The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-10
THE EVENING STORY
(Ry Donald Allen.l

One OF the Browns.
i (By Donald Allen.)
At the breakfast table Grandma
Singleton had said to her grand
daughter, Miss Ethel Singleton,
whom she had brought UP from a
| child of eight to the age of nineteen:
In about an hour wish to have
a talk with you on a certain matter.
so please don't leave the house,
rs 1t about our going somewhere
| this summer?'' was queried in reply
The old lady gave the girl a look
over the top of her spectacles that
set her heart jumping, and after half
| a minute answered:
ut may be even more interesting
than that"
"oh. do you mean that we may go
to Europe?''
ri will see about it,"
"Oh, you dear, good thingi 1 just
| felt that you had a surprise for me-"
and you felt right" was the grim
reply.
Miss Ethel had the strongest suspi-
cion of what was coming. She had
| choked up at the first words and
could eat no more. She was simply
giving her grandma taffy and pretend
| ing that she wasn't in the least fright
| ened. She went around to the head
! of the table and kissed the old lady
and patted her on the back and then
went away singing, but she didn't fool
! anybody.
Il
| put on her Sunday cap and taken a
| seat in the parlor. On the table at
\ her elbow was a family Bible to help
add dignity to the situation. Her
lips were pursed and her feet were
| crossed.
"well, dearie, we will talk about
Europe" said the young lady as she
came floating in.
And his name is Henry Brown
replied the dame in her deepest
| tones.
Why-what-who?"
And you are engaged to be mar
riedi"
| ''Why. Grandma Singleton
| 1--WE found out all about it, Ethel
and you needn't carry the pretense
any farther. Up there at Vassar you
| met a person named Henry Brown
and fell in love with him. You are
| to tell me about it for the last two
weeks. but you couldn't get up the
| courage"
But how did you find out 2" asked
I Ethel, dropping all thoughts of de-
Same as Sherlock Holmes finds
out things. I'm seventy-four years
old, but I'm no back number. This
what you have to say for yourself.
You needn't take hold of my hand
nor kiss me nor shed tears. 1 want
to know who this Henry Brown is"
ITS. ITS Henri Brown
| "And he's a very, very nice young
man, and his family is a very, very
nice family. We are not exactly en-
gagged. but almost. I was going to
ask you about it,
| "Well, we won't have to talk about
| it five minutes. You can never
marry a Brown with my consent, and
you can never marry any man with
the tomfool name of Henri You went
/ - - NIr kod onf n FOL
in love with some sissy of a young
| fellow Write him today that the
foolishness has passed.
| ooh, grandma, but we love each
1 other!'' walled the girl.
"It's only calf love-
| "It's the awfullest kind of love. We
shall both commit suicide If we can't
marry. If only you could see him
once-if you knew how noble he isl"
| "And his name is Brown-Henri
Brown murmured Grandma.
"But thousands of Browns have
! been great men, and the name of
Henri. when you write it looks dis
tinguished. Maybe he'll change it,
he'll call himself Claude or some
thing"
Listen to me, Ethel. When I was
a girl of your age 1 had beau named
threw me over for widow. vowed
vengeance on the Browns forever af-
| ter. If you marry a Brown you must
leave this house, and you needn't
expect a dollar of my money That's
| fiat
"oh, grandma. it will kill met
\ surely Will" were the words that
came out between sobs, but they had
| no effect
Fall in love with a White, Black,
Green. Smith or Perkins and I may
not have anything to say against it,
| replied the old lady, "but draw the
line at the Browns. I was Tilted for
widow, and that widow had
broken nose at that!''
Miss Ethel wept. She wept into a
decline. She thought of suicide.
| A month later grandma and her
granddaughter were at hotel in the
That is, he was at another hotel close
by. Henri had been tipped off, Miss
Ethel's decline still prevailed, and
she had become very demure. Not
Brown, whether Jacob, Moses, Aaron
or Henri was being mentioned.
There was no talk OF love or matri-
mony. Grandma had suspicious for
a week. but when the girl refused to
i stir out of the hotel unless in her
company she gave them up. She be-
came little conscience stricken.
One hot afternoon, the declining
girl was asleep on sofa and the
and thinking of that broken nosed
widow, a man stepped in off the We
randa and held the muzzle of a pistol
to her nose and demanded her cash
and jewelry. He was bewhisker ed
and fierce He meant murder if balk-
ed. Grandma looked at him for few
seconds and then tackled him. Not
standing the pistol and his threats she
grabbed him by hair and whiskers
and yelled for help. Miss Ethel awoke
and yelled for the whole fire depart
4 ment.
In response, Henri Brown came
dashing in. He dashed upon the in
truder and dashed his head on the
| floor and against the wall and all
over the room and he would have
kept on dashing If the fellow hadn't
escaped by the window he came in at,
leaving knife and pistol on the floor.