The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-01-19
Found
Wanting
By Horace Stanhope

wall, his sketching outfit lying neglect
ed nc his side, uttered the ejaculation
sharply and sat up.
His hand sought a certain spot on
his forehead, with which suddenly, I'M
pSpectedly some flying object had come
ia contact. The blow had been a sharp
enc. broke the skin and evidenced the
possibility of a rising lump. He won
iersl what had struck him, and why.
Thcn he recalled the sound Of merry
girItsh voices beyond the wall.
Something thrown-of course not
p~urpoSely," he soliloQuized. "Ah!
there's the missile-a slipper"
As he arose he observed the object
ia question. 1t lay on the grass, white,
small, high-heeled, dainty. He turned
it over and over in his hand, somewhat
admiringly. Then he reused at the echo
of a rustling sound. Where a portion
OF the wall was gone and there was a
breach like a gateway, a graceful femi-
nine figure had appeared. One foot
was slipperless. Here was the owner
of the innocent missile.
About to advance and tender the
slipper. barlow was a good deal disap-
pointed as its owner uttered a scream
and, turning, flashed back out of view
like a nimble sprite. A great hubbub
arose beyond the wall.
"What scared you Normal bear?'
cried out an animated voice.
"Worse than that"
"a hOrrid man?'
"A man, but not particularly horrid.
Rather distinguished looking, I judge,
from the tl~eeting glance 1 got. But oh!
ne limping on my stockinged foot!
Quick, Melba, grab the ball and let US
vanish"
There were mock EXPLANATIONS of
fright and diSmay. Darlow reached
The wall and waved the slipper over it,
but, scurrying from the field, a group
Of half a dozen girls paid not the
slightest attention, while with a
shocked expression of face the denuded
Que. she who. had lost the slipper, ran
the fastest, her white silk-covered foot
cleaning in and out of the grass entire
iy Fascinating In its nimbleness and
~gcacefulness of form.
HIN" observed barlow, "she must
have foOtgear galore to disdain the re-
turn of the slipper. 1 see, a bevy Of
girls playing at football, a wild kick,
and hence the slipper. And my bump"
and DarlOw ruefuIly rubbed the
abraised spot. GAS to the slipper, I'll
keep 1t as u memento. 1t may suggest
u romantic pencil sketch. or a story"
Tie threw the pretty satin-bOwed
trthe into his sketchinG case, closed it
and pursued his way. Reeves DarlOw's'
way just now was the way of an idle
stroller off on a hit-Or-miss jaunt. He
forgot about the slipper by morning.
It's owner ceased to fill his thoughts
before the close of the day following.
Meantime, she of the lost slipper,
Norma Edgeworth, and her breathless
associates cleared the field and settled
down to rational progress.
"It's a pity to leave that slipper be-
hind, Norma" spoke n of her COM
panions.
''Oh, you know Tn bound with the
mJrHing for an environment where sat
in slippers and the like will be a neg
iigible quantity"
scheme of yours out of your head,
deNr?"
Never !" dissented Norma with
,Vigor. at isn't n scheme, it's a test"
"And you are bound to go through
with it?"
Barring the possibility of some of
you chatterers %betraying the fiction"
"Oh, We'll be true blue, Norma !" pro-
claimed an urgent chorus.
All this would have been Greek to
the unadvised. All would have been
mystery for that same class, had they
seen Norma Edgeworth tw~enty-four
hours later. Whereas, she had borne
the presentment Of a ~fashionably
dressed young lady and surrounded by
companions suggesting the same order,
the next day Norma was installed in an
'Old-fashiOned farmhouse ten miles dis
tant, as pretty as ever, though arrayed
in calico, but engaging in active house
work, and seeming to enjoy it.
II was lining n hedge that marked
Che farm limit on one side that Reeves
DarlCw found himself two days after
the incident Of the slipper. Was ii
fate, or merely natural and c|oincident-
al, that, glancing beyond it, he noted a
graceful glrlish figure hanging some
ftGnd;erchiefs on a line to dry. A quiz
zical expression came into the face OF
4iiis strolling artist as he discovered
something else. The girl in view wore
odd slippers. On one foot was a black
slipper, and on the other one of white
satin, the counterpart of the one rest.
ing within the sketching case he car
ried ut that moment.
"T deciare." communed Reeves witt
himself, a token Of rare interest in the
sutonation. "Pve found the mate of my
Cinderella acquisition"
There could be no doubt of it. He
had caught only a momentary glimpse
OF Norma Edgeworth back at the towI