Pansy

“ Once within its dimness Pansy started struggling again.
He took the slim white hands into one of his own, and kissed them.
"There's no need for you to fight against me with weak little hands," he whispered. "There's another fighting for you, far stronger than you are. A new Raoul Le Breton of your making, Pansy. A man strong enough to wait until we're really married."
Laying his burden on a couch, he bent his head until his ear almost touched the girl's lips. ”

“ One of his favorite methods was to taunt them with the disgrace that Pansy had brought upon them, and another was to keep alive in Willie’s breast the fierce resentment and murderous wrath that had taken hold of him when he first learned that his beautiful sister had gone astray.
Left to himself and to the remorseful pleadings of his mother, the young man might have got over some of his anger, more especially as poor Pansy had atoned for her fault with her life. ”

“ Then he glanced at the girl, longing in his eyes.
"Let me give you one kiss, Pansy. A good-bye kiss," he whispered. "It's years since I've kissed you. You're such a one for keeping a fellow at arm's length nowadays."
With death knocking at the door Pansy could not refuse him; this nice boy she had always liked, yet never loved.
She thought of the man who had feasted so freely on her lips that night in the moonlit garden in Grand Canary. She wanted no man's kisses but his, no man's love but his, and his race and colour barred him out from her for ever. ”

“ It was hard on them all, most especially on Pansy, who was so intelligent and refined, and who hated to leave school and toil at repulsive tasks among companions who were mostly uncongenial, for, although some of the girls were sweet and pretty as herself, others were coarse and rude, and sneered at her, calling her proud and ambitious, although they knew at heart that they were only jealous of the lovely face, so round and dimpled, with its big purplish-blue eyes, shaded by such a beautiful fringe of long black curling lashes. ”

“ Dear Pansy:
We have a beautiful Pansy bed. We have about twenty-five Blossoms. Some are big, and some are little; some are golden color, and some are deep purple. When the Pansies meet, the Vice-President takes the P. S. roll book, goes to each Blossom and gets the record for the month. I have promised to be patient, and to speak kindly. Willie's pledge was to try to keep his temper; and his record was: "I forgot a few times, but it helped; and I mean to try harder." One dark Pansy promised to brush her teeth at least once a day, and not to be selfish. ”

“ I'm an actress. At Mr. Le Breton's invitation I came here with him from Paris, to stay until he tires of me or I of him. Comme vous voulez," she finished, with a shrug.
For a moment Pansy just stared at the truth confronting her: the truth, lazy, languid, and smiling, in white satin and emeralds.
There was a little noise, hard and sharp, like a shower of frozen tears rattling down on the table. The hands clinging to the string of amber beads clung just a thought too hard, for the necklace snapped suddenly. The beads poured down like tears—the tears Pansy herself was past shedding. ”

“ Miss Pansy, from a grateful young lady with her heart at her finger-tips, became overnight a delighted and outrageous little flirt, maliciously bent on tormenting him to the limit of his endurance. Tootles, not having sense enough to stop and run in the opposite direction, continued with wrath and fury to pursue the tantalizing eyes which danced at him over her fleeing shoulder, until he was ready to believe that the love and likewise the tragedy of his life had descended upon him. ”

“ One day she said gravely to Pansy:
“Do you ever expect to marry, Pansy?”
Pansy grew crimson first, then deadly pale.
“No, never. I hate men!” she exclaimed, with such energy that Mrs. Beach, a keen student of human nature, exclaimed:
“Ah, then, you have had a lover?” ”

“ Pansy had a secret, and nobody could find it out. She would come down stairs in the morning, and seat herself at the breakfast-table, and then papa would say, "Well, Pansy, are you going to tell us your secret to-day?" ”

“ Into that room Pansy was taken by her escort in a curtained litter.
During the journey to the market she had had the sensation of moving in some ghastly nightmare from which she could not wake herself, much as she tried.
It could not be possible that she, Pansy Langham, the fêted and much-courted heiress, was to be sold as one might sell a horse or a cow. ”

