Page 73 - Adventures in shadow-land

For it seemed to her that with their last breath
of perfume there camc a low voice, which whis­

pered. “ Beware of the stones/'— and that was
all. And then she asked Aster why he had de­

stroyed the harmless flowers, which had only come
to warn them.

“ They only came to do me harm /’ Aster said,
angrily. “ They would have taken you away from

me, and I should never have seen you again. You
shall not go away from me yet, for I can never

get home without you; after I have done with
you, why, then you may g o ."

“ Where?” Eva asked, pained at this selfish
speech.

“ Into what is to be,— out of Shadow-Land into

what is to come, but is not yet.”
“ I do not understand you."
“ You will know when the time comes. 1

crushed, the flowers because they w ere. part of

what is to come; they had no right here.”
Nothing more was said; .but Aster seemed rest-
less and uneasy until they left the place where

the violets had bloomed. Yet nothing disturbed

them, and on they went, till Eva began to wonder