The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-01

a letter. addressed to her here-at the
handsomest house in town And you
know Miss Prinlly said pride Of char
acter-''
Bother Miss Primly," Seena said
impatiently. but holding out her hand
then quickly: But say, AunIy
Gabe! Youn have to get this printed.
Bigg can't read writing"
Il know" Mrs. Kirkby said, with q
crafty smile: tShe will have to get r
read, and no doubt win take it to her
minister-Who will read It and I'M
press what say on her as 1. myself,
never could do. I thought OF that at
first Wasn't it clever in me2 Maybe
he will take my suggestion to himself
the sermon on feshly appehtes. you
know
Maybe Seena echoed. running
away and banging the outer door be-
Even among the new people who
had brought the serpent, Progress,
into the some time Eden. Edgewarren,
Mrs. Kirkby was somebody. Inls IN
virtue of a handsome fortune. supple
mented by a. handsomer presence. a
graciOusly highbred manner, and a
sweet if uncertain disposition. she
had, further the heart of girl, not
Withstanding she was on the shady
side of fifty; a fortunate temperament
in a way, since it had let her persuade
herself that she YVES devotedly attach
ed to the late Mr. Kirkby, a seasoned
and crusty individual, forty odd years
her senior, who had made up for living
on Internationally by leaving to his
widow his fortune in fee. Childless,
with only Seena too look out for
Seena who was distinctly unSympa-
thetic-Mrs. Kirkby's heart. which,
like nature, abhOrred a vacuum, was
given to twining itself about somebody
else.
She spent much money for things
she did not need. and much time in
remaining EnRndinpG big
house, perfectly appointed, was at once
her pride and her torment. Progress
had brought in its train the servant
problem, no less than the club, and
the lady lecturer. Tidy girls from the
farmsteads round about who had
aforetime been glad to work in Edge
warren kitchens. now either took
places with the new people, who paid
ridiculOusly high wages, or went to
work in the city. So only the wrecks
and remnants were left for EdgeWar-
rem housewives. The town was too
small. and too far out for the city
big country houses. Green immi-
grants were impossible. while as for
the adventurous few who had brought
in .cOlOred cooks and housemafds their
last estate was tragedy as dark as the
com pleXiOn of their imDOrtauOns.
Mrs. Kirkby had been one of them,
but after Clorinda of Virginia had
looted the larder, and gone to sleep in
the middle of a sWagger dinners serV-
ing. she had been glad to employ Mrs.
Bigg, a village person, Notwithstanding
she was we'll known to have an indie
pendent mind. a shrewish tongue, and
a very bad temper.
Two years of more or less strained
relations had at last reached d crisis
a crisis precipitated by Benny Town
send. Mrs. Kirkby had known Benny
almost since he was in short frocks: he
had been the pet pupil in her Sunday
school class the year she came to
EdgewaTren a bride. He had grown
up handsome. manly. and ambitious,
but Fate owned him a grudge-else
why did his father die, just as Benny
was on the edge of manhood. leaving
him the sole support of a stepmOther
and FIVE small brothers and sisters ?
Benny had accepted the burden gal
lantly. and gone to work giving over
all hope of a college career and a pro-
fessiOn to do a thriving trade as a
gentleman dairyman with the new
people.
Thus he had kept his heae above
water and the family thrust uDon him
in decent comfort. His half sisters had
both married. and married well, so
his burden was somewhat nghtened.
The eldest boy was taking care of
himself, but Benny had the two
younger ones in college. There was
besides. their mother to look out for
Now that Benny was rising thirty
people said he deserved the luck of
getting a rich wife, and added signif1-
cantly that he was uo at the Kirkby
house nearly as often as Major VIM
who had begun counting the widow
before her grape had lost its new
smell.
The major was sixty-odd, a well-to-
do bachelor, withal a gentleman but
of mea gre frame. a melancholy eoun-
tenance. The cOuntenance belied him
sadly-he was anything but the deaths
head he looked, but Mrs Kirkby