the warmth and soul of the summer come to fruition,ā€ said Owen, plucking some of the glowing, half-opened buds.

ā€œThe rose is the flower of loveā€”the world has acclaimed it so for centuries. The pink roses are love hopeful and expectantā€”the white roses are love dead or forsakenā€”but the red rosesā€”ah, Leslie, what are the red roses?ā€

ā€œLove triumphant,ā€ said Leslie in a low voice.

ā€œYesā€”love triumphant and perfect. Leslie, you knowā€”you understand. I have loved you from the first. And I KNOW you love meā€”I donā€™t need to ask you. But I want to hear you say itā€”my darlingā€” my darling!ā€

Leslie said something in a very low and tremulous voice. Their hands and lips met; it was lifeā€™s supreme moment for them and as they stood there in the old garden, with its many years of love and delight and sorrow and glory, he crowned her shining hair with the red, red rose of a love triumphant.

Anne and Gilbert returned presently, accompanied by Captain Jim. Anne lighted a few sticks of driftwood in the fireplace, for love of the pixy flames, and they sat around it for an hour of good fellowship.

ā€œWhen I sit looking at a driftwood fire itā€™s easy to believe Iā€™m young again,ā€ said Captain Jim.

ā€œCan you read futures in the fire, Captain Jim?ā€ asked Owen.

Captain Jim looked at them all affectionately and then back again at Leslieā€™s vivid face and glowing eyes.

ā€œI donā€™t need the fire to read your futures,ā€ he said. ā€œI see happiness for all of youā€”all of youā€”for Leslie and Mr. Fordā€”and the doctor here and Mistress Blytheā€”and Little Jemā€”and children that ainā€™t born yet but will be. Happiness for you allā€”though, mind you, I reckon youā€™ll have your troubles and worries and sorrows, too. Theyā€™re bound to comeā€”and no house, whether itā€™s a palace or a little house of dreams, can bar ā€˜em out. But they wonā€™t get the better of you if you face ā€˜em TOGETHER with love and trust. You can weather any storm with them two for compass and pilot.ā€

The old man rose suddenly and placed one hand on Leslieā€™s head and one on Anneā€™s.

ā€œTwo good, sweet women,ā€ he said. ā€œTrue and faithful and to be depended on. Your husbands will have honor in the gates because of youā€”your children will rise up and call you blessed in the years to come.ā€

There was a strange solemnity about the little scene. Anne and Leslie bowed as those receiving a benediction. Gilbert suddenly brushed his hand over his eyes; Owen Ford was rapt as one who can see visions. All were silent for a space. The little house of dreams added another poignant and unforgettable moment to its store of memories.

ā€œI must be going now,ā€ said Captain Jim slowly at last. He took up his hat and looked lingeringly about the room.

ā€œGood night, all of you,ā€ he said, as he went out.

Anne, pierced by the unusual wistfulness of his farewell, ran to the door after him.

ā€œCome back soon, Captain Jim,ā€ she called, as he passed through the little gate hung between the firs.

ā€œAy, ay,ā€ he called cheerily back to her. But Captain Jim had sat by the old fireside of the house of dreams for the last time.

Anne went slowly back to the others.

ā€œItā€™s soā€”so pitiful to think of him going all alone down to that lonely Point,ā€ she said. ā€œAnd there is no one to welcome him there.ā€

ā€œCaptain Jim is such good company for others that one canā€™t imagine him being anything but good company for himself,ā€ said Owen. ā€œBut he must often be lonely. There was a touch of the seer about him tonightā€”he spoke as one to whom it had been given to speak. Well, I must be going, too.ā€

Anne and Gilbert discreetly melted away; but when Owen had gone Anne returned, to find Leslie standing by the hearth.

ā€œOh, Leslieā€”I knowā€”and Iā€™m so glad, dear,ā€ she said, putting her arms about her.

ā€œAnne, my happiness frightens me,ā€ whispered Leslie. ā€œIt seems too great to be realā€”Iā€™m afraid to speak of itā€”to think of it. It seems to me that it must just be another dream of this house of dreams and it will vanish when I leave here.ā€

ā€œWell, you are not going to leave hereā€”until Owen takes you. You are going to stay with me until that times comes. Do you think Iā€™d let you go over to that lonely, sad place again?ā€

ā€œThank you, dear. I meant to ask you if I might stay with you. I didnā€™t want to go back thereā€”it would seem like going back into the chill and dreariness of the old life again. Anne, Anne, what a friend youā€™ve been to meā€”`a good, sweet womanā€”true and faithful and to be depended onā€™ā€”Captain Jim summed you up.ā€

ā€œHe said `women,ā€™ not `woman,ā€™ā€ smiled Anne. ā€œPerhaps Captain Jim sees us both through the rose-colored spectacles of his love for us. But we can try to live up to his belief in us, at least.ā€

ā€œDo you remember, Anne,ā€ said Leslie slowly, ā€œthat I once saidā€”that night we met on the shoreā€”that I hated my good looks? I didā€”then. It always seemed to me that if I had been homely Dick would never have thought of me. I hated my beauty because it had attracted him, but nowā€”oh, Iā€™m glad that I have it. Itā€™s all I have to offer Owen,ā€”his artist soul delights in it. I feel as if I do not come to him quite empty-handed.ā€

