The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-07-13
THE EVENING STORY
Uncle Toby's Thousand Dollars.
(By M. J. Phillips.)
Jerry" observed Uncle Tony, ait.

time you were married"
You think so, Uncle 9''
st certainly do replied Uncle Toby.
How old are your"
Gust twenty-six."
''Twenty-six! You surprise me.
Yes, sir, you should be married No
young man should pass that age and
remain SINGLE
You did. Uncle To6y,'' grinned
Gerald Mcintyre. Tobias Brenton was
a confirmed bachelor of many years
standing.
That's ali right, boy" returned his
uncle. I'm the exception. But you
should be married. Tell you what,
Jerry"
What. Uncle?"
1.-The day you get married I'll give
you thousand dollars for a wedding
present.
Il will@with one proviso. If you
marry anyone but Patience Ailene
Truesdale."
who >"
Patience AiIene Truesdale.'
who's Patience Ailene Truesdale?
And why couldn't I marry her? And
where Goes she live? ?"
Il didn't say you couldn't marry
her." replied Tobias Brenton. Il
haven't anything to say concerning
neI- DSuSNG she - IOW at NO41C6C~
vile. What I did say was that if you
married anyone but her, 1 would give
you a thousand dollars
But. Uncle, I don't know this
Truesdale, and there's no possibility of
my marrying her, or anybody else
It's nearly train time" observed
Uncle Toby, rising. 81 realize you don't
know Miss Truesdale, and so what I
said may seem foolish. But you can't
say I haven't put the proposition up
to you. Think over this getting mar
ried, Jerry. A thousand dollars is
thousand dollars, these days. Let me
hear from you
The rest of the day Jerry gave his
muscle to the hardware store where
he was employed, but not his mind, for
that was elsewhere.
He was, he knew, Uncle Tobys fav
orite relative; and his uncle wanted
him settled in a home of his own.
Uncle Toby had no prejudice against
matrimony, only SO far as it applied
to himself That part of his talk was
reasonable and understandable.
But as to Patience Ailene Truesdale
rather a pretty name, though an odd
one.
Who was Patience Ailene-Patience
Ailene: it was a quaint. sweet name
against whom his uncle seemed SO
prejudiced?
After supper he changed his clothes,
lEl0Q on Jour ueCktlcS anu went "
Collegeville.
A rickety trolley line bumped and
jerked him to the normal town. Jerry
got off the car at the corner of Normal
avenue and Main street, feeling as
foolish as a man searching for the
rainbow's end.
Jerry felt like an alien as he Joined
the leisurely procession en- the streets
for all the talk was of semesters and
textbooks and discipline. He went on
up Normal avenue to the campus.
A block from the handsome pile of
buildings he came to a house overflow
ing with femininity Tho bland moon
grouped Turk-fashion on cushions, on
the porch.
There was chattering and laughing
and an undercurrent of pIaintive tink-
ling, for three of the party in the CEN
ter had stringed instruments. From
out of the pleasant babel, as Gerald
passed the gate a voice said:
LEAD My Sweetheart Was a Rover,
Patience Ailene."
Patience Ailene! Why-why," slut
tered the young man to himself. "Have
really found her-so soon?" He
crossed the street at the first intersec-
ton, doubled back on the other side
and halted beneath a friendly maple
opposite the group.
From up and down the street came
appreciative hand clappi1g when the
selection was ended. Jerry Joined
heartily in the applause; but his trib-
ute was to the soprano voice that had
led the rollicking college song.
A moment later he regretted his
enthusiasm; a contralto, bubbling with
little rills of laughter, fioated over to
him;
see you hiding there!"
Jerry suddenly remembered it was
time to catch the car back home.
| He met Patience Ailene TruesdaIe
presently; the girl of the soprano voice
was really she. It took five trips to
Gals before he accomplished an intro
duction
Then he made up for lost time. He
called on Patience Ailene as often as
Normal convention and the girl her
self would permit; patronized soda
fountains and confectionery stores, as
we'll as the two moving picture
theaters. literally, and otherwise fol-
lowed the path which his uncle's
words should have barred. He fell
heels over head in love with Patience
Ailene.
AS for the girl, he could not de-
termine whether she cared for him,
eyes were blue instead of gray. She
was capricious. And yet beneath it all
Jerry knew there were depths in her
nature.
He puzzled still over the mystery of
his uncIe's dislike for Patience Ailene.
She came from his uncle's home town,
Long Rapids; and when he had care
fully introduced his name into the
| conversation one night, she had spok-
en- glowingly of Mr.. Brenton. who was
her fathers best friend, she said. It
was Mr. Brenton who had advised her
to attend the Normal. so she could be
q high school teacher.
There's something troubling you,
| Jerry" she said, so UNEXPECTEDLY, that
he was taken completely of guard.
Tell me what It is
Jerry, laundering. attempted to
fnesse; It delayed things a little longer
ht1f at last he had to tell.