The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-12-29
Miss Mariana
Family
o.
By Hilda Morris
By Hilda Morris

PCT SgANASSNSt |
Miss Mariana WINS old house
fronted on Shannon Square. Shannon
Square was not large. 1t was n of
those blessed bits of green that offer
Fairgrounds for children, shade on hot
days, and sunny benches on the crisp,
cool afternoons that come in the late
September.
There were always plenty Of people
In Shannon Square, for below it was
a poorer section of the city, crowded
with children. The children sought
the park as ducks seek water, and old
err people followed-big sisters to look
after the children, old men who liked
30 sit and watch life go past, and some
times young people who anxiously
scanned the Help Wanted columns
In the papers.
Miss Mariana liked to open the long
white shutters at her front window
and watch the people in the Square
She had no veranda, and the little park
was her front yard. She loved it at
all times of the year, but especially in
autumn, when the leaves piled up for
children to play in and the branches,
half unveiled, traced delicate patterns
against the sky.
In truth Miss Mariana was some
times a little lonely and she found
comfort in the people outside. She
used to imagine things about them;
make up romantic stories about their
apparently sordld lives. Her own life
had been so quiet, so remote from ro-
nance, that it thrilled her delicately
even to think of romantic things, such
as love affairs and travel and adven-
ture. Miss Mariana was only twenty
eight, but she had spent her life in a
quiet round of duties that was like a
still back-water in the city's busy life.
Her mother had been an invalid, re-
quiring constant care, and when she
did Mariana was thin and a bit faded,
with a spare figure and plain coiffure
that were far from girlish. Yet there
was a look of innocent youth in her
eyes, shy, and a bit wistful. There
was no one to notice it, however, and
she continued to live alone in the old
house, watching the people in the park
and filling her days with dreams.
There was one young man in par
Sicular who sat In the Square very
often. He brought q little boy with
him-a fine, sturdy child Of about four,
who romped on the patch of lawn witt
the other children. The young mar
himself always seemed to be busy. He
would write steadily for several hours
at a time, only looking up now and
then to call the child. or going after
him if play became too rough. Some.
times the little boy would come and
climb upon the bench with his father
smuggling a curly head against his
shoulder. And the young man would
pat the child and go on working, now
and then looking down to smile at his
little son. They seemed to be gooC
pals.
Mariana tried vainly to imagine
what the young man might be doing
Also, she wondered where the mOthe,
was and why there was no n els,
to care for the boy. She often hoped
that the young father, who must b,
a widOwer, would notice some of tn,
pretty girls who sat in the park. l
was a shame for such Il pleasant ma
to look so lonely. But he never di
notice any of the girls. After all, h
looked quite like a gentleman, an
they were not his kind of girls. II
was probably an author; she had hear
that they were usually poor.
ST wonder that child doesn't get int
mischief" thought Miss Mariana. :
guess it's a good thing I'm sitting her
wrapped up in that book, or whateve
it is he's writing"
And then as the young man locke
up, gazing abstractly, apparently t.
ward the window where she sat, Mar
ana leaned forward eagerly to MOTTO
his fine, clean profile. Her eyes wer
bright with an innocent interest.
never occurred to her that he migf
be looking at her-nobOdy had eve
cared much about looking at her, eve
when she was very young. UncoI
scious of his gaze, she sat there, rocl
ing gently. between her long whit
shutters, the very picture of homeI
peace and quiet. After that the a
thor's eyes strayed often from h
work, as though he must seek lnspir
ton in the walls of a red-brick cottai
or the long white shutters at its wi
dows.
The day after this the young ms
did not come into the park at a
Mariana, having finished her simp
household tasks, took her place at Il
accustomed window, eager for a sig
of the life that moved about outsid
If she was eager Tor the sight of OIL
particular person she did not kno
1t herself. Her heart was unused
even the first throb of hat emoti,
called love. Love as she had rel
about 1t was a thrilling thing, tn
came upon n suddenly, usually
some picturesque environment, and s.