, 1918-10-03

chance. she ate < SalaQ ana mix
for luncheon, went to bed early and
| spent her evenings "at home" She
didn't add that those evenings were
sometimes spent with her tired little
body resting on the soft upholstery of
the long chair in her own little bed
room reading some one of her favOrite
Spanish or Italian authors that she
had learned to admire in college.
The next letter expressed approval
of the young boys steady habits, but
he reproved the boy for not going to
night school, and ended by telling him
that he would give a prize of $50
that he always offered messengers in
the concern, but had never been won
If he would devote himself so earnest
ly to tho study of Spanish that within
six months he could command o slight
reading knowledge Of that language.
He himself, he said, had beer handi-
capped because as a boy he had not
mastered a foreign language. 1t was
only recently, when his time for such
study was limited, that he had taken
up Spanish. 1t was the great language
for business men of the future, ETC.,
etc.
Alison really ought to have been
more cautious, but the very evening
after receiving this letter she wrote
back a long and fluent letter in her
best Spanish, explaining to Mr. Thorne
that, though she did not go to night
school, she had mastered Spanish the
previous winter and spent much time
reading 1t. She declined the prize,
however, as she had studied it with
out knowledge that such a prize ex-
listed.
Then came the letter that caused
CONSERVATION. Mr.. Thorne wrote Of
fering Alec a position in the Chicago
office as second correspondent in the
Spanish department. They were get
ting lots of orders from South Amer
lea, he explained, and he really need
ed him. His wage would be more than
doubled, and his travelling expenses to
Chicago would be paid.
Alison was at first confused and re-
pentant. She felt that she ought not
to have consented to the office mana
gers deception. But then she took a
different attitude toward the matter.
Financial conditions in the Preston
family had not been all that they
might have been for the past year and
it had become apparent that another
year at college would be impossible
for Alison at the present time. She
had about decided to spend the fol-
lowing autumn and winter working.
And here was a chance to earn $25 a
week. She wrote back to Mr.. Thorpe
accepting the position. confessing at
the same time her sex. did not wait
for an answer but, packing her little
travelling box and gaining a rather re-
luctant consent from her parents,
started forth to take her new job.
She could live on SO a week, she fig
ured, especially If she continued to
dress in uniform, and the other SIS
she could save to pay her next years
expenses in college.
The Office manager in the New York
office when he heard of b step h
had taken, predicted a stormy recep-
tion for Alison. He felt that he knew
just how Thorne would snu e But
the storm and the snub were not forth
COIliuEs luOEhc lOiu hCI luul 1T hiot
he had not known, then he CHANGED to
see the New York paper that had the
office managers advertisement for girl
messengers. and, beside, he suspected
from the egg-salad luncheon and the
hand writing hat she was a girl. But
1t made no difference, he assured her.
He was a thorough-going feminist, If
that meant entire approval of giving
girls an equal chance with boys when
they proved themselves capable of
grasping 1t. And this girl had proved
herself more promising than any of
the messenger boys that had ever
drifted into the employ Of the con-
Germ.
Then one day Thorne called Alison
into his office and as she came toward
him in her trim little khaki suit he
held out both his hands and took hers
into his.
Alison did not draw back. but stood
looking down at their Joined hands
with a puzzled smile on her face.
~ want you here. Alec" he had al
ways retained the first name by which
he had thought of her-"I want you in
the office, but more than all I want you
in my heart. 1 want you to make a
home for me. Is 1t so necessary to
finish out that college course of
yoursT"
"There is always one and only one
possible event that will make a col
lege girl give up her course" said
Alison.
"And that7"
when the man in all the world she
loves asks her to be his wife"
"Does that NEAR you have decided
to finish" asked Thorne relaxing his