Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

trying to keep your love??

“It is not yours yet,” began Rose, much moved, though all the

while she felt as if she were on a stage and had a part to play, for

Charlie had made life so like a melodrama that it was hard for him

to be quite simple even when most sincere.

“Let me earn it, then. Show me how, and I’ll do anything, for you

are my good angel, Rose, and if you cast me off, I feel as if I

shouldn’t care how soon there was an end of me,” cried Charlie,

getting tragic in his earnestness and putting both arms around her,

as if his only safety lay in clinging to this beloved fellow creature.

Behind footlights it would have been irresistible, but somehow it

did not touch the one spectator, though she had neither time nor

skill to discover why. For all their ardor the words did not ring

quite true. Despite the grace of the attitude, she would have liked

him better manfully erect upon his feet, and though the gesture

was full of tenderness, a subtle instinct made her shrink away as

she said with a composure that surprised herself even more than it

did him: “Please don’t. No, I will promise nothing yet, for I must

respect the man I love.?

That brought Charlie to his feet, pale with something deeper than

anger, for the recoil told him more plainly than the words how

much he had fallen in her regard since yesterday. The memory of

the happy moment when she gave the rose with that new softness

in her eyes, the shy color, the sweet “for my sake” came back with

sudden vividness, contrasting sharply with the now averted face,

the hand outstretched to put him back, the shrinking figure, and in

that instant’s silence, poor Charlie realized what he had lost, for a

girl’s first thought of love is as delicate a thing as the rosy morning

glory, which a breath of air can shatter. Only a hint of evil, only an

hour’s debasement for him, a moment’s glimpse for her of the

coarser pleasures men know, and the innocent heart, just opening

to bless and to be blessed, closed again like a sensitive plant and

shut him out perhaps forever.

The consciousness of this turned him pale with fear, for his love

was deeper than she knew, and he proved this when he said in a

tone so full of mingled pain and patience that it touched her to the

heart: “You shall respect me if I can make you, and when I’ve

earned it, may I hope for something more??

She looked up then, saw in his face the noble shame, the humble

sort of courage that shows repentance to be genuine and gives

promise of success, and, with a hopeful smile that was a cordial to

him, answered heartily: “You may.?

“Bless you for that! I’ll make no promises, I’ll ask for none only

trust me, Rose, and while you treat me like a cousin, remember

that no matter how many lovers you may have you’ll never be to

any of them as dear as you are to me.?

A traitorous break in his voice warned Charlie to stop there, and

with no other good-bye, he very wisely went away, leaving Rose to

put the neglected flowers into water with remorseful care and lay

away the bracelet, saying to herself: “I’ll never wear it till I feel as I

did before. Then he shall put it on and I’ll say ‘yes.’ ?

Chapter 11 SMALL TEMPTATIONS

“Oh, Rose, I’ve got something so exciting to tell you!” cried Kitty

Van Tassel, skipping into the carriage next morning when her

friend called for her to go shopping.

Kitty always did have some “perfectly thrilling” communication to

make and Rose had learned to take them quietly, but the next

demonstration was a new one, for, regardless alike of curious

observers outside and disordered hats within, Kitty caught Rose

around the neck, exclaiming in a rapturous whisper: “My dearest

creature, I’m engaged!?

“I’m so glad! Of course it is Steve??

“Dear fellow, he did it last night in the nicest way, and Mama is so

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