“ Mamma was very sorry for her, very, very sorry. She knew that to Pansy it was a real big sorrow, trifling as some people might think it. But, still, as she told the little girl, sorrows and troubles have to come, and till we learn to bear them and find the sweet in the bitter we are not good for much. So she encouraged Pansy to be brave and unselfish and not to make the nursery life sad and miserable on account of this misfortune. And Pansy did her best. Only she begged her mother to take the flower-pot away. ”

“ Falconer? I came very near calling you Pansy then—I was so startled at the first sight of your face. But while you were singing I recovered myself so that I could greet you calmly. It was different just now, for I was thinking of that other Pansy, and you came upon me so suddenly that I had no time for thought, and I called you by her name.”
“It was some one you loved?” Pansy said, in a low, soft voice.
“Loved!” exclaimed Norman Wylde hoarsely, and his dark eyes seemed to burn into her soul as he added: “Love is hardly the word. I worshiped, adored my little Pansy.” ”

“ Finley triumphed, and Pansy flung herself, bitterly weeping, upon the floor, while her mother rummaged through the telltale bundle.
“Aha, just as I thought! Change of clothes—oh, you wicked girl! What is this? Oh-h-h, heavens! Pa-a-n-sy Lau-rens, what does this mean?”
She was holding up sundry tiny bits of soft flannel and linen trimmed with homemade crochet edging. Pansy did not lift her head. She knew without looking, and she moaned despairingly:
“Oh, mamma, mamma, if only you had let me go away in peace you need never have known!”
“You say that she will live, doctor? Oh, I am so glad! ”

“ Meredith put her hand through the window: "You must come to see me soon again, Pansy. I am a poor visitor, but I shall try to call on you in a few days."
She went back to her seat on the veranda.
It has been said that her insight into goodness was her strength; she usually had a way of knowing at once, as regards the character of people, what she was ever to know at all. Her impressions of Pansy unrolled themselves disconnectedly:
"She makes mistakes, but she does not know how to do wrong. Guile is not in her. She is so innocent that she does not realize sometimes the peril of her own words. ”

“ For pansies are, I think, the little gleams Of children's visions from a world of dreams, Jewels of innocence and joy and mirth, Alight with laughter as they fall to earth. Below, the ancient guardian, it may hap, The kindly mother, takes them in her lap, Decks them with glowing petals and replaces In the glad air the friendly pansy-faces. ”

“ And so, in the little room where Pansy lay, pale with pain and despair, the story of her girlhood [230] was told to the husband she had deceived—told kindly and gently by her mother’s lips, yet without abating one jot of the truth.
“If she had taken her mother’s advice, sir, she would never have come to this pass. I told her that a rich young man like Mr. Wylde wouldn’t think of marrying a poor little factory girl, but she didn’t believe my warning. She wouldn’t heed me,” sighed poor Mrs. Finley, when she had told, in her pitiful little way, the story of Pansy’s willfulness and disobedience. ”

“ I hope I shall never forget that," and Pansy looked at Mrs. Meredith with a face of such gravity and pride that silence lasted in the parlors for a while.
Buried in Pansy's heart was one secret, one sorrow: that her mother had been poor. Her father wore his yoke ungalled; he loved rough work, drew his religion from privations, accepted hardship as the chastening that insures reward. But that her mother's hands should have been folded and have returned to universal clay without ever having fondled the finer things of life—this to Pansy was remembrance to start tears on the brightest day. ”

“ In fact, he dwelt on a sort of pedestal, from the hight of which he looked calmly and excusingly down on weaker mortals. This, until to-night: now he realized, in a confused, blundering sort of way, that his pedestal had crumbled, or that he had tumbled from its hight, or at least that something new and strange had happened. For instance, what had become of his powers of discernment? Here was this miserable doctor, who had been one of the thorns of his life, whom he had looked down upon as a canting hypocrite. ”