ā€œOwen loves your beauty, Leslie. Who would not? But itā€™s foolish of you to say or think that that is all you bring him. HE will tell you thatā€”I neednā€™t. And now I must lock up. I expected Susan back tonight, but she has not come.ā€

ā€œOh, yes, here I am, Mrs. Doctor, dear,ā€ said Susan, entering unexpectedly from the kitchen, ā€œand puffing like a hen drawing rails at that! Itā€™s quite a walk from the Glen down here.ā€

ā€œIā€™m glad to see you back, Susan. How is your sister?ā€

ā€œShe is able to sit up, but of course she cannot walk yet. However, she is very well able to get on without me now, for her daughter has come home for her vacation. And I am thankful to be back, Mrs. Doctor, dear. Matildaā€™s leg was broken and no mistake, but her tongue was not. She would talk the legs off an iron pot, that she would, Mrs. Doctor, dear, though I grieve to say it of my own sister. She was always a great talker and yet she was the first of our family to get married. She really did not care much about marrying James Clow, but she could not bear to disoblige him. Not but what James is a good manā€”the only fault I have to find with him is that he always starts in to say grace with such an unearthly groan, Mrs. Doctor, dear. It always frightens my appetite clear away. And speaking of getting married, Mrs. Doctor, dear, is it true that Cornelia Bryant is going to be married to Marshall Elliott?ā€

ā€œYes, quite true, Susan.ā€

ā€œWell, Mrs. Doctor, dear, it does NOT seem to me fair. Here is me, who never said a word against the men, and I cannot get married nohow. And there is Cornelia Bryant, who is never done abusing them, and all she has to do is to reach out her hand and pick one up, as it were. It is a very strange world, Mrs. Doctor, dear.ā€

ā€œThereā€™s another world, you know, Susan.ā€

ā€œYes,ā€ said Susan with a heavy sigh, ā€œbut, Mrs. Doctor, dear, there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage there.ā€

CHAPTER 39 CAPTAIN JIM CROSSES THE BAR

One day in late September Owen Fordā€™s book came at last. Captain Jim had gone faithfully to the Glen post office every day for a month, expecting it. This day he had not gone, and Leslie brought his copy home with hers and Anneā€™s.

ā€œWeā€™ll take it down to him this evening,ā€ said Anne, excited as a schoolgirl.

The long walk to the Point on that clear, beguiling evening along the red harbor road was very pleasant. Then the sun dropped down behind the western hills into some valley that must have been full of lost sunsets, and at the same instant the big light flashed out on the white tower of the point.

ā€œCaptain Jim is never late by the fraction of a second,ā€ said Leslie.

Neither Anne nor Leslie ever forgot Captain Jimā€™s face when they gave him the bookā€”HIS book, transfigured and glorified. The cheeks that had been blanched of late suddenly flamed with the color of boyhood; his eyes glowed with all the fire of youth; but his hands trembled as he opened it.

It was called simply The Life-Book of Captain Jim, and on the title page the names of Owen Ford and James Boyd were printed as collaborators. The frontispiece was a photograph of Captain Jim himself, standing at the door of the lighthouse, looking across the gulf. Owen Ford had ā€œsnappedā€ him one day while the book was being written. Captain Jim had known this, but he had not known that the picture was to be in the book.

ā€œJust think of it,ā€ he said, ā€œthe old sailor right there in a real printed book. This is the proudest day of my life. Iā€™m like to bust, girls. Thereā€™ll be no sleep for me tonight. Iā€™ll read my book clean through before sun-up.ā€

ā€œWeā€™ll go right away and leave you free to begin it,ā€ said Anne.

Captain Jim had been handling the book in a kind of reverent rapture. Now he decidedly closed it and laid it aside.

ā€œNo, no, youā€™re not going away before you take a cup of tea with the old man,ā€ he protested. ā€œI couldnā€™t hear to thatā€”could you, Matey? The life-book will keep, I reckon. Iā€™ve waited for it this many a year. I can wait a little longer while Iā€™m enjoying my friends.ā€

Captain Jim moved about getting his kettle on to boil, and setting out his bread and butter. Despite his excitement he did not move with his old briskness. His movements were slow and halting. But the girls did not offer to help him. They knew it would hurt his feelings.

ā€œYou just picked the right evening to visit me,ā€ he said, producing a cake from his cupboard. ā€œLeetle Joeā€™s mother sent me down a big basket full of cakes and pies today. A blessing on all good cooks, says I. Look at this purty cake, all frosting and nuts. ā€˜Tainā€™t often I can entertain in such style. Set in, girls, set in! Weā€™ll `tak a cup oā€™ kindness yet for auld lang syne.ā€™ā€

The girls ā€œset inā€ right merrily. The tea was up to Captain Jimā€™s best brewing. Little Joeā€™s motherā€™s cake was the last word in cakes; Captain Jim was the prince of gracious hosts, never even permitting his eyes to wander to the corner where the life-book lay, in all its bravery of green and gold. But when his door finally closed behind Anne and Leslie they knew that he went straight to it, and as they walked home they pictured the delight of the old man poring over the printed pages wherein his own life was portrayed with all the charm and color of reality itself.

ā€œI wonder how he will like the endingā€”the ending I suggested,ā€ said Leslie.

She was never to know. Early the next morning Anne awakened to find Gilbert

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