The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-05
THE EVENING STORY
Her Tardy Coming.

/ l
Her Tardy Coming.
(By Stacy E. Bakery .s.4
Cornelia Dean suddenly received a
letter from John Oliver answering
pertinent questions that had been
asked of him twenty years before.
Cornelia, still spinster-and a
most comely one-was surprised. The
Iyellowed pages, the faded ink, and
the date line told her that the letter
had been written on the day follow
the postoffice stamp showed that the
| letter had been mailed from Boston
but one day before.
| Romance had long been dead in
the heart of Cornelia Dean. She had
loved John oliver nobly and faith
fully, and when he had passed out of
her life as a lover. none other had
come in. A flush on her pretty
cheeks, the little lady carefully
opened the letter. and read, for the
fifth time its contents.
MY Dearest: 1 have waited several
days-and impatiently-for the letter
you wanted me to read and answer
before coming for your answer to my
proposal-and now it is here.
ST know, dear, that I am practically
a stranger to you and the good people
of Sneedville, but in Boston, where
as you know, my father owns large
dry goods store, 1 am well known.
My reputation in my own town will
stand the test of investigation.
Now to answer your questions.
| 81. 1 do not touch liquor. Have
never used intoxicants in my life.
| "2 No: if you consent to marry me
we cannot live in Sneedville, but
must make Boston our home, where
I will eventually go into business with
my father.
| SO. I will give up smoking, if you
wish me to.
"a. You know that will always love
you. There is no need to ask this.
Ask, rather, your own heart.
| Here, in great, lonely Boston, am
| waiting a note bidding me to come
to you. You will realize how lonesome
I am, and you will answer at once. I
am sure of this. ~
always yours.
| The ancient screed fell to the lap
| in her eyes as her thoughts wandered
away in reminiscent reverie. John
i'Oliver! She could see him now, a
| stalwart, manly youth He came to
Sneedville. She enemheredi herself
/ as she looked then-aa mere wisp of
a girl, to be sure, but with that win,
some prettiness that allowed her to
pick and choose from the ranks of
| the best and most popular men in the
city.
| Blue eyes, and a wonderful head of
wavy brown hair that was at once
| the envy and delight of her girl
| chums, had been among the potent
gifts given her by the goddess of
beauty, and she had most careful
taste in dress. All these, and count
| less other feminine attractions, had
| won to her the young sRostonian who
| was spending his summer vacation in
| Sneedville.
He had proposed, but before she
would answer him she had sent him
! away until she could compile list
of questions. These he was to an
swer by mail. She did not wish him
| to plead his own cause
| Cornelia Dean sat for the greater
| part Of an hour dreaming. When she
was again mistress of her thoughts,
a great resolve had been made within
Boston! She had not been out of
town since the death of her parents,
some ten years before.
"Bpt-what shall I wear?'' asked
| Cornelia, speaking as was her wont,
| to herself. Surely Tiff I find him
| the girl he knew. Nothing that 1
have now will do. I must be more
| more up to date; more like the girls
| of today. I am not $3.50 old, any
way, even if L do dress plainly. I
haven't gray hair in my head"
At last the day of her departure
came, and the little cottage was
safely locked, the key hidden in a
plant rack on the porch, and the
| more than pretty little lady on her
way to the station. ..
The trip was frightful one to the
unsophisticated Cornelia., and a sigh
| of relief came to her lips when she
found herself safely arrived. Boston
was a larger city. than she had imag-
| ined. She began to realize the hope
| lessness of her quest.
The address of his-John' s-old
home was burned indelibly on her
brain. She called there after depos-
iting her little baggage at a modest
hotel. She found herself in front of
a roofless domicile. the clapboards of
which were being rapidly stripped
| from the scantling. In CONSERVATION
| she stood an idle second watching
| the workers reduce the building.
SIS there anything I can do for
your"
Unconsciously she had entered the
gate shutting the lot of this building
of a carpenter stood before her.
I'll" Cornelia hesitsted. II was
hunting for the residence of the OIL
ivers. They used to live here, 1 be-
| lieve?''
Moved calculated the man.
| briefly This is the site of a sky
scraper that the divers are having
erected. This plot is too valuable
for a residence to occupy. It's right
| in the heart of things, as you might
say
But can you tell me where the
where John Oliver lives?''
with his parents, I believe; but as
| to that I don't know. I don't even
know where they have moved to-
Young Mr.. Oliver is here almost every
day to see how the work progresses.
Can 1 give him some message?"
Tell him that CorneHa Dean was
: here"
"Cornelia Dean" repeated the man,
"Oh, then you're the lady to whom
the letter wenti''
.What-what letter?'' asked the
puzzled Cornelia.
| cone of my men fo,,ud an old 1at