The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-21
TIE EVENING STORY
Sarah. Hustllng Heroine.

young man"
Yes Yes, there is one there. was the
Who is he?"
can't tell you much about him
LIS name is Ripley, believe. and he's
coiLe Gown from the city for a four
weeks vacation He was asking me
apout boating and fishing"
James Halliday was a carpenter of
ehe k1iIage OF Branchvil1e. His sister
oaI an kept house for him.
Sarah Halliday had lived for So years
and no man had limited of matrimony
- hef- she never pretended to good
looks, but she always Insisted that
she was tender-hearted and had emo
ton sufncient to make a great actress.
der failure to bring men to the point
mad ranked, and she had finally made
up AeI MIND to DO a little hustIing for
husband. She had seen the young
man sitting on the hotel yeranda with
MS feet cooked up on the railing AMI
ne had at once been marked down. He
naQ looked after her in an eager way.
and she fattered herself that she had
made an impression.
If Mr. Ripley is all alone down here
ne must be lonesome she said to her
brother Jim after supper.
Yes, he may be-
Then you'd better saunter up to the
tavern and show him that you want 20
be friendly. You can bring in, II you
want to. that I noticed him this after
ana we've got a boat and fishing tack
lie, and it seems our duty to make the
strangers stay as pleasant as posi-
bic You know how you'd feel If you
We're away from home"
The brother dutifully obeyed orders.
He found Mr.. Ripley smoking a cigar
on the Veranda. He mentioned Sarah,
the millpond, the boat and the bla ok
bass waiting to be caught. and Mr..
Ripley replied that he should surely
tax n H, CIR ion Il
didn't set any date, however, and when
he came home to supper on the follow
ing evening the brother observed 60 the
sister:
What do you think, Sarah? That
Susan Jones has somehow managed to
get acquainted with the stranger, and
he's over at her house playing croQuet-"
Jim, you don't tell me that for Il
fact!" she gasDed.
"Of course dol"
f'Humphl The freshness of Miss
Susan Jones must be seen to at once
And it was. Miss Sarah speedily
donned another dress, fixed up a bit,
and, leaving her brother to eat alone
she started for the Jones house. Mr..
Ripley and Susan were lust finishing
their last game. Sarah walked up to
Susan and whisperingly asked for an
Introduction and forced the issue. When
she returned home Mr.. Ripley accom-
panied her, and he didn't leave the
house until. ten o'clock He had made
himself very agreeable, and when he
had departed Jim observed:
by thunder, Sarah, but 'sposen you
could marry a teller like hinl"
Il mean tot" was Sarah's laconic re-
ply.
The next day Jim was left cut of it.
Sarah and Mr.. Ripley took the boat and
went fishing, and before they returned
she thought she knew her man pretty
well. He was romantic. He was in
clined to be a hero He quoted poetry
He sighed to find and love a heroine
When Jim came home that evening
there was a twinkle in his eye, and
after hearing about the fishing trip he
said:
s'AIr Ripley seems to be a felIer who
gets acquainted with folks pretty fast.
I Just saw him walking home with
you don't mean itl' exclaimed
Sarah as she paused in the act or pour
''That's what I saw. She was al
/ the tavern to see the landlords wife
and I 'spose she was introduced.
We'll, III put q, stop to that pretty
/ sudden [ told Mrs. Graves only last
week that Title was altogether too
/ cOnceited."
/ ing meal alone while the sister started
out with aggressive steps. She saw
| Title and Mr.. Ripley at the gate while
/ she was yet long way off. She walk
/ ed straight up to them and observed
that it was a beautiful evening for see
/ ing the milldaTn, and bore the stranger
away When the pouring waters of
/ the dam had been sufficiently admired
! the young man was walekd to the Hal
/ liday homestead and kept busy quoting
/ poetry and drinking cider until II
/ o'clock.
In the course of a couple Of weeks
at least half a dozen girls were intro
49, 7rasa lIr4n@- &
wife and each and every one OF them
/ set out for a Irritation with him, Each
and every one of them came to grief.
/ however. Sarah was in evidence, and
when she butted in the others had to
butt out At the end of a, fortnight
she felt herself as good as engaged
Mr.. Ripley had praised her strength
/ and skill in rowing. her luck in fishing.
and her emotional temperament, and
she had several times caught him
/ glancing at her as man only glances
when his admiration Is aroused. He
/ had been asked to tea three or four
times. and the two had boated and
fshed every afternoon, and all was go
Flows it coming out, Sarah - ask
ed brother Jim one morning at the
! brea kfast table.
There's only one thing needed, she
replied. Haven't you noticed that he
1 is always talking about heroes and
/ heroines?"
Yes"
IF were a heroine he'd pop the
question inside OF twenty-four hours. "
But how can you be2"
IT can't say just now. but I'm going
/ to think it over during the day
/ That afternoon she received a note
/ from Mr.. Ripley excusing himself from
fcalling, on the ground Of a slight III
ness, and two hours after she had read
the note she learned that he was sit
/ ting on the piazza with the widow
/ Phelps. who had had two husbands
! and wanted a third.
Sarah planned fast from that time
/ ley arose and breakfasted at o'clock.
Z He then spent an hour on the veranda
! smoking and reading. The milldail
was not a hundred fet away and in
plain view.
Next morning as the young man on
! a vacation sat smoking, he heard some
| one calling his name. He looked dp