The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-10-11
The Euening Story
What About Shirley.

annei So. Are you sure you never
met her, Pete? She goes everywhere
/ Mrs. Shirley Evarts Dean. She was
born N Idaho, raised in France, after
her people made money, and married
Shirley Dean three months before he
was killed in an aeroplane accident
abroad. He left her an awful lot OF
! money and Anita
Daughter
INC. His only sister. She was fif-
teen, then, and so beautiful that
shah or nabob, or some such thing
over in the far East, offered Dean
her weight in gold, or maybe it was
silver
You're getting mixed, Jane"
81 don't care. It's all mixed up,
anyway. The long and short of it is
that Marianne is on this side now
and she has Anita with ner. Anita S
twenty, and she's thirty, and they We
got eight millions between them.
Peter had been listening idly to his
sisters chatter. 1t was the late sun
day morning breakfast hour ana ne
sat in a wave of newspapers, Tor
when Peter read it was with an aban-
folded. He merely scanned mead
lines and tossed aside the sections
But suddenly his eye caught line
so startlingly pertinent to the SUB
iect in hand that he was held by IT,
Briefly it stated that the Dean es-
tate was finally settled and, owing to
depreciation of securities and stocks,
it would barely reach 81 900. me
main residue, amounting to So;Oo9'uoo'
had been conveyed by trust deed be-
fore Mr. Deans death to his beloved
daughter
by George, Jane; listen" Peter
read it over hurriedly That cuts OH
Mary Ann and Anita. L dldnt know
he mad a daughter"
Jane sat speeches.. Mrs. Deans
letter lay in her lap. They had taken
over one of the handsomest cottages
on the mountain for the fall season
The whole little select colony was on
tiptoe waiting the arrival of the two
1t waited now with more expectancy
and alertneSS. wondering Wnether
Anita or her pretty slster-in-laW
would win the richest bachelor In
Georgia, Peter Sewall. But Peter was
called north repeatedly on urgent
business and it gradually leaked out
that Dean had appointed MN a trus-
tee over his daughters estate
"Oh, Pete, you are almost abomln-
able sometimes Jane told hln
when you know how anxious we all
are to know what she's like and when
he ever married before"
Her name is Shirley" said Peter,
pleasantly. She is a very beautlful
girl and altogether charming. Her
mother was a New York singer. She
died when Shirley was baby. That's
ALL
Il believe you're in love with her."
suspiciously.
Peters blue eyes twinkled.
Il am. 1 think she's adorable
Then you should stop riding with
Anita every time you're here, and lead
ing her on to think you
Jane, you women are SO dehght-
fully vague and indefinite in your at
tacks on a poor devil of male. Are
you warning me against Anita?
Il shall warn Anita against you,
Peter
Nevertheless Peter rode late that
afternoon with Miss Dean. Out
through the tall scattered pines the
road led The day was glorious. Sun
shine drenched the world with gold,
and there was a light breeze blowing
in from the ocean. Anita was hat
less, her dark hair caught back with
a barette and falling loosely to her
waist Peter looked now and then at
her fine clear profile, the nose that
just escaped fitting challenge at the
world, and the lips that always held
a smile for him. Her eyes dropped
at the corners and they were very
dark
Was it shah or a nabob?" Peter
said to himself meditatively-
What did you say?" Anita asked.
Nothing. Has Jane warned you
yet -
She smiled and nodded at him
did you need warning 1eCeT was
particularly aggravating.
Il don't think So" She glanced at
him amusedIy. This affair over the
estate has worried Marianne so I have
not had time to think much of my
self. 1 really think Shirley was rather
mean. don't you? Not to have told us
anything, I mean"
He was a peculiar fellow anyway.
He had an idea that modern wealth
spoiled a girl or boy for the big aims
of life So he kept his daughter in
ignorance of his riches"
Did you find her well bred?'
"She is charming" Peter said
dreamiIy 'She has lived with her
grandmother up in New York state,
and is mighty sweet, mighty sweet.
wish you'd go to see her. OF course,
1 know, how you and Mrs. Dean must
feel
I don't. not at all, and she will
marry again, of course. I am only
glad that Shirley found real love some
where. l think his marriage with
Marianne was just an adventure, don't
you know"
Love is at best an adventure. pos
sibly the great adventure. 1t seems
to illumine life when it comes" Peter
paused, adding musingly. You see,
1 am in love-
Annals head lifted. She watched
the road ahead of her. The long,
straight road through the aisles of
pines. To her the road looked dark.
yet Peter had just said it was il
lumined. She did not like her sister
in-law. Most of her life had been spent
in schools abroad. Somehow she had
grown almost to resent her own good
looks, knowing that Marianne re-
garded them now largely from a mar
ketable standpoint. Into her life with
all it's little petty superficialities Peter
had come, and he has seemed some
way to measure up to what a man
should be even when he was handi-
capped by wealth. 1t seemed almost
as if Fate were putting an extra twist
to its torture when it gave him to
Shirley's daughter, gave her both the
fortune and Peter.