[00:00.00] A letter or telephone call comes from someone you have not met,
[00:05.20]and you find yourself imaginging what the person looks like,
[00:09.64]putting a face to the hidden voice.
[00:13.27]Are you any good at this?Sometimes it is easy to get it wrong.
[00:19.15]John Blanchard stood up from the bench,straightened his Army uniform,
[00:25.18]and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station
[00:31.40]He looked for the girl whose heart he knew,
[00:35.34]but whose face he didn't the girl with the rose.
[00:40.49]His interest in her had begun twelve months before in a Florida library.
[00:46.86]Taking a book off the shelf
[00:49.61]he soon found himself absorbed, not by the words of the book,
[00:55.20]but by the notes penciled in the margin.
[00:59.25]The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.
[01:06.61]In the front of the book,
[01:09.17]he disovered the previous owner's name,Miss Hollis Maynell.
[01:14.14]With time and effort he located her address.She lived in New York City.
[01:20.27]He wrote her a letter introducing himself
[01:23.83]and inviting her to correspond.
[01:27.35]The nest day he was shipped overseas for service in World WarⅡ.
[01:32.63]During the next year the two grew to know each other through the mail.
[01:38.95]Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart.A romance was budding.
[01:45.43]Blanchard reaquested a photograph,but she refused.
[01:49.84]She explained: "If you feeling for me has any reality,
[01:54.89]any honest basis,what I look 1ike won't matter.
[01:59.82]Suppose I'beautiful.I'd always be haunted
[02:04.37]by the feeling that you had heen taking a chance on just that，
[02:09.38]and that kind of love would disgust me
[02:13.15]Suppose I'm plain(and you must admit that this is more likely).
[02:18.45]Then I'd always fear that you were going on writing to me
[02:23.78]only because you were lonely and had no one else.
[02:28.43]No，don't ask for my picture.
[02:32.06]When you come to New York,you shall see me and then you shall make your decison
[02:38.43]Remember,both of us are free to stop or to go on after that-Whichever we choose
[02:45.93]When the day finally came for him to return from Europe,
[02:50.27]they scheduled their first meeting
[02:53.90]7:00 p.m.at Grand central station，New York.
[02:58.34]"You'll recognize me,"she wrote,"by me red rose I'1l be wearing on my lapel.
[02:59.27]"So，at7：00p.m he was in the station looking for a girl
[03:06.04]who had filled such a special place in his life for the past 12 months,
[03:12.41]a girl he had never seen，
[03:15.10]yet whose wriren words had been with him and sustained him unfailingly
[03:20.88]I'1l let Mr.Blanchard tell you what happened：
[03:25.14]A young woman was coming toward me，her figure long and slim
[03:30.49]Her golden hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears;
[03:35.79]her eyes were blue as flowers.
[03:39.03]Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness，
[03:43.19]and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive.
[03:48.51]I started toward her,
[03:50.76]entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose
[03:56.22]As I moved，a small，provocative smile curved her lips.
[04:01.68]"Going my way,sailor?"she murmured.Almost uncontrollably
[04:08.05]I made one step closer to her,and then I saw Hollis Maynell.
[04:13.80]she was standing almost directly behind the girl.
[04:18.16]A woman well past40,she had graying hair pinned up under a woun hat
[04:24.77]She was more than a little overweight,
[04:27.93]her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes
[04:32.19]The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.
[04:36.11]I felt as though I was split in two，so keen was my desire to follow her
[04:43.76]and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own.
[04:52.31]And there she stood.Her pale,round face was gentle and sensible,
[04:58.44]her gray eyes had a warm and kindly glow.
[05:02.42]I did not hesitate.
[05:04.45]My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy
[05:09.99]of the book that was to identify me to her
[05:14.25]This would not be love,but it would be something precious,
[05:19.00]something perhaps even better than love
[05:22.66]a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.
[05:28.82]I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman
[05:34.39]Even though white I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment
[05:40.45]I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard and you must be Miss Maynell
[05:46.38]I am so glad you could meet me;may I take you to dinner?”
[05:50.82]The woman's face broadened into a smile.
[05:54.45]"I don't know what this is about，son,"she answered，
[05:58.68]But the young 1ady in the green suit who just went by,
[06:03.10]she begged me to wear this rose on my coat
[06:06.75]And she said if you to ask me out to dinner,
[06:10.59]I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you
[06:14.72]in the big restaurant acrossthe street.She said it was some kind of test!"
[06:20.63]It's not diffcult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom
[06:26.29]The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.
[06:32.64]Tell me whom you love,"Houssaye wrote, "and I will tell you who you are."
[06:38.70]valentine\ straighten\ make one's way go\ grand
[06:47.11]absorb\ margin\ handwriting\ reflect
[06:54.58]thoughtful\ insightful\ previous\ owner
[07:02.74]locate\ correspon\ overseas\ fertile
[07:11.70]romance\ bud\ haunt\ take a chance
[07:21.44]disgust\ schedule\ lapel\ sustain
[07:28.31]slim\ blonde\ curl\ delicate
[07:34.97]chin\ provocative\ cure\ go sb's way
[07:42.34]sailor\ murmur\ gray\ tuck
[07:49.57]more than a little\ overweight\ ankel\ thrust
[07:56.97]heel\ split\ keen\ longing
[08:03.50]companion\ uphold\ sensible\ glow
[08:11.15]hesitate\ grip\ leather\ identify
[08:18.20]grateful\ salute\ lieutenant\ broaden
[08:25.44]wisdom\ response\ in response do\ attractive
