The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-19
THE EVENING STORY
Aunt Jane Relents.
(By Martha McCulloch-W William

10y MdTlId ACCQllOCn- w llll3IuB.J
who's Myrilly's best beau now?''
Aunt Jane asked, looking quizzically at
her niece, though the question was to
her sister, Mrs. Lacy.
She had come that day for a months
visit, the first in two years. and was
naturally eager to find out ail about
everything.
st never yet told folks the thing I
didn't know" Mrs. Lacy said almost
stiff1y. 'Myrilly don't get the go-by at
the parties. nor the picnics-neither
does she have to ride lonesome all the
way to meeting. But sociable atten-
ton is one thing, and counting quite
another. I take it you don't call a
around a whole lot of the time"
why, no." Aunt Jane began eager
ly, but Myrilla interrupted her, her
face vexed scarlet.
Never mind about my beaux, aunty
be sure 1 don't. If I've got to be
thinking the boys are all sweethearts
I'd rather never speak to them. 1 like
all of them so well. it doesn't seem as
if I could ever be content with just
one"
For the land!' Aunt Jane ejacu-
lated. maria, 1 know I've never
raised a girIbut mark this-if had
raised one she'd not talk no such way
as that
tions,'' Mrs. Lacy said noncommittal-
ly, but with a significant glance at her
sister. AS Myrilla disappeared into the
kitchen she added in half whisper:
ding toward the door. while you're
here. I'll tell you why the first good
chance"
The chance came next day-Myrilla
had driven to town and was safe Tor
some hours She was no more than
;r a Uhnn her mother
burst out: Its all on account of Len
Talbot Myrilly never says so. but her
eyes tell me. They turn like morning
sunshine when she sees him pass
Wont hardly speak to folks-not I'M
less they're sick or in trouble-then
I'll agree he's like an angel from
heaven
HE oughter be. Remember what
he's got to make up for Aunt Jane
said, pursuing her lips. But dear.
dear! To think of my own and only
niece loving the son of murderer,
You can't call old man Talbot
that-you know he come clear at the
trial. Mrs. Lacy put in with FAINT
show of spirit. Didn't you hear how
he swum through the floodwaters
and brought out all that Millet tribe
O. children? Got pneumonia by 1t
and old Sam Millet had been harder
down on him than anybody. Old Sam
tTlGQ TO MAKE up with LCAi CT eAAO -
neral, but Len couldn't see his hand
even then. He didn't say nothing
nothing harsh, I mean-Just looked
the other way. And to everything OF
'fered he had one answer: 'Thank you
but my father no longer needs any
help Since then he's been just the
same, stirring and thriving, the best
farmer in the district; keen on a bar
gain but not what you'd call close;
civil as can be when he has to be, but
never letting anybody get nearer n
arms length. Not even Myrilly-"
"Welli If she was the least kin to
me she'd have more pride n to give
him a thought" Aunt Jane inter-
rupted.
Mrs. Lacy sighed. "Myrilly's not
forward" she said. you'll see that,
no matter what you think. be-
lieve she'll live and die loving Len
and all she's got to feed her heart on
is Just this; she made wreath-am-
brosia and white rose buds and sum-
mer chrysanthemums, and sent 1t for
the old mans funeral. Lots more
folks sent flowers. the very best they
could pick in their gardens-and Len
left them in the parlor. But Myrilly's
wreath went on the coffin-and with
it-down in the cold ground You
see, before the trial, while the old
man was in jail-they wouldn't take
bail seeing the charge was murder
she'd sent little nosegays to him when
ever she got the chance. Folks
thought it was awful-me letting her
do it-but she was just such young
thing-and I felt sorry myself-the
Talbots, you know. had held their
heads so high, it did seem a shame
their come-dOwn.
well! All I've got to say is-the
day she ups and marries some good.
like her.that day 1 make my will
leaving her all I've got" Aunt Jane an
nounced. But if she's going to keep
on incoming after one of that bloody
minded stock, my money goes straight
to my husbands kim"
eMyril1y won't care-she's mighty
independent. And if she ever knows
you say that. she'll be more'n ever
set" Mrs. Lacy said with little hard
laugh that had in it spice of pride.
st won't care either" she went on.
Whatever Myrilly may or mayn't DO,
she'll be worth dozen such as John
Mil1er's slipshod nieces."
TITS easy to see where she gets some
of her foolishness," Aunt Jane retort-
ed angrily, going outside in huff.
1t was a soft spring day-the breaF
ing plows were in the old grass. the
very meadow she had run over SO
many times in her childhood and
youth. She made her way down the
lane, snuffed the ploughland odors
gratefully, then stro1led on into a
stretch of pasture, debating whether
to stay and ENJOY the oruerly comfort
of the Lacy house, or go back to the
slipshod nieces of whom her soul was
sick.
She knew the pasture no less than
the meadow-it was the old Hicks
farm, its owners thriftlessness pro-
claimed by the rocks and bushes that
numbered the face of it. 1t sloped
gently upward to a long crest, from
which one could see the Talbot house
and the fields about it,
Mrs. Miller had a morbid wish to
see it. She made her way slowly up
the slope and came out at last upon
the crest but in little dip of it that
partly sheltered her from view. In the
dip she found another occupant-Robl
Roy. her sisters dearly loved collie.
recreant to name and nature. sucking
the blood of a newly killed eve. Her
twin lambs lay q little beyond. their