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Bending,'he grabbed another thick, round log frole white flower, struggling to groild and free in the shadow of the rass behind the woodpile

It renes He re, when he'd stolen a few precioussoftly while the others watched

I want flowers in my room, Elliot I miss the flowers

He'd been so devastated by the wistful sadness in her voice that he couldn't think He'd answered by rote, rown for their

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beauty Such an ornarown only to be used inrose water, not for their scent or their beauty Oh, she'd said with a half sigh How sad And it was, he realized suddenly Sad not to enjoy the beauty of a flower Sad that God would de when He had created the beauty in the first place He bent and plucked up the flower It looked delicate and iers

Across the street, he heard Lucy say, "I'll be right back, Agnes We need aze shot to the washhouse, to the open door He didn't think, just lance each way, he hurried across the street and ducked inside the building, closing the door quietly behind him

Agnes looked up fro There was a one, replaced by a dull acceptance "Hello, Elliot"

Lord, how she had changed He re down the stairs in the worldly dress, her pale shoulders so crea with happiness For the first time, he wondered how she'd been injured How desperate had she been to leave this place? Desperate enough to run into a e?

He brought the flower up, handed it to her "I don't want you to miss the flowers"

She stared down at it, and the dull, glassy look in her eyes melted away "It's white," she whispered

For a second, just a second, she was the woly beautiful and filled with eht it to her nose and inhaled deeply A slow, hesitant smile curved her lips

"Thank you," she said

He stared at her in silence, not knohat to say, what to do

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