The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-11-21

|, 1908.
if you don't mind, Mr.. Grantley.p she
looked at him inquiringly.
Not at ALL will step into the adj
joining room if they will be embar-
raised, or I'll listen to your style in
Interviewing" he said teasingly.
Miss Kilroy smiled when her visit
ors entered in the very evident throes
of formality. 'Oh-it's you, is it Zu-
lieka, and your pretty daughter"
The old woman smiled and nodded
until her ear pendants jingied. 1--WE
come see maiden like dawn" she an
nounced genially.
Miss Kilroy remembered the origin
of the compliment, and had the grace
to blush. Did you come to tell me
some more about your beautiful coun-
try?" she asked graciously.
The woman shook her head "Come
to tell-a you of my son. she beamed.
Has he succeeded in getting a po-
sition?" interestedly.
''No-not on the work we come
is it, Hareede? y" She appealed to her
daughter delightedly.
The girls black eyes glowed with
Importance. We've women-it is
always So she explained ingra-
one that she is beloved
AN you marry my son-yes %
broke in the mother eagerly.
Miss Kilroy sank back in her chair
weakly. "Of all things she gasped
lieka leaning over and patting car
ressingly the limp hand of the object
of her sons affection.
Miss Kilroy looked dazed. IT
can't marry your son." she announced
But my sonny son! He Ikea
you, he marry you-the way you smile
make him happy ask you to marry
my sonl" her gestures expressing a
fervent solicitude that exceeded her
vocabulary.
"But 1 don't want to marry your
son-I-hate your soni" declared Miss
Kilroy desperately.
The eyes of the two matrimonial
angrily. Miss Kilroy put her blonde
head upon the desk and sobbed
Grantley considered this an suspicious
moment for interference. He rose and
stood painting with indignation at the
slight to her offspring.
1T is perhaps best for me to ex-
plain the situation, madam" and he
bowed low in manner which he
hoped would impress them with an
idea that he had learned his manners
in foreign court circles. 'It is not
that Miss Kilroy scorns your son, it is
that" He hedged for time to in
vent something soothingly plausible.
late. Miss Kilroy is already betroth-
ed" he added gravely, land there
fore expresses regret that she cannot
consider your son."
Investigator was raised abruptly from
the desk. Zulieka, however, repeated
uncomprehendingly. "Betrothed?"
Grantley said slowly. "Bethrothed-
affianced-to be wed-espousa" he
added desperately.
The mother and sister of the re-
jected looked at each other with a
flash of understanding. "Ah-h!" they
breathed.
ITO me-to me-" Grantley tapped
his breast convincingly.
The woman's face was again
wreathed in smiles. 81 tell-a my son
4 tell-a him that the beautiful maid
not strong to cookie wash. He
forever kiss your hair, mees; and may
your children be as many as the
seed" she said to Grant
ley with growing cordially.
When the door closed behind them,
Grantley stood with his feet apart and |
his hands in his pockets, according to |
The method of meditating man.
by Jove!" he said finally.
A slight sniff was Miss KiIroy's only |
toward relieving the-awk- |
of the situation.
We're engaged" he announced
cheerfully
you're brute!" she answered
Il must say your interviews are con- |
Quoted upon rather original lines"
he leased.
Miss Kilroy's shoulders were shrug- |
sed resentfully. "I'll never interview |
another foreigner so long as 1 live"
she declared.
Certainly you must give that up
when we are married" he suggested, |
/ twinkle in his eye.
She showed for an instant a pair |
Of indignant, fearful eyes. 1--WE are
not engaged" she declared stormily, |
and her head went back to cover of |
the desk.
Grantley leaned over her gently. "I
wish--we were," he suggested softly. |
A sudden tense quietness settled on |
the bowed figure.
''I have wished for a long time
that we Were" he repeated insistently |
He stopped down until he could |
whisper: Aren't we-dear?" and the |
blonde head nodded acquiescence.-
Copyrighted, 1908, by Associated |
Literary Press.)
GLOBE SIGHTS.