The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-03-31
WHOM THE GODS SEND
BY SUSAN E.

VIII you tell me why you insisted
upon my coming just now, Betty3 |
really couldn't leave with Christmas
work piling up, but your letter made
me think there was dire necessity. /
expected to find you III. Instead. you
look as II you had been glimpsIng para
disc" There was a touch of wistfuI-
ness In the voice and some exaspera-
ton.
THAT is just what has happened,
Pauline. | am gllmpsing it every min
ute, every hour of the day. My heart
is singing, for I'M going to have a
home"
"A homer You have one. What on
earth do you mean9"
THAT Is true, but l have always
wanted n of my very own, where my
wishes would come first after those of
the only man.
MY dear. Betty. you cannot make
me believe you have found a man in
this G~od-forsaken spot2"
II did not find him. He came. To
be perfectly frank / think he subcon-
sciously retained a memory Of a girl.
q moonlit sea and northern lights. But
for my happiness, consciously, or other
wise, he came. Romance comes neal
est to being the real thing on board a
slow-going steamer than anywhere else
in the world. / was not looking for
romance, hover. AS you know, /
was sick, unhappy. / had no heart to
talk, but somehow the tall Scotchman
managed to interest me. He rested me.
! enjoyed every moment of that rest
gods had sent for my diversion"
II have never heard you speak of
him."
Betty laughed. 81 forgot all about
him. Yet for a 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-"
"The morning 1t all came back | had
been so overburdened with work that
my soul had risen t. revolt at the
thought / would never be able to get
away from the household drudgery.
Suddenly my inner consciousness took
a series of somersaults and found my
self standing upon the deck of hat old
steamer as she plowed through the
moonlit sea toward the northern lights.
"When | took my mental gymnastics
/ was coming through the orchard and
then and there stopped short at the
sight of a once familiar figure. Walk
ing 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?"
"It would seem so. l suppose you
were glad to see him?"
81 was not" The reply was emphatic.
81 was provoked. He should have let
me know he was coming. A girl may
be fairly free from vanity. but ever
then she dislikes to be caught in a
huge kitchen apron with her face red
and wet from the heat. Before / quite
realized Ii both my hands were held
close In his and he was looking down
at me In a way that l found slight
ly embarrassing, and this was his
greeting:
az thought ! was never going to
have the time to come to YOU
at was an absurd thing for him to
say. / had not invited him to come
here and consequently was a little at
sea as to his meaning, but before ]
could ask him what he meant, to my
utter bewilderment he told me he had
to have taken 1t for granted that ]
would be ready to say yes whenever
he had the time to ask the question.
isn't it odd, Pauline. how everything
worth while hinges upon a little word
of four letters. With 1t the poorest
man and woman are rich, without II
the richest is the poorest of Gods crea.
tons. That 1t should come to me some
day l frankly acknowledge l have
hoped, but that 1t should come In the
form of an awkward, homely. deter
mined nan was not to my liking. fol
he is homely.
But he was my first lover. Thai
fact threw a glamour over me. Yet
there was no lovemaking, at least, not
the kind Of lovemaking | had reac
about. And with the glamour l fell
indignation that he should think
would be ready at his first word. Blu
Indignation faded into amazement a
the thing that vas happening to me.
felt my world turning upside down a
this sudden coming of love.
However. later on. when l was sit
ting quietly In my room ! was tortured
by doubt. Could love come all In {