`` Every flower in it stands for a thought of her , Master , '' he said . `` It is a great joy to think that she will walk in this garden with me some day . It will be complete then -- my Rose of joy will be here to crown it . '' That summer and winter passed away , and when spring came again , lettering her footsteps with violets in the meadows and waking all the sleeping loveliness of old homestead gardens , Uncle Dick 's long deferred happiness came with her . One evening when I was in our `` den , '' mid-deep in study of old things that seemed musty and unattractive enough in contrast with the vivid , newborn , out-of-doors , Uncle Dick came home from the post office with an open letter in his hand . His big voice trembled as he said , `` Master , she 's coming home . Her father is dead and she has nobody in the world now but me . In a month she will be here . Do n't talk to me of it yet -- I want to taste the joy of it in silence for a while . '' He hastened away to his garden and walked there until darkness fell , with his face uplifted to the sky , and the love rapture of countless generations shining in his eyes . Later on , we sat on one of the old stone benches and Uncle Dick tried to talk practically . Bayside people soon found out that Rose Lawrence was coming home to marry Uncle Dick . Uncle Dick was much teased , and suffered under it ; it seemed , as he had said , desecration . But the real goodwill and kindly feeling in the banter redeemed it . He went to the station to meet Rose Lawrence the day she came . When I went home from school Mrs. Lindsay told me she was in the parlour and took me in to be introduced . I was bitterly disappointed . Somehow , I had expected to meet , not indeed a young girl palpitating with youthful bloom , but a woman of ripe maturity , dowered with the beauty of harmonious middle-age -- the feminine counterpart of Uncle Dick . Instead , I found in Rose Lawrence a small , faded woman of forty-five , gowned in shabby black . She had evidently been very pretty once , but bloom and grace were gone .
Her face had a sweet and gentle expression , but was tired and worn , and her fair hair was plentifully streaked XXXXX grey .
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