The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-03-14


stool by the piano. There would be a
would have to clear away the things
| after Mr.. ~Bradstreet's dinner. and she
would use those moments to play some
of the music that most pleased her
| father For it was her father who
| had gone without things for himself
| in order to buy this piano. and now by
playing to him perhaps she would
make up to him for the lack of loyal
| ty of which she felt guilty even in
| thinking as she had done.
| And before she began TO play Mr..
Bradstreet, locking from the dining
| room into the living room. had also
let his eyes rest on the roses and
he, too, was sensible of the clash of
color and taste. The stiff cotton cur
tainS were as much an eyesore to him
as they were to Violet, but somehow
they did not cause him the same men
tai anguish that they did her, tho he
permitted himself to gaze at them
rather intently.
/ Then the strains of violet's music
came to him and gradually the table
before him seemed to fade away. and
the roses and the red ribbon. He
stopped eating and the walls of the
house faded away and q realm of ro-
nance, turrets and castles and en-
chanted forests seemed to take their
, place. And with it all he felt con-
| scious of the love that seemed to per-
| wade the little Hopkins home, the love
of the daughter that made her help
when she would far rather have left
home to seek her living in a more con-
genial mode; the love of the wife and
mother that kept her smiling1y toiling
in the kitchen for the sake OF the two
! whom she loved, and the love of the
rather that was patent in every glance
, and word, and that made him some-
,, now worth while, in spite of his SEN
tentiousness and tiresome POPULARITY.
/ Then he II VI
: who had rendered it slipped from the
, stool back into the kitchen. Brad
. street rose from the table and passed
thru the living room.
so you were saying You wanted
/ more than pretty face" the old man
) took up his jesting. well, seems al
If you were likely to get it. I hope
I you'll remember old friends and have
US all invited to the wedding. OF
. course you know it is being talked
about all around that you and Edna
Dorkins is to be married"
t L am sorry" said Matthew, eff the
s 1act That l have been an occasional Wis
/ itor at the Dorkinses has been so mis-
interpreted"
. An hour later, the kitchen work al
out of the way, and Mr.. Hopkin.
: | soothed to slumber in his arm chair by
his daughters music, Matthew Brad.
I street returned. Violet answered hi:
| knock at the door,
1 want " 10 yOu, ne told her
] 1T is so hard to find you when 1 an
here that 1 came back"
Violet cast a glance at her s1eepine
Iather, and then, taking a wrap from
the hatrack, ttptoed back to the door
Il It's warm outside tonight. Let's tall
= In the garden" Violet somehow fell
. that Mr.. Bradstreet could only wish t.
taik about making arrangements t.
. domlt a new boarder or to change tn.
n ARRANGEMENTS for his own meals
violet" he said when they hat
+ Violet I have decided that you ar,
I the girl l want to marry. I've beer
v waiting to tell you for long time, bu
n 1t has been hard
|. Eloiet uttered gasp of surprise
ana neld herself rigid. Yes, she reall,
g did love Matthew Bradstreet, and sh,
!. mad dreamed of this moment as tn,
e supreme -npossibility. How could he
q VINO had seen her at her worst; whs
S had seen her-there in the dingy littl,
o!n1ng room waiting on the boarders
+ ana must have seen her embarrass
n ment hundred times, how could he
e VINO might, every one said, have mad,
), Edna Dorkins his wife. how could h.
| possibly have made this decision? TIL,
, image of those stiff lace curtains ant
:. the artlf1cial roses on the mantelpiec,
came before her, and she could hea,
her father asking him why he did no
t marry 1t was these things that sh,
'Ooto. bN tllC pdTTlGT 10 proven
. any possible reciprocation of her love
In the first place. I love you, Vic
f let" he said simply; "and then, yo,
: are beautiful"
But" said Violet. you said that s,
t mach more than prettiness was neces
n II know" said Bradstreet. ITS thi
way: What made me sure 1 wanted
to marry you-after I knew 1 Lover
you-was because I knew you would
e understand things at home. 1 nevel
!. could marry girl who would despis,
v or misunderstood things at home
t You see, tho I've succeeded prett,
u Wen, my own father and mother hav,
t always lived simply, and our home il
f so much more like your home than
t the Dorki1rs home that-wen, when
S round that you were the girl I wanted
2 to marry 1 was more glad than 1 car
5 tell you had been used to simple liy.
J.; ing. II knew you'd understand"
e And as Violet let Bradstreet draw
her into his arms the vision of the
- stiff, ribbon-tied curtains and the
i dingy little house faded in the un.
/. spoken certainty of perfect under.
: standing.
S Copyright, 1913. by the Mcclure News.
[ paper Syudicate.D