The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-10
THE EVENING STORY
A Case of Pique.
(By Lawrence Alfred Clay.)

be admired. This may be the case in
che instance out of fifty. The other
ferty-nine good looking girls are not
a bit vain nor eonceited- They don't
want to be admired but are some
Zines a bit piqued if not looked at
as much as a homely girl.
This was the case with Miss Molly
Cranshaw, who, on a certain summer
date was paying visit to her moth
er's sister in the country. Some ID
year old girls, with her hair, face ana
mirror half the time, whereas she just
went right along with supreme in
difference. That is, she thought she
cid, and she was praised for it. she
went to the country knowing that she
would get freckles and sunburn. ana
hat there were no manicurists or
hairdressers, and some of her friends
called her little heroine.
But for the fact that Farmer john
sons hired man, on the next farm,
fell off load of hay and broke his
leg, and that young Dr. Flint, from the
village, came driving out pOsthaste in
his gig, only a small part of the United
states might have ever heard of Miss
Molly:
To reach the Johnson house the
doctor had to pass the Jessup house,
end Mrs. Jessup had asked the girl
to stand at the gate and watch for
him. If she hadn't been asked to be
& the gate she wouldn't have been
there. She would have been peering
from window or a corner of the
house.
The doctor came in sight at last
His horse was on the gallop, and ne
was in a hurry reach his patient,
tut he might have cast just one look at
the figure in white at the gate.
OF course, hired man had broken
leg, and. of course, the sooner the
leg was attended to the better, but
deliberately to ignore good looking
girl the same as he did the roadside
hitching posts. was black mark
sgainst him. 1t was perfectly natural
that Miss Molly should walk into the
house and announce to the aunt that
rom what she had seen of DR.. Flint
she didn't believe that he knew
enough to set the broken leg of an old
rooster.
Two hours later the girl was at the
gate again. Not because the doctor
had fixed things up and was ready to
go back to town, but to see the sun
set. The view from the gate was fine.
Hiss Molly was now in pink. She was
In pink to match the sunset. If the
coctor couldn't see a girl in white he
might see one in pink, but odds was
the difference anyway.
He drove right past looking straight
ahead of him, as if he were the only
man in the county. and the glance of
contempt and indignation sent after
him did not even make him SILVER.
did you see him go?' asked the
unit as the niece returned to the
Louise.
IT saw something or somebody in
4 gig and it might have been he, :"
was the Indifferent reply.
st suppose he is worried about his
patient
"I don't see why. It's nothing but
broken leg. Any sawbones can set
4 broken leg. He'd better worry about
other things. He'd better worry about
ed"
''Why. I never heard of it!''
Almost blind, I should say, and I
don't care if he is!''
why, dear, how hard hearted you
are! I must go over and see Mrs.
Johnson tonight and ask her if the
5octor had trouble in seeing the leg.
Maybe he borrowed her spectacles. -
At 10 o'clock the next forenoon,
Miss Molly Cranshaw had to wander
Gown to the gate to drive away pig
that was Squealing to get in.
She was about to recross the road
when the doctor came driving by. She
had on blue morning dress this time,
and anybody but a blind man could
have seen her when yet half mile
away. Did DR.. Flint see her? No!
AS he came UP and drove past he turn
ed his face toward the farmhouse as
If looking for her in that direction.
Miss Molly stopped down and picked
up stone, but he was too far away
and SO she threw it over the fence at
The calf.
See anything of the doctor when
you were out" asked the aunt five
minutes later.
IT saw thing in a gig or some
thing drawn by an old horse or some
body. I think 1t stopped at Johnson's
or somewhere" was the reply.
Aunt Hilda looked at her niece in
uzzled way. but made no reply. She
saw that the girl was out of sorts but
laid It to some other reason than the
true one. Ten minutes later Miss Mol
~ began TO feel a sort of recklessness
&C me over her She felt like going out
and forcing the doctor to stop or run
over her when he headed for town.
She wandered back down to the gate,
picking up stones as she went and try
:rg to plan something. and she reached
II TO find the very thing at hand
If DR.. Flint had hitched his horse
he halter had in some way come un-
tied, and the animal was grazing along
the highway instead of taking to its
heels. Without stopping an instant to
think, the girl gathered up the trail
ing lines and climbed into the gig.
Just what she was going to do she did
not know, but the horse settled that
question by heading for the village on
4 saIop- Inere were half a dozen yellS
End screams, and Aunt Hilda got out
to the gate in time to see only a cIoud
of dust down the road. She was Iook-I
ing and wondering when the doctor
came along and asked:
Have you seen my horse anywhere
along here?'
And my niece has gone, tool" al
most shouted the woman.
gig?" anu
"oh. I don't know. but she never
drove horse and may be dead by
this time, Hurry UP, doctor-rnn
every step of the way. IT you find
her all smashed up into kindling
No. Miss Molly never had driven a
horse, and when she found herself
being run away with she had the
sense to drop the lines and hang on
to the gig and let the horse settle the
matter He ran for a mile and he