The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-21
EVENING STORY
The Foolish Letter.
By 8. B. HACKLEY
~ I'VE got a new lob"

the door of the shabby combination |
sitting room and bedroom in the |
Trailes rented quarters.
Mrs. Traile sealed the letter in her |
hands before she spoke, and her voice
was perfunctory. What is it. Kent?'
He waved a yellow handful and
read aloud:
six hundred acres hops ready for
Five hundred pickers wanted!
Fine camp grounds, good water, Tree
wood, a months pleasant work in the
open country; good pay Apply to
Bloom Brothers.'
II applied this morning. Stacy:
Bloom, the elder Bloom" he chuckled
tomorrow and live in one of the tents
If he wishes, tho the actual work
doesn't begin until Monday. John
Wharton says the money end ought
to be good: Said he'd hoped some
and never failed to make as much as
81 a day. Said It wasn't hard work,
and lots Of women and girls made
more than he did" He glanced at
her Indifferent profile a bit uncertain
~. Hoy would you IKE to try the
other day you wished we could afford
to go out camping"
1--WE surely need money! her tone
was as soft and as cold as a. snow
flake. "and il you don't mind doing
that kind of work, and it seems any
sort of work appeals to you. you'd as
well take it. I am going to Eleanor
Meades Monday. haven't felt I could
afford proper clothes before-I can't
now-there's very little of my savings
left in the bank, but I'm going down
town now to buy some things. I've
got where I'm going to let the tomor-
row take care Of itself"
Kent, surprised into silence, colored
darkly, and she went out.
From the moment OF her first ac-
quaintance with Anastasia Purcell.
Eleanor Meade had admired and loved
her. Both were trained nurses, but
Eleanor had hated the work and had
eagerly seized her opportunity to
later, in the face of Eleanor's strong
disapproval and insistence that she
was Throwing herself away" Ahas-
tasia had quit the nursing which she
loved for Kent Traile. whom she loved
even better.
An attack Of pneumonia had almost
ended his life, but her fingers had held
him back, and when he could sit up he
had talked to her very confidentia1ly.
He had tried many things in his life,
he told her, first school teaching-two
years of it-tlen he had given up that
and studied law a while; then he had
inherited a little money and tried
farming, but he'd lost money at that,
and. trying storekeeping. lost the rest
OF it.
1--WE nothing to offer you" he had
whispered. his dark eyes brilliant with
feeling, land so don't dare ask you to
marry me. But 1 want you to know
love you. and shall be loving you all
my life-I want you to know that, An
astasia, dear"
And with his wasted hands holding
her strong fingers Anastasia had felt
her better judgment swept away.
"Oh, Kent" she had said. II want
you to ask me to take you for better
or for, worse!" -
; For five months after their mar
riage Kent had held his place as book
keeper for soap manufacturing firm,
and Anastasia had made his salary go
long, long way. in their modest
housekeeping. Then he thought he
saw a better opening and left the
bookkeeping, and 1t was weeks before
he got the next job. clerking in hard
ware store. After that he had re-
tanned his jobs for a shorter and a
shorter time, and in the last year he
had done anything he could get. Six
weeks before he had given up a car
penter's job, thinking something bet
ter would turn UP. But nothing had
turned up until he had seen the hop
more pleasant for Anastasia to be with
Eleanor. he thought, and when the
hop picking was over he could meet
her at the station near the Meades' s,
and they could come home together.
Then he'd try to get Job and keep it
permanently; he was afraid Anastasia
was getting out of patience with him.
He was still sitting, planning. when
Anastasia came back with her bum
dies.
A week in the Meades's luxurious
home had not passed before Anastasia
| made up her mind to something she
had contemplated for months-to
leave Kent.
She was weary of financial uncer.
tainty, she had to draw on her saw
ings in the fnterims between Kent's
jobs, until there was but a. pittance
left; he had never wanted her to work,
but she would go back to the nursing
for which her heart craved, and be
| earning while she was in her earning
years, and let poor Kent go his foolish
impractical way alone!
Early one morning at the end of the
second week. Arnold Meade announc-
i ed that he was going to take Anasta STA
and Mrs. Meade to see some hopyards
twenty miles from their home. Anas-
tasia sealed the letter she knew would
be knife thrust in Kent's heart, and
| slipped it in the pocket of her skirt
| for mailing in the next town.
i. They passed thru one town, another.
third, but Anastasia still clutcheu
her letter.
| "I1kmail it tomorrow" she thought
unhappily. there's plenty OF time to
break his heart!"
| Here We are, at the Blooms!"
Meade called out as he drove into the
wooded campyard. Anastasia caught
her breath. Kent was here and she
must not see him-she must not!
| Suddenly. and without warning, a
standing dead tree crashed across one
OF the tents. Anastasia felt her heart
stand stills then skip a beat. Meade
| jumped down.
| wait, girls" he said, I'll go see II
anybodys hurt" After a considerable
| time he can back
| The top of the tree caught one OF
the pickers-he's badly hurt, I guess
he told them. "unconscious-looks as
IL he might be done for. They've got
| q wood saw. saving the tree SOS to
get it off him; the doctor'lHbe here di.
rectly-let me take you girls out OF