The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-20
THE EVENING STORY
A Business Opportunity.
(By Martha McCulloch Williams.)
t.I Think Margaret began tenta


| lively, frowning the least Bit that is
lit seems to me-we can't very we'll
do anything else.
"Can't-eh? Why not ?" Aunt Eliza
beth shifted.
Margaret looked carefully over her
head, as she answered, Are you will
ing to have me accept IA gratuity
tfrom-the man have refused to
lmarry?"
1.-The more fool you for refusing!"
Aunt Elizabeth exploded. Don't talk
/ to me of gratuities-I hate your long
words same as I do your high-strung
notions Thomas Allen has no more
real right to this place than you nave
it is just his luck in having saw
ing mother, while you hao speho-
thrift father
Leave him out-please,'' Margaret
said, her voice hard but tremulous.
| Aunt Elizabeth ran on: Your
great-uncle who made the money GER
tainly wanted it to keep up the dignity
| of the family--
ST know it," Margaret interrupted.
'eThat is partly why-O! Aunt Lisa
beth, can't you see, don't you under
stand I can't hurry Thomas knowing
am not his free choice?"
you mean he asked you because
he thought he ought ~ Aunt Eliza
beth cried, sitting straighter. "Of all
| foolishnessi The will never said
word of such a thingi And Thomas
! isn't the man to be tied up by any
dead man. He wants you-because he
wants YOU. Patience knows why-I
don't!''
| Margaret began to dimple. When
she provoked Aunt Elizabeth to the
point of sarcasm she knew the eno
was near. Tears always followed.
| After the shower Aunt Elizabeth
all the unkind things she had said to
| her Now she was on the verge OF
weeping, yet struggled to add:
81 certainly-don't see why! Jenny
Ware is much prettier, and a lot more
amiable-then, then she'll have
| please say that to Thomas-he's
! coming this evening" Margaret en-
| treated, her eyes beginning to twinkle.
Aunt Elizabeth had her handker-
chief out-she put it back inS her
pocket. cycling Margaret Sharply.
"How do you know" she demanded
| Margaret oimpled more than ever.
at asked him-and he said: Yes
with pleasure she returned airily.
then her face suddenly grave: 81 had
to do it, Aunty-it was the only way
to make him understand"
/ you are the most provoking crea-
ture! Will you please tell me what
you mean?" Aunt Elizabeth clustered,
the handkerchief again in play.
| Margaret answered steadily: why
| THAT is WG"CdH 10 OH llN1HS vi
| his money. Not through ingratitude-
1 love him for wanting to take care OF
lus in spite of anything. It is because
I-because-I want to n:arry-marry
somebody else-and live as BELTS the
Allen name. He can't do it so long as
he insists upon giving me half his in
come
ct hate to say it of my sisters only
child-but you are an idiot! Yes, an
IDIOT" Aunt Elizabeth said over her
shoulder, marching toward the door.
| Margaret sighed with relief as 1t
shut behind her elder, got up, walked
to the window, and looked througn
dimming eyes at the gay autumn world
without A good glad world, the only
one she knew-yet she must quit II, go
among strangers and make her place
| She had no fear-nothing is so truly
linvincible as ignorance. Moreover she
had read, and credited fully, popular
fairy tales of young women who had
found independence, even competence
and trips abroad, by exercise OF such
| talents as cake-making embroidery
! even fine sewing, and the knack OF
raising squads or broilerS. She mad
made up her mind, after explaining
fully to Thomas, to ask the loan of a
Thousand dollars-enough to start a
chicken farm She knew she would
get it for the asking-sha thought she
knew further. he would be glad to give
lit outright. He had conScience-had
| Thomas. She wished 1t were not quite
so lively. Then, maybe, she might
have let herself believe that 1t was
Hove not the compellings of family
pride. which had made him propose.
4 Aunt Elizabeth was the stumbling
block. All her life she had lived in
easy comfort, with her sister, pamper-
| ed and deferred to, by the father she
had lust characterized as a Spendthrift,
lyet fully persuaded all the while, that
ishe was eager to make herself indie
ipendent-that it was only the .impera-
tive need of her in the household
| which withheld her from a career.
Her presence had seemed almost pro-
left alone, within one little week.
lThen had come the crash-the revela-
ton that naught remained of Great
IJJncle Aliens legacy-it had not been
wilfully wasted. but had vanished
partly through the heritCr's generous
linclinations.
/ And then his nephew had come to
1.-THE rescue-now for two years he had
divided royalty with Margaret Mar
garet did not dream it, but, except for
the dividing, he would have courted
her within a month of his uncle's
death They had not been brought UP
Ito know each other. weli-rather with
1.-THE distant intimacy of kinfolks known
Through letters Margaret had written
to Thomas upon his birthdays. and
1 aIIeT A1c
lsent her Christmas gifts of his moth
er's choosing, therefore ugly but sub
Istantial She had returned birthday
lpresents largely of her own making.
j Even his mother had had to admit
THAT her niece could sew-though she
Ihad scoffed over the things sewn. Shirt
leases, and collar bags and monogram
lined wash cloths, were all to her
mind a sad waste of stitchery.
/ Liberal Thomas was in sort, the
reaction from his mothers prudence.
She had died little earlier than her
Ibrother-thus the son had been I'M
Il hammered. He had taken the family
Il $3.50 r. Ia Last