The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-27
The EUening Story
Myra and Matrimony.
(By Neil Langshawe.)

Myra Lovelace looked the letter all
over before she thought of opening it.
Then she slammed down the lid of
the mail box and ran as quickly and
lightly up the path to the house as
Kitty, her niece, could have done.
Who could be writing to her? Not
Charlie-it was not his writing, She
tore open the envelope and took out
a letter that contained a folded slip.
To her astonishment, she was told that
she had drawn the lucky number for
the automobile at the fair, and the slip
was a blue command to a certain bank
to pay her a thousand dollars in cash
should she desire the money instead of
the car.
She sat down weakly, her heart
beating a tattoo that kept time with
the lid of the teakettle on the stove.
Good luck is more overpowering at
forty than at twenty, when one may
have all sorts of good things for the
accepting.
kitty, Kitty-oh, Kitty she cried
excitedly. Then she remembered that
Kitty was away visiting BOb's moth
err. Kitty was going TO marry Bob,
when he could afford it.
That was what Charlie had said to
her long ago. At first, she didn't
mind this long absence and unsat-
isfactory letters that spoke only
vaguely of their prospective wedding.
But the last year or SO had been hard
to bear.
She had laid the check and letter
on the kitchen table and ran to the
door. Some one might be passing,
and she must tell the good news.
In the hall was an old fashioned hat
rack and in the hat rack was a mir
ror. In passing, she caught a glimpse
of herself. She went back, stopped
and faced the glass squarely.
Now, Myra Lovelace," she said to
l.
you have inherited a fortune" She
stood a minute with compressed lips,
appraising herself Then she lifted
her hands to her temples where the
golden hair was fading and thinning,
pulled down a loop on each side and
fastened them with pins. Then she
rubbed her cheeks hard-at first with
her finger tips, then with the palms of
her hands, then with her kitchen
apron. She was going to match the
cherries as Charlie used to say, if
it took the skin off. She was sur
prised at the result.
She looked further. Her eyes were
all right. Excitement had frightened
them. But there was something. She
studied her face closely 1t was the
lipsl Slowly she pulled up the corners
and smiled at herself. And so pleased
was she with the result that she
smiled some more and kept on smil-
ing. Why, she was still pretty very
pretty-and rich! Surely if Charlie
could see her now he wouldn't stay
in the West-or at least he would
write oftener and make some definite
suggestion about their wedding day.
He had never really broken their en-
gagement.
Her eyes went down. The glass, not
very large, reflected only part of her
blue calico dress, made plain and
narrow across the chest and just now
stuck full of pins. She took out the
pins and tried to pull some looseness
into the front. 1t was of no use. She
couldn't fix the dress and she knew
the black serge skirt and white waist
she always wore for dress were as
unbecoming as the thing she had on.
She gave up the idea of shouting
her news to a passer-by and returned
to the kitchen. There lay the blue
check. Pay to the order of Miss
Myra Lovelace-One Thousand Dol
lars"
! One thousand dollarsl With a
! thousand dollars she could buy
dresses, soft, exquisite, lacy and fine,
such as she had seen on the daugh-
ters of Congressman Hodge when they
came home in the summer. And
| lovely shoes that were all curves, and
silk stockings to match. And hats
large and small she pictured in the
steam of the teakettle. Big gauzy