The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-09
The EUening Story
A Wig in the Wind.

1
| Grace, we shall never reach the
rock road before the storm breaks,
| said Mrs. A1lison-DOdge with an anX-
ious glance that took in the darken-
! ing clouds, the speedometer and the
| dirt road stretching ahead.
| Il believe we'll just about make it,
Aunt Clara, though Wen get an awful
| ducking in this open car" Grace sat
| tense at the wheel and narrowed her
eyes to measure the distance to where
| the rock road began
Mrs. AlliSon-Dodge drew her silken
| coat about her and frightened the soft
veil which protected her soft white
| hair and pink-and-white skin. AS
president of the board of managers of
a freSh-air farm launched by the city S
leading club women, she had just met
a group of newspaper men at the farm
and explained its aims and activities
to them.
Besides being displeased over the
prospect of getting wet, and of hav-
ing my rheumatism return, I'm far
more disguised to think that our being
so late is entirely due to your needlessly
long explanations about the farm to
that reporter with whom you seem de
ter1nined to put yourself on friendly
terms" This comment brought
quick reply from Grace
LAS for the explanations, Aunt
Clara, I thought L was helping you to
give them, and as for being on friendly
terms with Mr.. Gray, L know of no
reason why 1 shouldn't be friendly
with him, for he is as truly a gentle
man as any man 1 know
Grace opened a trifle more speed
and a drop of rain in Mrs. Allison
Dodge's face cut short her reply to
her niece's spirited speech The
clouds darkened, the wind became
stronger, and that first drop of rain
was followed by other scattered drops.
The rock road was now in sight.
A hurried glance over her shoulder
showed Grace a covered car approach
i'm no About
after they struck the rock road they
came to Il blacksmith shop and general
store just as the rain began to come
down in driving sheets. Without wait
ing for permission, Grace ran her car
under the shed, and few minutes
later the covered car drew up on the
sheltered side of the shop 1t proved
to he the jitney in which the party OF
reporters had started back to the city.
Seeing Mrs. Allison-Dodge in dismay
and her niece vainly trying to soothe
her. Ashby Gray defied the rain and
dashed from the jitney to the shed,
offering any assistance possible.
rheumatism or no rheumatism,
moaned Mrs. Allison-Dodge, I've
simply got to be back at the Alham-
bra by o'clock, for at I'm to en-
terrain that whole party of visiting
civic experts at dinner What time is
it. young man?" Her aunts imperious
tone brought a blush to Graces lace
but without the least sign of perturba-
ton Gray assured her that it was only
400. He volunteered the opinion that
the storm would be over as quickly as
it had begun, but the lady displayed
neither interest nor confidence in his
opinions.
In her agitation to see whether the
storm promised to abate, Mrs Allison
Dodge lifted her veil to peer at the
clouds A sudden twisting wind swept
veil and hat and even the soft white
hair from her head. She cried out and
grabbed wildly at the moving mass of
chiffon and lace and hair, but the wind
was stubborn and the veil became
tangled. and the lady renowned for her
soft white hair and lovely skin stood
revealed with a tiny pigtai1 of gray
hair in which a streak of faded brown
still showed. Her pink and white skin
was furrowed by the unkind rain until
it was a caricature of what it had been
a few minutes before.
Grace stood as astounded as Ashby
Gray for she had not. known that her
aunt wore a wig. Except for one dis
Greet hairdresser there was perhaps
no one who suspected that the gradual
whitening process through which her
hair had passed was but the adoption
of a series of wigs, each one whittier
than its predecessor. After a speech
less interval which seemed ages to all
three, Grace managed to help adjust
the mass of head covering, and with
rare tact Gray engaged in a CONVERSE
ton with the jitney driver about the
moment later he reported to Grace,
who was scanning the clouds anx~
iously.
Aunt Clara" began Grace, a mo-
ment afterward, Mr. Gray says it will