The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-20

IKE the note you say you wrote.
Don't misjudge him.
II have waited twenty years for
him to clear himself said Miss Cor
nelia. Il think that is enough. I
shall never mention him again.
don't see why have at all-but some
eyes questioning me! Shall get you
a wrap? 1t is chilly for May"
The matter of Miss Cornelia's love
was not mentioned again, but the
very close to her heart. They appeal
ed to her latent desire to mother
something. She advised, helped, took
them through several little crucial
tunes. one of these was a quarrel,
very slight, when they were fixing up
room for Eugenia's uncle to come
to stay with them. Young Howard
wanted the older man to come-the
invitation had come from him, made
and accepted for a month. The quar-
rel was some silly thing about fur
nishing the room, but the young wife
spent the better part of two days in
tears about it. Finally Cornelia Brad
en- marched over, and in her militant
fashion inquired into the trouble.
That evening she waited until she
saw Howard enter and followed him.
Don't be-idiots!" she said to both
of them. He doesn't want YOU to
tire yourself out making chintz hang
lngs, and you ought to let him worry
about you. He likes it, She likes to
fuss for her uncle, and you ought to
let her-a woman has to fussi Kiss
and make up, silly children!"
A week later, on a night train came
the uncle. Miss Cornelia, Weakened
from her sleep by the welcome almost
beneath her window, wished the old
man-she had somehow taken his age
Tor granted-in Halifax, and before
dropping off again remembered that
on the morrow she must unbox, air
and repack certain of her fathers gar
ments which she had not in the twa
years since his death had the heart to
touch.
Good as her intention she began
her day early. 1t was June, balrny
dewy and sweet. Evidently the How
ards were not yet up. CorneIia Brad
to look upon as she emerged into her
grassy backyard carrying an armful of
faded black clothing. Her morning
dress was crisp and blue, her firm
1ieshed race rosy, her eyes bright.
There was hardly a gray hair in her
rudy crown of hair. With her back
to the Howard cottage she pinned the
old fashioned coats and trousers to
the line and began brushing away at
them.
If the neighbors had not all been
sleepy heads, they might have seen
Romance. For a mans head, slightly
touched with gray, thrust itself from
the newly furnished Howard guest
came visible, gray clad, manly. The
strangers gray eyes perceived Cor
nelia Braden at her work, stared at
her, continued to stare. But she
did not note.
Like all good housewives, she was
fighting dirt. She seized a coat,
shook it, sneezed, and shook it again,
this time upside down. A number
She stopped and picked them up,
turning them over. The stranger
still gazed at her.
There was something queer in her
attitude. She stood looking down
at the letters, one hand raised to her
head, and then she gave little moan
and sat down in the wet grass put
ting both hands over her face, the
crushed in folds about her.
The man next door came quickly
through the window, leaped the low
stone fence, and stood above her.
the deep voice that she might have
recognized the night before. Cor |
nelia!" 1t seemed foolish to say her
name again, but Steven Stratton did |
at him, dumb, and he knelt beside her
and took her hands in his. Then he !
saw the letters he had written her
twenty years before. five of them. all
unopened, carried all those years in a
hard, obstinate old mans pocket.
Forgetful of everything but him,
she leaned to meet his kiss. Then
they both rose to their feet.
"Cornelia," he said, "I want you to |
believe in me again before we read
those letters together. Will you?"
She was leading the way to her cot
tage, he just behind. Her bearing
was fine and proud, and she turned
her head over her shoulder to smile |
at him. She nodded.
"Well be as happy" she said, ''as
the couple next door They have
been teaching me that I have always
wanted you in my heart!"-(Copy- |
righted 1912 by Associated Literary |
Press.)