“ Pansy saw that she had betrayed herself by her vehemence, and, hanging her head bashful she sighed:
“Yes, I had a lover once, and he proved false to me. No one else shall ever make love to me again.”
“Poor child!” said the lady compassionately. She remained silent a few moments, then said: “I hope you will not think me a meddlesome old lady, Pansy, but I have been thinking of your [75] future. If I should die, what would become of you?”
Pansy burst into passionate tears. “I should never find such a noble friend again,” she sobbed. ”

“ That God will make each Blossom fragrant for him, and take it some day to his heavenly garden, is my constant hope and prayer. Perhaps you need to use the prayer which I find very necessary for me every day: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my tongue. Keep the door of my lips."
Emma from Massachusetts. My dear, The Pansy is just twelve years old. Doesn't it travel over a large part of the world for one so young? ”

“ You rouse a man without the least intention of satisfying him."
Pansy flushed under his contempt. She hated being called "a flirt"; she was not one. She did not know why she had acted as she had done the previous night. But once in his arms, she had wanted to stay. And once he had started talking of love, she wanted to listen. With him she had forgotten all about her own scheme of life and her cherished liberty.
She knew she had not played the game with Le Breton. From the bottom of her heart she was sorry. She did not blame him, but herself. ”

“ I am glad you find the badge a help.
Josephine, Josephine, Mary, Robbie, from New York. A bouquet of Blossoms pledged to do battle against the weeds in their heart-gardens. May you all succeed, and be fragrant flowers that shall give pleasure wherever you go, and bloom forever in the garden above. This is Pansy’s prayer for all her Blossoms.
Florence from Ohio. The author of “My Brainless Acquaintance” sends you thanks for your kind opinion of him. He will try to interest you again. I am glad you find The Pansy helpful in school. ”

“ Susie from Pennsylvania. The "Whisper Motto" is: "For Jesus' Sake." All the Pansies who choose it for their motto are expected to try to live by it. To do nothing which they think Jesus would not like, and to take him for their pattern. I am glad you like The Pansy.
Nettie from Ohio. Dear little Blossom, I was very much interested in your letter. I read it to a friend who said she would send you The Pansy for one year, for a Christmas present. So you may expect it to visit you as usual. ”

“ He did not stop to question the strangeness of his state of mind, nor why that bit of soiled, torn paper should possess so fearful a power over him. He did not even realize at the moment that it was connected with this bewilderment, he only knew that the foundation upon which he had been building for years seemed suddenly to have been torn from under him by invisible hands, and left his feet sinking slowly down on nothing; and his inmost soul took suddenly up that solemn question with which he had never before troubled his logical brain: "I can not help asking myself why I was made?" ”

“ Four older'n me and just Allee younger. The bishop said he thought all of yours were grown up. Are they?"
"We—ll, none of them are very small now. Pansy is the youngest, and she is nearly fourteen."
"Pansy! Of all names! I s'pose she is as big as an elephant, ain't she?"
"She is rather large for her age," acknowledged the surprised minister, hardly knowing how to [Pg 143] receive these candid remarks of his youthful hostess.
"All the Pansies I ever knew were," sighed Peace. "I don't see why people will name their biggest children Pansy." ”

“ Nettie from Ohio. I hope your Pansy reaches you regularly, my dear little girl, and that it gives you a great deal of comfort. You see your "prayer" was answered in just the way you most wanted. Our Father in Heaven always answers all prayer, but sometimes he has to say "No" because He can tell whether what we have asked is the best thing.
Edwin from New York. My boy, if you have done a "kind act" each day since you took your pledge, you must have some pleasant stories to tell which the Pansies would like to hear. ”

“ She was surprised when she learned that the lovely girl was of the working classes, for she had fancied that Pansy’s wonderful beauty had descended from aristocratic, high-bred parentage, but Pansy proudly undeceived her.
“My father was a mechanic, and my grandfather was a farmer. My mother was a farmer’s daughter, too, so we were only plain, hard-working people. I left the public school where I was educated as soon as my father died, and worked in a tobacco factory three years.” ”