The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-14
Eoening Story
.sHome. .James!o
By H. LOUIS RAYBoLD.


Old Mrs. Gardner, autocratic ar
bitter of the social destinies of three
counties and woman Of tremendous
viii, bent upon her niece a frewn of
disapprevai. virginia" she said
crisply, you are seeing altogether too
much of that-that impecunious Mr..
Barrows-and net enough of Court
ney Van Brock"
Virginia. perched on the arm of
the chair opposite her aunt's re-
garded that lady theughtfuliy. So
nothing could escape those eagle eyes!
What are yeur objections to that
that Mr.. Barrews, Aunt Juiia?" she
asked quietly.
"Howa could q girl like you, my dear
Virginia, reared in the lap of luxury,
think of marrying a man with no
money? 5 Especially when Courtney
is ready to lay his millions at your
feet"
Virginia slipped dewn from the
chair. ut would be silly, wouldn't
q" she acquiesced and. as tho borne
on her aunts smile of satisfaction,
went slowly from the room.
Beyond the reach of her aunt's
eyes, Virginia leaned against one of
a deep breath. Meney-meney--
money, That Was all she ever heard.
Surrounded by the environment
that money gives, clothed in hand
stitched fabfics and lustrous silks
and marveio@ furs worth a kings
dances and dinner and fetes whose
success was determined by the law
ishfiess of expenditure, Virginia felt
at times that she was snotheFed by
it all.
For not one cent of it belonged to
by that her aunt never mentioned
them, Julia Gardner had been plain
Julia Brown. Then she had been
courted by a fairly well-to-do but I'M
prepossessing man much older than
herself She had married him and
fortune and died. His wife reaped
the benefit.
When virginias parents, sudden
victims of an epidemic, had died with
in three days of each other a sense
of duty led her aunt to have the tiny
baby carried to the stately residence
on Ridgely road, and there Virginia
had grown up
After all she's dose for me I just
can't disregard Her Wishes" the girl
told herself ferierniy. But I don't
want Courtney and his millions
want Billy and his five dollars a
column
Yet three days later Billy. white
Tipped, received his answer shes
given me everything" faltered Vir-
ginia.
Billy looked appraisingly at the
Rubens above the mantel at the teak
cabinet with it's priceless objects
darts, at the velvet hangings thru
which one glimpsed tiled vistas. Then
he shook his head. "a great deal,
admit he said, but not quite every
thing" The next moment he was
gone.
Virginia stood as he had left her
longing to KUN after him and reiter-
ate how little the money meant to her
how it had come to seem a dreadful
DOGGY in her life debating her actions
| how-slowly she turned upstairs to
her aunt's boudoir to enter into con
sultation over the making of her
trousseau.
Eer. twentyfour hours before she
said mo- to Billy, she had said Yes
to Courtney Van Breek.
Game the lovely month of June. In
: the gardens early roses blossomed or
ba1ustrade and pergola,s shading their
fragrance everywhere. June - the
| month of weddings,
But for one Of those weddings, q
wedding in which engravers and mo-
distes and caterers and florists an6
the city's highest paid quartet were
to share, the bride waited heavy
hearted.
| Zach morning Virginia woke with
the thought isn't there some way
| out?" And each night she sougb
| her Louis XVI. bed convinced tha
| there wasn't. Perhaps if there had
{ been no Billy in the background, i
would have been easier. altho she fell
| that she could never have loved Court
J ney.
| Only. II she couldn't have Billy
Courtney did as well as any other He
was older than she, but she had always
known him. A few years ago he hat
been engaged to. a woman who hae
quite suddenly and inexplieably mar
ried somebody else. And Virgins
| fancied that, on the whole, he cared
no more for her than she did for him
1t was evidently for them both jus
suitable marriage"
] Three days before the wedding Vir
| ginia begged a respite from dimes
dances and bridal 1uneheons, pleading
| the need for rest to look her best Oh
the great day, Aunt Julia final,
yielded and packed Virginia off to {
quiet little inn in the Berkshires with
| the elderly woman who acted as maid
She even agreed not to tell Courtne!
of her niece's hiding place" figurin;
perhaps, that it was a giriish whin
more easy to crafty than most.
Quiet the inn in the Berkshires GER
tainly was at that time of the season
but not SO utterly forsaken that oc
easioHal motoring parties did not roll
up the winding, graveled drive foi
quiet chicken dinners in it's famous
grill.
Such a party arrived one day a.
Virginia came down the stairs Fac,
to face, she met them-CourtneS ant
the woman to whom he had once beer
eneaged-and the tender regard o
the glance which Virginia interrupted
left no doubt of the feeling he still
entertained.
Virginia stood stock still For
minute the silence Numbered. Then
! with an unuttered but heartfelt
| Thank heaven!" on her lips, the cir
turned away. her head high
Three months later the GardnA