The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-30
EVENING STORY
CYNTHIA White-Pest.
BY VINCENT G. PERRY.


With quick jerk Horace Sangster
pulled his line from the water. and
then cried out with disgust. The fish,
if there had be one. had got away.
Three hours without catch-it was
enough to annoy a man with normal
nerves, and Horace was far from that.
He drew in his line angrily and at
tempted to wind it up, but something
had gone wrong with his reel. That
was the last straw. He sat down on
a ro.k and swore.
The sound of the word startled him.
He had not sworn for years. HIS
nerves were certainly making a wreck
of him. The solitude of the place was
aggravating them, too. They had told
him the simple camp life, with lots OF
fishing, would make new man OF
him. Such bosh! Why, there was
hardly a thing about 1t that did not
make him feel worse.
This was the second day, and he
was going to make it his last. To
begin with, he had had trouble pitch
ing his tent The storm in the night
had kept him up keeping out the rain.
Every crack of the bushes or sound
of the birds in the trees caused him
to start uneasily. 1t was nearly as
nerve rackinG as an afternoon session
with the Fourth Year class. The
thought of the Fourth Year girls irri-
tated him the more They had been
the cause of his breakdown he felt
| confident. For months he had looked
with dread on the hour each after
noon that he was forced to teach them
mathematics They were just silly,
thoughtless girls. and would not have
| been so hard to put up with had it not
been for their ringleader, Cynthia
/ White.
without exaggeration Cynthia was
the worst girl he had ever had under
| his tuition. Her main object in life
seemed t be to torment the professor
of mathematics. Something always
| turned up for her to argue about or
| laugh over. There was always some
| thing for her to ridicule, and she never
| missed an opportunity to make him
| feel mea:l-perhaps because she was
SO large and he was so small.
! AS he sat there thinking it over,
| Horace made up his mind he had been
foolish It/would have been easv to
have arranged for her dismissal from
college. Why hadn't he done it?
There was something he liked about
| Cynthia. in spite of everything. The
spirit of fun behind those twinkling
black eyes of hers appealed to him,
and the warmth of her laugh made
| him long for something ething
that was rot in his -.
| Suddenly the laugh sounded close
beside him. He nearly topDled into
| the water from the s. ock 1t ~@--0 him
He turned quickly to confront Cynthia,
a little way off, he o-'es buleing over
with merriment After rubbing his
eyes to make sure he vas seeing
fright Horace smiled forth a greeting.
Even the pest of his life was welcome
| in that solitude.
ooh, Mr.. Sangster. look %
funny there" she laughed. IF the
girls could only see yor in your bare
feeti"
| "Heavens," Horace tried to hide
his feet behind a log. He had forgot
! ten that he had taken off his shoes
| ard socks to wade a creek.
"Don't be alarmed" she smiled en-
coura eingly. ct am going to take off
| nv shoes. too One can't fish we'll
with shoes on. How do you like my
costume ?"
She was clad in khaki from head to
foot. and her hair was hanging in curls
over her shoulders. He had r-vcr
realized how beautiful she was before
"Jove! You look peachy." he muir
4 INJURED. admirinrlv. not reali-i,~ trat
he had used the word ''peachy" for the
fiji. time since he had got lis degree.