The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-02
The Epening Story
A Gentle Game of Bluff.
CIV Hope Ainslie.)

A Gentle Game of Bluff.
(By Hope Ainslie.)
Bruce Fleming idly scanned the
want column as he waited for his
Uncle Robert to finish debating so
they could give Bruce's new roadster
a trial spin to the Country club. 1t
was a wondrous spring day that had
set Bruce to longing for lazy adven-
lures in the country. AS he read an
advertisement a second time, he sat
for a moment with his gray eyes look
ing thoughtfully ahead. Then he
chuckled softly, and sang, -She's the
Lass for Me" Just as his uncle came
from a private office, cap and ilght
overcoat in hand.
who's the lass this time" asked
his uncle
ingtonia,'' read Bruce, referring to the
advertisement. do you happen To
know herr?
Eyes. I do, but as she is old enough
to be your grandmother. can Qullo
see her as the lass for you"
But I'm going to be her landscape
gardener, not her gallant lover, Uncle
Bob. Just hear her plea: wanted
a landscape gardener TO advlse anu IN
| struct for reasonable compensation,
about municipal and private gardens
| in conservative town OF five thou-
| sand" Bruce astounded his uncle by
declaring he was going to apply TOT
the lob. But tell me-" he added,
| chow did YOU come to know the lady? z
| Used to hold court in Addingtonla
when was on the judicial circuit. and
| that woman owned half the town and
was close as the bark on a tree She
sued more than one tenant in my court
on one pretext or another.
well if she is going in for rnu-
| nicipal gardens at her own expense,
she must have had a change of heart,
ventured Bruce.
..She must have lost her mind.
bluntIy, for she was popularity sup
posed to have no heart But stop
talking nonsense and get me out to the
golf links"
Following the afternoon on the golf
| links Bruce spent the evening at a
dinner dance and went home after
midnight feeling somewhat dragged
from dancing late on the warm spring
night and somewhat bored with the
thought, of getting up to a similar
round the next day. When he got up
next morning he looked out of his
window at a full-throated robin that
was riotously filling the air with his
| song.
shaking his head at the robin, but
suppose, you were shut up in cage
| every day from nine to three, and sup
pose you sprinted across the same old
| fields every afternoon from three to
| SIX, ana II16n Sat up at d lOi mai ICCd
every evening. how long do you think
your song would hold on to that spon-
taneity? Not many days. old fellow!"
When Bruce left the house he re-
mem bered that it was Friday and that
the regular directors meeting had
been postponed until Monday. That
left nothing of great Importance
awaiting him at the office, and as he
slipped into his snug seat in his shiny
new roadster, he deliberately turned
his car from a downtown direction
and shot out toward the wood beyond
the City park. Once in the wood,
nothing but a flat wheel or a motor
cop would have turned him cityward.
| The farther he went the more he
thought he would like to take the
eighty-mile run to Addingtonia, and
make a bluff at qualifying for a land
scape gardener for the ancient lady.
| Consequently, little after noon. his
shiny green roadster, dimmed by the
dust, slipped smoothly along the
shady streets of Addingtonia, and a
street corner loafer readily answered
his inquiry about the location of Miss
Addington's place.
AS he walked up the long walk to
the old colonial house, Bruce tried to
devise a plan to lay out the barren
grouds in a flower garden, and by the
time he reached the front door and
clicked the old brass knocker he was
actually enthusiastic on the possibili-
ties
In answer to his knock, the door was
opened by q. dininutive woman IN
gown OF vast dimensions, a regular
| hoop-skirt affair with 'f1ounces and
Dolly Warden designs which became a.
confused blur in the dim light of the
| broad hall, for Bruce's eyes were
blinded by the long journey in the
bright sunshine. But the incongruity
of an 1850 ball gown worn as a morn
ing house gown in 1915 made him re-
l.. H.
Addington had probably lost her mind
She sat in dark corner of the
drawing room and Bruce couldn't make
out enough of her face to tell whether
chair she assigned to him did not add
to his comfort When he mentioned
that his uncle, Judge Bruce. was per-
haps remembered by her. she made a
muffled. unintelligible reply.
In desperation, Bruce began to talk
of the garden plan he had evolved as
he came in Miss Arlington sat on
the edge of her chair and nodded af-
firmatively more than once. but did
not speak He felt stifled thus shut
up in the darkened drawing room with
the mysterious woman, and suggested
that they inspect the grounds. The
lady rose in silence and rustled out
into the hall, where she snatched up
a huge poke bonnet and quickly put
it on. pulling it so far down that when
walking beside her Bruce could not
see even the tip of her nose.
But the spell of the quaint old place
was on him, and he began really to
enthuse about the possibilities of the
grounds. To his amazement, the lady
responded with like enthusiasm, and
in a voice of wondrous sweetness She
even withdrew her hands from the ca
pacious folds of her gown and flung
them wide AS she did so, Bruce's
eyes went wide with wonder. for the
; hands were soft and plump and white.
with pinkish, oval nails. The garden
scheme was forgotten and he an
|, swered not a word to the lady's out
burst of enthusiasm
Puzzled at his silence. the lady gave
the big bonnet a backward push, and
turned her face directly I'D toward his