The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-26
EVENING STORY
The Fairy Godfather.
(By Grace Macy.)


royal who is chosen, I'll bet a cookie
Eve goes"
Eve glanced up from the pattern
she was stenciling on a PONCE sun
shade.
mo, thank YOU" she laughed. IT
have none of the back to nature i'm
pulse at aIk I'm going with the
Birchbys for four weeks down to AS
bury and it will take me four more
to recuperate before have to go back
to school"
d, well. I wish he'd ask me-" Dick
returned. "pll bet the old duffer has
a dandy place up there in the noun
tains. I've always wanted to be a
naturalist"
yes, you have" laughed Eve.
Your fancy as a naturalist has never
lighted on anything smaller than
circus elephant"
Hush, here comes Dad" warned
Christine, as the study door slammed,
and the doctors quick step sounded
along the hall.
He loo. cd the group on the veranda
over with shrewd, kindly eyes, draw
ing on his motor gloves.
Have you chosen the victim YETI!
Dick wants to CO. said Eve, but
I'm sure Mr.. Caldwell expects one OF
us girls. Don't you think so, Dad:
You see, he says his sister is staying
toned a chaperon if it had been just
a case of Dick. l can't go, and Teen
doesn't want to-"
Suddenly from the army hammock
at the end of the veranda, there bob
bed a tousled head of red curls.
II want to co. called Pipes, con-
fidently I'D just love to go, Dad
You know I'd get along all right"
Her older sisters eyed her hopefully.
Pipes would be the best to go, after
sixteen-what Dick called fine pat
tern of a 'flapper." She would enjoy
the mountain life and even the loneli-
ness, and it would leave the others
free to do as they pleased.
So the letter was sent back accept
ing Mr.. CaldwelFs invitation for one
of the young Prestons to spend the
summer up at his camp in the Cat
skills And one week later Miss Con-
stance Eleanor Preston, otherwise
Pipes, found herself deposited on a lit
tie platform at Indian Leap. She wore
a dark blue pleated serge skirt above
her shoe tops, a smoked white MILDLY
blouse, and a big white Panama hat.
AS a concession to the heat she had
pinned her red curls up from her neck,
and looked almost seventeen All the
way up in the train, she had made up
a mental picture of Mr.. Caldwell. He
would be a nice old gentleman, with a
square cut gray beard, probably in an
alpRca coat. No such parsonage APP
peared around the station. A small
yellow DuckDOdTQ, WIN d
clipped horse stood on the far side,
and Pipes eyed the outfit longingly
There was no station, only awaiting
bench with projecting roof over it.
Seated on this was young man read
ins..a magazine. Pipes approached
him with her usual serene assurance.
DO you know the way up to Mr..
Caldwell's placer"
He looked up at her with a CLEAN
of interest in his brown eyes.
I'm going by there. Can't I take
you up?" he asked Its about six
miles. You're not Miss Preston, are
your"
"Oh, yes. 1 am" answered Pipes.
why? Did he send you down to
meet me?"
The young man nodded, gravely
Il was sent down to meet Miss Con-
stance Preston from New York You
See" he added. Il thought you'd be
about twenty-five"
Il am sixteen" replied Pipes, with
her best air of aloofness. Perhaps
you were thinking of my eldest sister,
Christine, or the next one, Evelyn. We
call her Eve-shes twenty-one. Dicks
seventeen I'm the only member of
the family that they could drag up
here to this forsaken place But I
rather like it, don't your"
She liked it better as the weeks went
on The camp was in the hemlock belt
on the south side of Indian Leap The
lodge was big one-storied affair
surrounded by a wide veranda. Miss
Eunice Caldwell, a dear little old lady
who slept most of the time, was chate-
laine and hostess, Mr.. Caldwell, him
self was like nothing so much as a
big, shaggy mountain bear. He was
out all day long, following his pur-
suits as a naturalist, and Pipes
tramped with him happily. Quite nat
urally, their nearest neighbor Joined
them. Pipes never quite forgave him
frNr- r. c-
her, and yet it was impossible to know
Gerard Ames without liking him
Very unexpectedly Miss Eunice let
the cat out of the bag
You know" she said. in her COM
Portable way one day when Pipes and
she were alone. Il have to laugh to
see how reconciled Horace is getting.
| When he wrote that letter I think he
rather hoped that Eve would come up
l haven't seen your sisters, my dear,
one"
Yep" answered Pipes happily,
Eve is the pretty one. Teen is the
clever one. and am the freckled one.
m sorry he was disappointed
"Oh, but he isn't now, nv dear. It's
| quite satisfactory. You see, it's very
lonesome for him when Gerard is
away For I am not at all interested
in insects. 1 don't think you will ever
realizes what your companionship has
meant to him, no matter what may
! happen"
/ Pipes paid no attention to the words
| then. She was getting ready for a
| trip to Indian Leap after particular
/ kind of moth they had been
| hunting for weeks She waited all
the morning for Mr.. Caldwell to RI :
turn from a jaunt with Gerard. and
| finally started out alone
| They missed her at lunch time, hut
it was not until twilight that Gerard
began to be frankly uneasy. Miss
! Eunice told him that Pipes had gone
| over to the Leap after some sort of a
| bug. The two men started out with
| lanterns to seek her. Gerard never
| forgot that night and its dangers. The
Leap was a sheer fall into a chasm
hundreds of feet deep. With Mr.. Cald-
| wells help. he lowered himself over