Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1908-03-25
HiC ~ ~
Homecoming
BY Ceciiy Allen.
Copyrighted. 1908, by Homer Sprague.


how just at this particular moment it
was borne in upon him afresh and at
novel angle.
Her hair was blue black so were
her lashes. and her eyes were a won
dertul blue, which, somehow, some
times, turned to an equally wonderful
violet
The last time that Nat had looked
into them his own had been full OF
singing unshed tears. How could he
stand six months in Panama with the
light of those blue Cor We're they violet
eyes denied him?
But her notes had been so brief and
unsatisfactory that even in hot, lazy
Panama he had caught himself read
ing between the lines and finding there
selfish soul, the small narrow soul OF
the girl given to personal conuuests
the soul stepped in admirat ion and fed
on compliments.
She was smiling at him now across
the cars broad aisle and above il great
granny" muff of gray squirrel That
huge mass Of fur made her face look
all the more piquant and dainty.
Occasionally the man on the right
intercepted the friendly gances which
Peggy Barton shot at the newly re.
turned Gregory. and he glowered. Nat
Gregory knew just how the chap felt
He had intercepted the same sort OF
glances, and they had made him
Squirm too.
She simulated a tiny cough and in
stantly raised the muff again. The
cough was a good excuse for fetch.
ing pose. but somehow the absurd little
deception annoyed Nat Gregory. 1t is
so sometimes with men who have had
their minds and souls opened and
broadeneu by travel and contact with
men of affairs.
SO he let his glance wander to the
girl next to Peggy. She smiled at the
returned traveller, too, but it was a
different sort of smile. Il wholesome
friendly smile. without any vague
sense OF ownership behind it. Peggy
Barton always assumed that air with
For. you see, Janet was the ugly
duckling of the Barton family, famous
for its pretty daughters and the good
matches they made. Janet was the
youngest. and she might not have been
considered homely if Peggy had not
been so brilliantly, scintillatingy beau
tiful by contrast.
There were those, principally women
and young men without prospects. who
said that Peggy Barton always drag
ged her younger and less attractive sis
ter around with her as foil
Something of this was passing
through Nat Gregory's head us he sat
watching the little comedy. The other
chap would be furious ii Nat crossed
the aisle and talked with Peggy. and
Peggy would be furious if he did not.
SO he would strike happy medium.
He would join the party and talk to
Janet.
How we'll he could remember their
many trips together-Peggy. Janet and
h1mself-tO the links, where he and
Peggy played golf and Janet sat on the
veranda or disappeared in the woods
where wild flowers were thick; to the
matinee, where between the acts he
and Peggy discussed the love interest
Of the play as if it were a personal
matter. while Janet read the advertise
ments in the programme; to the rink.
where he and Peggy skated together
and Janet found some girl friend as Il
skating partner or sat against the wall
making humorous mental comment on
the circling tide before her
What jolly little beggar Janet had
been in those days! If she had been
bored she had never shown it. and
He was standing before the trio now
The man, Fred Marsden had been
duly introduced. Peggy had turned
the full battery of her wonderful eyes
without the aid Of the granny muff
upon Gregory's tanned and clean cut
face. and Janet had murmurcd some
thing about "Old times
II haven't skated-why, it is nearly
year since I've been on ice" he was
saying to Janet. I've a good mind to
get admittance to this party and give
you all chance to laugh at my awk-
wardness. Do you think could rent
q decent pair Of skates at the rink
Marsden was politely but not effu-
stvely reassuring. Peggy was mis-
chievousy pleased to pit the rivals
on skates. and Janet just murmured,
''DO come
II wonder how it will feel to the lit
tie girl if she has a real partner all
afternoon thought Gregory as he
locked his skates. Before he and ia
net had crcled the rink dozen times
he realized that she was Il splendid
little person on the ice and most ap-
prcciatiye listener. never giving
thought to the tricksy steel beneath
her trim boots
NO. she was not "out" vet. Next
winter perhaps she might come out at
tea. She was still the little sister
OF the reigning beauty. And didn't he
think Peggy handsomer than ever? He
did. and he said so, with heartiness
and lack of tenderness that a more
experienced girl than Janet would
have interpreted correctly.
They fingered so late that the rush
OF home going toilers caught them in
It's swirl on the return trip. When
they reached Gregory's corner, Janet
mechanically extended her hand
Indeed. I'm not going to leave You
in this crush I know I'm q GOLF ;nv;+
ed member Of this quartet, but Mars
den has his hands full to steer Peggy
through the crush. You'll need me-"