The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-01-24
EVENING STORY
Whom the Gods Send.
(By Susan E. Clagett. }

(By Susan E. Clagett-)
''WilI you tell me why you insisted
| upon my coming just now, Betty? L
really couldn't leave with Christmas
work piling up, but your letter made
me think there was dire necessity. L
expected to find you i'll. Instead, you
| look as if you had been glimpsing par
| adise." There was a touch of wistful-
ness in the voice and some exaspera-
| ton.
| The girls face was a picture. Her
| eyes were bright, her color vivid, her
whole figure was full of energy and
life. She turned her head, then looked
quickly away, her color deepening.
| That is just what has happened,
Pauline 1 am glimpsing it every min
ute, every hour of the day. My heart is
| singing, for L am going to have a
| home
"A home? You have one. What on
| earth do you mean?
THAT is true, but I have always
wanted one of my very own, where my
wishes would come first after those OF
| the onIy man. All my life, my hopes,
my ambitions and my smallest desires
| have been pushed aside IN favor OF
some other member of the family. ana
| now sll that is going to be changed.
MY dear Betty, you cannot make
| me believe you have found man IN
this God-forsaken spot.
| ct did not find him. He came. To
be perfectly frank 1 think he subcon-
| sciously retained a memory of girl, a
moonlit sea and northern lights. But
| for nv happiness, consciously, or 9TH
| erwise he came Romance comes
| nea rest being the real thing on board
slow-going steamer than anywhere
| else in the world. / was not looking
for romance, however. AS you know,
| l was sick unhappy. l had no heart
| TO talk. but somehow the tall Scotch
man managed to interest me. He rest
| ed me. 1 enjoyed every moment OIL
| that rest and accepted him as one
| whom the gods had sent for my diver
sion.''
81 have never heard you speak OF
him."
| Betty laughed. 81 forgot all about
| him. Yet for time after my return
/, was keenly alive to his personality.
| We. had taken many little trips to-.
| gether after we landed and came to
know each other fairly well, but home
duties soon absorbed me and memories
grew faint until at last they disap-
peared entirely. Then all at once they
! came back to me-"
They had paused in their walk and
Betty brushed the snow from the
| bridge railing and leaned her elbow
upon it as she went on talking:
THE morning it all came back l
| had been so overburdened with work
| that my soul had risen in revolt at the
thought I would never be able to get
away from the household drudgery- 1
loathe cooking and housework. Not
that exactly-but it is dreadful never
day, month after month, year after
wear in the same old way with my
| only recreation a daily walk to the
mail box. That morning everything
| had been especially exasperating. For
one thing, 1T was hot. I was tired.
felt a thousand years old. Suddenly
nv inner consciousness took a series
of somersaults and found myself
standing upon the deck of that old
| steamer as she plowed thru the moon
lit sea toward the northern lights.
| when 1 took my mental gymnas-
tics I was coming thru the orchard
and then and there stopped short at
| the sight of a once familiar figure.
| Walking up the driveway toward the
house was the very man who had
come into my thoughts the minute
before What would you call that?
Telepathy?'
TT would seem so. 1 suppose you
were glad to see him?
Il was not" The reply was en-
phatic Il was provoked. He should
have let me know he was coming. A
girl may be fairly free from vanity,
| but even then she dislikes to be caught
in huge kitchen apron with her face
red and wet from the heat. l stepped
behind a tree, hoping that 1 could
keep out of sight until he had reached
the house and then slip in without be-
ing seen, but 1 failed to reckon with
| those keen Scotch eyes. Before I
quite realized it both my hands were
held close in his and he was looking
down at me i a way that I found
slightly embarrassing. and this was
his greeting
"'I thought I was never going to
have the time to come for you
hi for hi i'm TO
say. 1 had not invited him to come
here and consequently was a little at
! sea as to his meaning, but before l
could ask him what he meant, to my
utter bewilderment he told me he had
come south to marry me. He seemed
to have taken it for granted that l
would be ready to say yes whenever
he had the time to ask the question.
THAT was all there was to it. He
was ready. Naturally, 1 must be. 1t
did not seem to enter his head that L
might have something to say to such
an arrangement There was a trace
| of amused resentment in her voice.
What did you say"
l. Nothing l stood there like a child,
my hands held close, and gazed up
ward at the giant of a man standing
before me. He measures feet and
is broad in proportion, while l tip the
scales at SO pounds and am just feet
| in height"
| She caught a heavily laden branch
hanging over their heads and brought
down an avalanche of snow upon
| them
Isn't it odd. Pauline. how every
| thing worth while hinges upon little
word of four letters. With it the
poorest man and woman are rich,
| without it the richest is the poorest
| of Gods creations. That it should
| come to me some day / frankly ac-
! hau hI1f IL
should come in the form of an awk-
ward, homely, determined man was