The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-02-21
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
The Clinging Vine.
BY s. 3. HAcKLEN

BY s. 3. HAcKLEY.
Copyright, 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)
ttNZOU were 30 late had begun
to be uneasy, sweetheart.
You'll have to stay at the Of
flee an hour yet? Well, It can't be
helped. Come Is soon as you can,
dear.
Commonplace words, but the voice,
81 once full and clear and gentle as the
touch Of q butterfly's wing, thrilled
Buell. Sargent the inadvertent listen
erin the parlor opening OF the recep-
ton hall OF the Delbert house. The
woman at the phone softly reascended
! the stairs. Buell. sighed.
"Must have been talking to her hus.
stand. A woman with a voice like
that's sure to be married."
B s;lAII the way from the cattle ranch in
Idaho middle-aged Penelope Withrow,
widowed by law Of one husband, and
on the eager lookout for another and
more WORTHY. ono. had wondered why
ber twin brother, Buell., was so silent.
She would have laughed in rnbeiief
had any one told her Buell's silence
Z arose from the fact that he also had
ustrimony In his head--that he had
visions Of Q tender. gentle sort Of crea-
ture who would pet him when he came
In at evening" woman who. unlike
his strongminded, independent sister,
would look to him for guidance In
everything.
I've got Just q few In my house"
Mrs. Delbert had told them; "Carey
Arden, q young law student, and q
young married couple, the Refers;
Mrs. Ibsen, q nurse, and Esther and
Gayle Perrin, sisters, who cook their
meals in my kitchen"
That evening when Mrs. Delbert in.
troduced Buell. to the Refers he re-
toiced secretly. Mrs. Retter's voice
was not the voice he had heard at the
phonei And that night he dreamed
some one was calling him Buell., dear
heart in q voice that was velvet and
gold, and the call Of the mourning
dove.
Next morning, when he stepped on
the piazza with the milk Penelope had
sent him for, he heard the voice Of his
admiration again. The door opened
and young woman Of twenty-three,
tall and fair and beautiful, stepped
out.
Buell. almost dropped his bottles.
She must be the Miss Perrin who was
9 stenographer uptown. A girl like
that with that voice! His breakfast
tasted like enchanted food.
When he went down in the hall that
evening he met her going out with a
Young Adonis. Buell. looked in the
hall mirror. The broad-shouldered
man with the tanned skin and keen
blue eyes he saw there looked un.
happy.
Presently he turned to see on the
stairssa little woman with q sefious,
delicate1y nodded face, regarding him
with wistful brown eyes. In feature
she was not unlike the Hebe who had
Just gone out, but she was older by ten
years.
She flushed little when he turned
and asked him if he had seen Mrs. Del
bert. Buell. felt a tingling in his veins.
She spoke In the voice that for twenty
four hours had held him. He forgot
the young blonde, and made futile eff
forts, to. prolong the conversation.
Esther Perrin is very good" Mrs.
Delbert remarked at the next morn
ing's meal; 4too good, think some.
times: She embroiders and keeps her
self and Gayle, her sister. She mar
kets and cooks and does their laun-
dry, and never asks Gayle to spend a
penny. But Gayle Is to be married in
June and has to buy her trousseau,
and Esther Is bashfll and hasn't ad-
nirers or marrying notions"
No admirers! Here was one,
though Buell.. After that, when at dusk
Esther slipped out of the kitchen to
watch from the hail window seat for
her sister, to her embarrassment she
generally found the big Idaho man
\ ensconced In the hall.
Gradually, however, she came to
love TO see him there. and to listen to
his talk about the ranch, the horse
back gallops, the auto trips and out.
door fun. "rd love fl" she thought to
4 QeTNelk. 6UL Q6-u6 G01uk6 In Lu6
sold-fashioned clinging woman he likes,
) and I'm not that. Maybe / can pre-.
tend to beliefs 500 dear-it
s Surely isn't wrong 10 pretend lit
s tleIn
:she's afraid" Buell. said to him
! self when evening after evening Esther
stefused to go out with him and his sis
tel. pleading. she had work. "she's
4 Afraid Of Penelope the timid little
Thing! Well, Penelope shan't scare
mo on from marrying her II she's let
B ne, and I1lsprotect her and think for
her the rest of her life. the little
clinging vine Of q woman!"
One evening when the young law
student, Mrs. Delbert and Buell. came
- the hall after a play, they'd attend
"a together, they found Esther sitting
there. The young lawyer spoke Of the
coming suffrage election. Buell. didn't
believe In votes for women; Carey did,
md nrRuAd vehementiy. .Mra. Dalbarf