Smyrna times., 1915-12-22
THE REAL AND ONLY
BY IzoLA FoRREsrER.

get to know your regular people. Be
sides, Larry had the inquisitive ro-
mantle sense. and he often wondered
whether some day the Girl. the real
and only, would walk up and ask him
for a ticket, and maybe he'd be abb
sent-minded and let her get by with
out recognizing his fate.
And after all, It was Marty who no
ticed her first Marty took the tickets
and could see everybody up and down
the platform. One night about 5:45, |
as a train pulled out. Marty strolled |
over and said: HE was right on time |
tonight, wasn't he?"
'I missed t." said Larry. What is
it7"
She's been waiting here regular
and frequent for three nights now.
and he comes at 5:45. Some girl, be-
lieve me. Larry"
The next night Larry watched for
her. When she came to buy her ticket
1T was Shel He didn't have 70 be
told twice All he did was look at
her. She was slender and lssome.
Somewhere Larry had read about girls
who were lissome and wlnsome and
the kind that Just took the heart out
Of you without asking.
For three weeks or more Marty and
he watched the progress Of her ro-
nance Neither one approved Of the
man. He was too young and sure OF
himself. too nonchalant. Marty said.
That was the word. Nonchalant meant
you didn't give a rap whether she was
there to meet you or not Sometimes
he was late, but she never was. And
finally, when the 5:45 Harlem express
pulled IN one night, she saw him
through the window with another girl.
and he didn't get OF that night.
She must have been crying. Larry
reasoned II out afterward. The steps
were icy that night anyway and slip
perry, but when she turned around to
go down them to the street she fell.
and It was Larry who reached her first
and carried her back to bench In
the warm waiting room.
I'm not a bit hurt" she faltered.
"Only shaken up little bit. can go
home"
Whereat, with great emphasis on
the impersonal business responsibility
he felt. Larry told her he got OF at six
l and would see that she reached heI
| home safely. And Marty whistled az
| he saw them board the uptown trair
together. BY the time he left her a
| her door up on Eighty-sixth street
near Madison avenue. they had made
4 wonderful strides IN acquaintanceship
All the way back to his room. Larr!
said her name over. Alice Carlson
Perhaps she had inherited that blond
spun-gold hair from some Morse an
| cestor, he thought, and her rare. clea
| coloring.
Marty was the first 10 notice tn
veering OF the wind OF romance. Sh
failed TO appear on the platform 70
the 5:45 Harlem express. Sewers
| times the young man in gray got o.
and looked about. but she was nc
there. and he seemed troubled. The
came a night when he waited aroun
until the 6:1O. which Larry alway
took. and he saw her.
And, Just as he approached. LarI
tucked her under his lee. so 10 spea
and put her aboard the train. She Wa
a BIT white, but game. with her hes
uplifted and her lips smiling at Larr
and when they had gone several st
tions she said:
did you see that young man
gray? IL know him. He's often
our store. He's a salesman"
YES" said Larry pleasantly. "Seer
10 be what we used to call up hon
sort Of spruce looking"
She laughed, and shook her head.
Il don't know. l don't like that sol
Seems nice to meet somebody. re
somebody like home folks. don't y
knowg New York's 50 strange. y
almost lose yourself in IT,"
"You have to keep fearfully busy
you don't get homesick." he laugh
down at her. That's the way 10 "
in snything-you Just hang on"
She looked up at him admiring
her eyes sparkling with interest-lo'
ing until something In his own bl
eyes brought the color to her IA
Mother said she'd like to M
you." she said shyly. "If you're !
too busy Sunday evening"
I'm not" Larry broke In buoya
ly. But don't be too nice to me
I'll be glad you tumbled that q
night"
The wind swept around the cor
as they came 10 the street and
bent TO face II. her nun pressed eli
against her face. her eyes full ot
new light.
"I'm awfully glad" she said sof
What funny little things kind Q
kind Of change lives around, dS
they?"
- They are not funny little thinI
Larry whispered. holdsng her foi
minute at her door. "They
glimpses at the great machinery. G.
you try to believe that II just had
be. preordained and all that-you