The Topeka state journal., 1919-12-16
Eoening Story
A Matter of Family.
BY HILDA MORRIS.

just two months. two long, lonely
months, during which she grew to
hate every dusty street of the shabby
little town 1t was not all shabby,
of course. There were a few square
white houses with green blinds that
reminded her of her home town back
in New England, and there was hor-
izon bordered by dim blue hills that
would have seemed lovely had it not
shut her away from the world out
side, the big beautiful world of cities
that she loved.
Anita taught English in the Car
terville high school and as teacher"
she enjoyed a sort of social eminence
The Culture club had taken her in.
and the minister's wife asked her to
tea, but the young people, the girls
her own age who should have been
her companions. looked at her
wore different clothes. palmer and
smarter in some indefinable way
She spoke in way that sounded to
them affected" She was college
bred: she knew more than they, so
they envied her a little, admired her,
and stood aloof. Sometimes she sat
at the window of her little furnished
room in the Palace Hotel and watched
them stroll past, boys and girls in
happy groups of pre-occupied couples.
Anita would sigh d little. and think
wistfully OF her gay college days just
past, the strolls that she had taken.
And then, looking after the Carterville
young people. she would reflect that.
after all. they were not her kind. She
was a New England North. and the
Norths seldom looked beyond the cir
Gle of their own get. OF course, none
of these Carterville boys and girls
would be possible friends for her.
@0Il n little
vehemently, perhaps. to still the lone
ly tugging at her heart
At the end of two months, however
things began to he different. There
was a young man who boarded at the
Palace Hotel, a nice-looking young
man with brown eyes and the sort OF
nose one imagines to he aristocrat1c-
Anita watched him sometimes in the
dining-room and sometimes she list
ened to his hearty voice when he was
in the hotel office, talking with other
men.
What pity she thought, that
a man who looks like that should be
common, after all. He talks to Jim
Murphy as if he'd known him all his
life, and he uses so much slang"
Just what the stranger did in Car
terville, Anita was not sure. Some
times she would see him coming IN
late in the afternoon, wearing high
boots and a rough canvas jacket such
as the farmers wore, a cap pulled low
about his ears. She had a vague idea,
from seeing him lettering in the door
of the livery stable. that he had some
thing to do with horses. At any rate,
| it did not in the least concern her She
was impatient at herself for wonder
ing. His name-she could not help
hearing that-was Davis. Carlton
Davis. There were several Davis fam
lilies in Carterville. He must belong
70 nf Irir1 TllaPad him
f, thus far. Anita resolved to ignore him
completely and put all her thoughts of
him from her mind.
But this was very hard.
When there is only one young man
about; wnen he is very good looking;
when he sits at table near you in
the hotel dining room every morning
and evening, when you are a girl, and
lonesome. it is hard to be bound by the
traditions of the proudest of families.
Furthermore. Anita was conscious of
a growing sense of pique because. in
spite of the interest she could not help
but feel in him, he never betrayed the
least flicker of curiosity concerning
her. If his eyes met hers they were
calm, impersonal, and he looked
herself turn pink under this apparent
ly unseeing glance. Once, when she
! felt that he was looking after her as
she left the room, she was blinded by
a sort of hateful self consciousness
that made her trip awkwardly, and
fall. In an instant he was on his
/ feet. helping her up.
Are you hurt ?" he asked in a voice
that sounded, somehow, different from
! his own.
! Not at al1-thank- you"
She was aware that her tone was
cold, inhospita able. He bowed gravely
, and returned to his seat near the win
dow.
After that Anita tried to avoid Carl
! ton Davis. She refused to admit to
! herself that this man was the reason
I for her early breakfasts and late din
ners, yet deep in her heart she knew
that she could not bear to sit there.
| in silence, so near to him. She knew
| that his presence would cast a curious
| spell upon her, make her self-con-
/ scious and strangely ill at ease. So a
week went by during which they new
er met. and Anita's long. lonely eve
nings in her room seemed longer and
lonelier than ever.
One evening when she could bear
the strain of depressed spirits no
longer without action of some sort.
J Anita set out for a brisk walk. 1t was
Just supper time for Carterville; lights
shone from the unshaded windows
and she could see family groups about
| the tables. How happy they looked,
! and peaceful! They didn't mind he
ing simple Carterville folks why
/ should they. with friends and homes
J and comfort all about them. Oh, why.
/ why couldn't she be like that? Why
did she have to be so stiff and differ
ent? Why had she been born
! North. with family traditions? Tradi-
tions are all very well if you stay at
| home or have an income. hut they
onIv sufficed to make her unhappy
The girl scarcely noticed where she
was walking, the rough. unpaved
streets of the little town were no bet
ter than the country roads, and Anita
rea lized with a sudden start that she
had walked far beyond the last house.
! Dark fields and the silhouettes OF or
| chards fav ahout her. She shivered q
little. half fraid. hat the bitterness OF
her thoughts was more terrifying lhah
any fear.
who would care" she whisre-ed to
herself, 'if ANYTHING did happen to me
out here? No one in CarterVihe.