The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-04-25
The Euening Story
The Road to Somewhere.
(By Keith KenyOn.)

trance to Frogmore, the handsome
estate of the Cullens at East Orange.
Miss Cullen was within the gates
feeding a handful of grain to pair of
peacocks that were sprea ding their tail
feathers for her admiration. Miss
Cullen was not less lovely than the
peacocks and quite as vain.
81 wonder" Conrad said, raising his
hat respectfully. IF there is a vacancy
of any sort on the estate. am anxious
to get a position in the country for
few months"
The girl within the gates cut him
short with naughty stare.
I'VE are not in the habit of employ
ing tramps. Only people well recon-
mended need apply for work" She
turned away as If the interview was
over.
insinuation her speech conveyed
brought a deep flush of resentment to
Conrad's face.
'I beg your pardon" he said over
politely, but I thought was address
ing Miss Cullen
ITO whom do you suppose you are
speaking?" she inspired loftily.
Certainly not to Miss Cullen. 1
have been told that she is a typical
lady" Conrad would have gone on
save that a quick intake of the girls
breath arrested him.
h-r slim figure was a picture of vivid
wrath. Her cheeks flushed angrily.
You prevaricate to justly your in
suit. Every one in the village knows
me by sight"
Conrad flashed a quick glance at
her not without humor in it, certainly
amazement.
But I do not happen to be viii
lager. 1 am a stranger looking for
light employment, having lost my en-
ergy in the city and desiring to find it
again. 1 am sorry to have troubled
you" He again turned to go. This
time her voice recalled him. Her tone
was somewhat modified.
There is a lot of work on the place
extra work-on account of spring
nting-transplanting from the con-
observation-disclosures and shrubbery. Are
you familiar with such work."
81 have done nothing beyond anna
teur flower cultivation, but, being a
lover of such work, 1 have had great
success at it,
Miss Cullen's eyes were appraising
him from head to foot, disparagement
in her glance.
Conrad added quickly: But, I sup
pose, I have sufficient intelligence to
look after your roses, and il you hap
pen to have an orchid house"
'Orchids!" she exclaimed and new
| light came into her eyes. 81 have
some rare ones that the head gardener
knows nothing whatever about. It's
breaking my heart-to see them
fading day by day"
| Conrad smiled family. There was,
after all, something human in Miss
Barbara Cullen.
mot doing well, eh?'' he asked. 81
spent a year down in South America,
where they abound"
"Oh-then perhaps you will know
how to treat my collection. Come and
/ L. = y lad
the way forthwith through the lovely
paths and velvet lawns to where the
delicate creatures of the plant world
were housed.
1t turned out that Conrad's familiar
ity with orchids gained him a position
on the estate. He was delighted when
he found that he might occupy a small
cottage adjoining the plant houses
| Had he been permitted to select a tiny
place wherein he could sit up and
burn the midnight oil in the pursuit of
a long-cherished ambition he would
have gone straight to the cottage ad-
joining the Cullen Conservatives Con-
rad wanted to write a best seller. Short
| stories and journalistic work had
caused his energy to peter out and had
given him only a scant existence. His
doctors informed him, after the usual
way of the profession, that nothing
short of a few months in the country
would restore his ebbing vitality. And
since Conrad wanted to live and to
succeed and was not afraid of work.
he was willing to do anything that
might give him a chance to climb the
! ladder of fame.
From day to day, Barbara kept her
eye on him. She was delighted to see
her rare orchids rearing their dainty
heads in health again under his super
vision. In fact, daily contact with
Conrad was teaching the mistress of
Frogmore to forget that her new gar
dener was but a hireling. His optim-
ism and deep knowledge on many
subjects amazed her.
Heretofore Barbara had cultivated
her garden as a show place and to
provoke envy from her friends. Con-
rad was teaching her to love flowers
for themselves.
They give their dainty little souls
| freely to us-in fragrance and color"
he once told her mo other friends
have given so generously to us of their
| substance"
Thus he compelled her to listen to
a chord in her own heart which she
had striven for years to stifle. She
had been trying to live according to
convention and false ideals of happi-
ness. For the first time the conscious
ness that she was treading a path that
| led to nowhere opened full to her. Yet
she shrank from the immediate sur
render of the guise in which she had
tried to conceal her real self
One day. she woke to the knowledge
that through what she regarded as
some strange perversity of her nature,
she had fallen in love with her gar
dener.
THE horror of it," she gasped af-
frightedly.
There followed speedy return OF