The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-13
EVENING STORY
The Angel.
(Ry Martina Mitchell. }

named" said Mrs. Cogda1. "I be-
heve a word or two put in wisely
might suggest the thing to him"
Yes, l know, Jennie sighed. her
daughter, the Angel, but you prom
ised when Dan first began coming /
here that you would not spoil |
Beauty's prospects with him by hint
ing at our poverty
Poverty, nothingi" snorted good 1
natured, voluble Jennie; don't you
know Howard has said a dozen times
that he and Bess might have had
their comfortable bungalow a year
before they did if he had realized
, that five of you were dressing on an
income hardly sufficient for three?
Yes, dear, 1 know. and thanks to
your clever fingers, we four are still
fairly decent on that same income
| hardly sufficient for three" She
idle in her lap as she spoke. you
| known Dan isn't like Howard. How
! ard had skimped along at home and,
anyway, he loved Bess better
We'll, doesn't Dan love Beauty, I'd
! like to know?'
The Angel turned to her. Jennie
was irritable for once in her easy-go-
| ing, pleasure-loving life. The Angel
could not understand it. Her mother
| had always been so far from irritable
chum that her girls fondly called her
Jennie" with no thought OF irrever-
ence or disrespeet. Mother" simply
didn't fit her; she was Jennie" with
! a heavy mop of faded goldfish hair
above a face still childishly pretty and
| fair. But her body. didn't agree with
her face, for she was frankly fat and
lpudgy. Her feet were always trial:
they We're numbers too small to sup
port the weight of her body. Jennie
was seldom in evidence when COM
pany was about, but her presence was
always felt, and she was referred to
as often and as fondly by all the sis
ters as if she had been a seventh won
der. The Angel regarded her Sc
verely. Why, Jennie, you are actu-
ally peeVlsh, and, judging by your
tone, one would think you doubted
Dams affection for Beauty" :
| We'll, Beauty is getting restless.
and that young reporter on the Star
Ted Hammer, keeps hanging around.
Beauty must have a new dancing
| frock for the Millard's ball, and /
don't know where it is corning from"
| She sighed heavily. Honestly, Angel,
| 1 sometimes feel that it isn't worth
while to try to catch a wealthy hus-
| band. Just medium one ought to
| satisfy even Beauty 1 doubt if she
would be any happier in a fourteen
room house than she would be in a
| four-room one. If she loves Dan and
rot his money, four rooms would be
| sufficient. and if sf1e doesn't, why
forty-four wouldn't make her happy"
The Angel laughed outright. why,
| Jennie Cogdal. who ever heard of you
philosophizing thusly-you who are
living, sunny philosophy abby your
self. Get up and don your most COM
Portable bedroom slippers, and We'll
sally forth for a stroll around the
vegetable gardenl Mayhap the sweet
| spring breeze, the babbling brook and
4 n nf w
you to your former -care-ffee- state.
of mind, and
| Jennie seized her and shook her
| roughly IF it weren't for your fool
ishness and fun, the Cogdal family
would be stale bunch of beauties
she said.
We'll, Jen, if we couldn't all be
beauties, we surely needed to be fool
ish-" She smiled her inpish, or 9oked
smile. There is just one good thing
about being homely,s and that is that
one needn't worry about losing ones
beauty; and if ones complexion hapk
pens to be the color of delicious weak
tea, why, faded lavender crepe de
chine plus a packet of. diamond dye
a la golden brown, transforms weak
tea complexion into rich cream" She
patted down the folds of a miracu-
lousy transformed dress which Rad
been discarded as impossible by an
elder sister. The Angel was homely
undeniably homely. Her hair was OF
no particular color and did not curl;
her nose nondescript like the rest of
her face; her teeth even, but nov
white. In most stories all homely
girls have beautiful dreamy eyes, but
the Angels eyes matched her face:
they were neither gray nor blue, but
in between the two. True, she had
a mellow contralto, voice, but nobody
ever thought of asking her to sing
except after a picnic supper around
campfire, when every one else was
too we'll content to do anything ex-
cept listen. And, too she had her in
imitable crooked smile
AS unlike her as it is possible for a
twin to be was the Beauty-ta1l
graceful, with fair, wavy hair, deep,
innocent blue eyes, full, red lips and
a skin of baby fairness. From early
babyhood she had been called a beau
ty, and, in order to defend the home
ly twin. their mother had always said
Yes, Eunice is beauty, but Lulu is
an angel!' Thus they had been
known. until now, at nineteen, nobody
thought of them as Eunice and Lulu
but as Beauty and Angel.
By her beauty and grace the Beauty
had walked into the hearts and homes
of the city's most exclusive set. and
when at seventeen, she was singled
out by Dan Ames. the one really unat-
tached man of the town, her sisters
had coaxed, threatened and bribed
Jennie to fOrbear mentioning how her
daughters cleverness at household
management and sewing kept them
well dressed on their tiny income plus
the salaries of Mary and Edith, who
taught school Beauty might as we'll
have her chance, and Dan was well
worth any girls time, from many
points of view For two years he had
been impartially nice to all four of
the girls. They all adored him. His
| high-powered motor car was ever at
their service, Beauty always BESIDE
him on the front seat Eut lately
Beauty had grown restless and Dan
seemed preoccupied and uninterested.
unless it was at picnic supper.
| The Angel never refused to sing,
because Dan. at least didn't talk
while she sang. Often he didn't laugh
at her jokes and stories, either, and
one night when she convuIsed her
audience with recital of her feelings