Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-19

at Princes Park and a comfortable an
huty 10 keep II up on. Kate came into a
| business that had been thoroughly neglect
| ed and allowed to run down till il was in 4
very shaky position. indeed. financially.
| Sell It." said Mrs Craven for what IL
| will fetch
I'D rather run it myself" said Kate.
| Rubbish said her aunt; YOUR twenty
and the worlds before you to enjoy Be
| s,oeS, my dear you're sure to marry. Sell
the business
If you want plain facts. aunt. don't
see why any one should give sixpence for
| H. ana II we tried to wind it up. 1t would
mean bankruptcy, Some of the moneys
| very long way out
| Your poor Uncle Godfrey intended 10
| leave you comfortably off. know"
Ana m pleased TO think he died beiev-
ing ne had done So They had the quaintest
| way or Keeping books down at Water
| street. Cutting notches on tally stick
was nothing to some of their lodges They
naont struck a proper balance sheet for
years. and both Uncle Godfrey and Mr.
| Crewdson really and honestly imagined that
| the firm was hourishing"
| You sell" said Mrs. Craven
| Not /. aunt. Uncle Godfrey left me the
concern believing ii TO be small fortune
| Tor me, and fortune I'm going To make
out OF it: and not a small one. either"
=, don't believe in business women" said
| Mrs Craven severely. I'd rather see a
| womanly woman
| My dear" said Kate. you shall sec the
two combined in me presently. I'm going
| TO make very large and extensive for
tune: but the moment you see anything
| unfeminine about me | want you To tell
| me and III sell out forthwith"
| thereafter from o'clock am. to ESQ
pm. for five days n week Kate sat in an
| inner room of the Water street office with
| the ancient Crewdson a buffer between
her and the world. She came into the
place with talent for figures and a good
| general idea of the business, and she set
| herself first to the conversion of Mr..
Crewdson.
That worthy old person was entirely of
| opinion that what was good enough for
| poor Mr.. Godfrey was quite good enough
| Tor anybody else. and (when pressed said
/ so with unfriendly plainness. a man. in
I Rates shoes would have dismissed him
and brought in younger blood Kate pre-
| ferred conversion She knew that there was
| great quarry of information on matters
west African slowed beneath Mr.. Crewd-
| sons dull exterior and she intended to dig
| at it. So she reduced his wages, which he
| quite agreed with her the firm could not
! afford. and then, unasked. offered him a
| fine commission on the next years profits.
| IL was curious to see how she galvanized
! him into an opinion that these profits must
certainly be forthcoming.
She laid in typewriter. burned the offcs
| quilts, wrote the firms letters signed them
| For ONell & Craven, *. OMEN" and
before she knew it had created a person.
atty. Ten callers day-captains. purserS,
| traders. merchants-wanted to shake hands
away with the idea that old Crewdson had
suddenly developed capacity and the
| strength of it had stood himself a sig
nature.
On Saturdays. during the summer Miss
ONeill caught butterflies, and in the win
ter played golf. On Sunday morning she
| went to church. On Sunday afternoons and
evenings she had something very nearly
approaching salon. On these latter
| casions Mrs. Craven fattered herself that
she brought success by her artistic atten-
3 flAa nAyr,v,, tot
Now; the girl was attractive to men.
and, although she was emphatically girls
girl. still she had many friends of one
sex the other. She was good looking,
| she was amusing she was always well
turned out and she carried about with her
that indescribable charm (above and be-
yond these other matters) which always
makes people DESTROYS of warming up a
| first acquaintance into intimacy
| To one man only had she shown any spe-
| cial degree Of preference. and he was
enough encouraged thereby to propose mar
| riage to her.
| She accepted him-provisionally
Il am not absolutely certain that ] wish
| to be married just yet ;" she told him. but
l going abroad now. and l will let you
know definitely when l return. Those are
not nice terms, but they the best can
offer. / have always been able to give a
yes or no decision on every other mat
ter in life so far. But here / can't II is
weak of me. Perhaps it is merely wom-
anly.'
You are exquisite in your womanlIness.
as you are exquisite in everything else" he
had replied. Il am grateful for any bone
of comfort you throw me. Kitty dear"
She was going away then to West Africa.
as has been related above. and the man
| saw her off from the landing stage. She
returned the waving of his handkerchief.
Now. If you had abused me for my indie
cision. and said you would either be en-
gagged or not engaged. / believe I'd have
married you out of hand if you'd wanted
me. But you didn't seem able to clinch
| things and so anyhow you're pigeon holed
for the present. I'm glad l made you keep
our little matter secret"
The mans name was Austin. Many times
during the voyage south through the bay,
and down the trades from the islands Kate
told herself she ought to announce the fact
that she was engaged. But on every occa-
sion her feminfnity got up in arms. Ger
tainly not said this Intangible force Mr..
Austin is man. and if he cares to be a
man and gossip, why let him. But wom-
an by reason of her sex is not called upon
to say more than she needs So Kate held
her tongue, and regretted more and more
every day that-wel. that she should have
cause for regrets.
When she got back to England. a dav
ahead of time, Aunt Jane happened to be
in London, but Austin had a wire from
Point Lynas and was there on the landing
stage to meet her. He wanted to kiss her
there before the world but she had the
advantage of height, and avoided him
skillfully and without advertisement Their
subsequent handshake was somewhat of a
failure.
'Hullo, Henry" said Miss O'Neill. fancy
seeing you here. | suppose you will try
and make out you came down here to the
landing stage on purpose to meet me? Row
abominably hot Liverpool is. and how
atrociously the Mersey smells after that
nice clean Smooth river. Have you caught
me any butterflies? I've brought four cases
full home from the coast. and I honestly
believe I've got two unnamed specimens
If they turn out new. / shall christen one
after understanding o Neilii. There's
vanity for you. And now for the customs
house"
rs that all you have to say to me. Kitty?
I've been just hungry all the time to see
you again I don't think single hour of a
single day has passed but what I have
thought of YOU and where you We're and
what you were doing"
We'll. Henry, that's more than | could
say. Here. wait till | catch that porters
eye. He's taking my cabin trunk to me
wrong heap. About what was in my head
between here and the coast, I'll not say. but
once out there. I'll tell you frankly ] gave
little enough thought to anything except
coast interests. The first place | went
ashore at after Sierra Leone was our own
factory at Smooth. and they'd had Il fight
there which only ended up when our whis-
tie blew The clearing between he, facforv