Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-03-01
Preempted
BY F. H. LANCASTER.
copyrighted BY Authors syndicate.J

n course, II she prefers to eat
sugar on her potatoes and salt
on her sweet potatoes, 1 suppose
there is, as you say, no harm in it;
but still
The subject under discussion was a
young woman who had recently come
to Greensboro, and though she seemed
inclined to trouble herself not at all
about Greensboro, Greenboro was in a
fever of anxiety about her, her do
ings, sayings, eatings, as reported by
the maid who witnessed the same.
DR.. Albain had heard wild and
woolly accounts of Helen Meybin be-
fore, but he was willing to admit
that this evening Mrs. Marston's
tongue had justified its right to the
title of town terror; and, also, that
he began to feel some movings of Gu
riosity toward this new horror that
had come upon the town of his adop-
ton.
"Greenboro is always having fit
of the horrors about something" he
had reflected, carelessly, when his at
tention was first directed toward this
latest one, and he had continued to
treat the subject with that mixture
of Indifference and disdain that
marked his mental attitude toward
everything outside of the medical
profession.
After Mrs. Marston's glowing ac-
count, however, this position became
untenable and most of his half hour
drive home was consumed in res
olute resumption of facts. He felt a
swing of sympathy toward the
woman who, like himself, seemed
alone in the world, and who ate salt
on her sweet potatoes. This taste, he
argued, showed a sound appreciation
of dietetic principle-and then, too,
he did it himself, which was perhaps
the real ground of his approval.
So interested had he become in the
subject that when he passed Hillside
cottage he deliberately drew his
horse to a walk and stared frankly
into the open window. A brown head
bent over a desk was the only
reward gained by this extraordinary
concession to curiosity, but as it was
the only glimpse he had ever had of
the latest agony, DR.. Albain felt re-
paid.
He should know her the next time
he saw her, he reflected. But the
back of a woman's head is really 8
questionable sponsor for the features
of her face, and it so happened that
when the doctor next saw Helen Mey-
bin he did not know her.
Looking up from the dust of the
roadside in a blind rage over the ac-
cident, he met a pair of gray eyes
that were making a strenuous effort
to look concerned in spite of their
dancing amusement.
''Are you hurt?" she eues toned.
'Hurt," snarled the doctor, as he
got on his feet and brushed the dust
from his coatsleeves. Hurt, of
course not. Who ever heard of
man being hurt by having his horse
knocked from under him?''
SCI beg your. pardon" she said, her
tones unsteady with laughter; ST
forgot that the road turned so sharp
~ here. Your horse does not seem to
be much hurt
In fact, her bike had not touched
his horse. It was his steed's back
ward 1unge that had unseated the
doctor and the knowledge of this fact
did not soothe his temper. He turned
away with sundry only partially
smothered words that were neither
complimentary to the horse nor re-
spectful to the lady and flung him
self into the saddle. The girl col
lapsed upon the roadside and gave vent
to her strenuously depressed amuse-
ment in peal after peal of clear,
sweet laughter. And the doctor
heard.
But the worst was yet to come, for,
as DR.. Albain neared Hillside cot
tage, bike bell rang a prolonged
warning behind him and moment
later the author of his recent mis-
hap glided past and dismounted at
the gate. The doctors eyes widened
as ne watched her run the wheel into
its rack and enter the house with an
air of ownership.
ESQ.," he muttered, ''and I had
meant to be her friend He
his shoulders. ''What ground
there ever was for friendship is all
preempted now. Staked out by dis
gust" He might have added, ''and by
ridicule." But the doctor was no
more fond than other men of telling
himself wholesome truths.
Like most strong men, too, he fan
cied himself above resentment and did
not trouble to explain why he never
took the road that ran by Hillside cot
tage, although the not doing so caused
him good many extra hours in saddle.
Neither did he attempt to explain why,
when three months later the maid
from the cottage came in haste for
medical aid, he sent his young assist
ant and made no inquiries.
Mrs. Marston's new horse had run
away with her, and Helen having
sprung at the brute's bits had been
dashed against shop window and bat
tered up geueSaily before she succeed