Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1916-05-18
THE REAL AND ONLY
BY izoLA FORESTER.

mantle sense, and he often wondered
whether some day the Girl, the real
and only, would walk up and ask him
for ticket, and maybe he'd be alb
sent-mlnded 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 train pulled out, Marty strolled
over and said: HE was right on time
tonight, wasn't he?'
Il missed It," said Larry. What is
it?"
Shes 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
it was She! He didn't have to be
told twice All he did was look at
her. She was slender and lissome.
Somewhere Larry had read about girls
who were lissome and winsome and
the kind that just took the heart out
of you without asking.
For three weeks or moro 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 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 off that night
She must have been crying, Larry
reasoned it 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 1t was Larry who reached her first
and carried her back to a bench in
the warm waiting room.
I'm not bit hurt" she faltered.
only shaken up q little bit. can go
home"
Whereat with great emphasis on
the impersonal business responsibility
he felt Larry told her he got off at six
and would see that she reached her
home safely And Marty whistled as
he saw them board the uptown train
together. By the time he left her at
her door up on Eighty-sixth street,
near Madison avenue they had made
wonderful strides In acQuaintanceship
All the way back to his room, Larry
said her name over, Alice Carlson
Perhaps she had inherited that blonde
spun-gold hair from some Morse an
cestor, he thought, and her rare, clear
coloring.
Marty was the first to notice the
veering of the wind of romance. She
failed to appear on the platform for
the 5:45 Harlem express. Several
times the young man in gray got off
and looked about, but she was not
there, and he seemed troubled Then
came a night when he waited around
until the $40 which Larry always
took, and he saw her.
And, just as he approached, Larry
n
and put her aboard the train. She was
bit white, but game, with her head
uplifted and her lips smiling at Larry,
and when they had gone several sta
tions she said:
Did you see that young man in
gray? II know him. He's often in
our store. He's a salesman"
YES" said Larry pleasantly. Seems
to be what we used to call up home
sort of spruce looking"
She laughed, and shook her head.
Il don't know. l don't like that sort.
Seems nice to meet somebody real
somebody like home folks, don't you
know? New York's so strange, you
almost lose yourself in it,
"You have to keep fearfully busy 80
you don't get homesick," he laughed
down at her. That's the way to win
In anything-you just hang on"
She looked up at him admiringIy.
her eyes sparkling with interest--look-
ing until something in his own blue
eyes brought the color to her face
Mother said she'd like to meet
you" she said shyly IF you're not
too busy Sunday evening"
I'm not" Larry broke in buoyant-
ly. But don't be too nice to me or
I'll be glad you tumbled that first
night"
The wind swept around the corner
as they came to the street and she
bent to face it, her nun pressed close
against her face, her eyes full of a
new light.
I'm awfully glad" she said softly.
What funny little things kind Of
kind Of change lives around, don't
they?"
They are not funny little things"
Larry whispered, holding her for a
minute at her door. They are
glimpses at the great machinery. Can't
you try to believe that it just had to
be, preordained and all that-you to
tumble and me to pick you up and he
to go by with that other girl"
"Oh, then you saw him. She was
not angry. only anxious as she looked
up at him
You don't mind now, do your"
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