The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-25
JUST A GIRL.
By JANE PHELPS
STEWART ARRIVES.
CHAPTER 127.

MRS. STEWART ARRIVES.
CHAPTER 127.
The letter from Kenneth was yer,
short. He said: !
81 have tried very hard to find
you, but failed That hard-headed
old lawyer would give me no salts
faction until I worried him into
promising to send my request to
your mother.
Il have thought of you very much
in the last years. Are you still sin
gle? Yes, seu must be. You signed
your note tZena Stewart Often
when am riding = the ranch
thoughts OF you keep me company.
1 RECAP every time 1 was with you,
and what you said and did. No
other girl ever interested me half
as much. Iwant to see you again,
Zena. May II
VI ask to see you, yet it is very
uncertain when.I can get away--not
for several weeks at least.s A big
ranch carries with it big response
bilities one cannot evade. Mine are
greater just now because my SUPER
intendent. who has been with me for
years, is away on his first vacation.
Not even to see you more quickly
can / call him back So 1 must
wait, not even daring to hope that
you will be disappointed because of
the necessity
81 judge you and your mother
have settled in Chicago. cannot
help but be glad as 1t brings you
just so many miles nearer me.
am much alone, and solitude. lone
illness, breeds strange dreams. 1
have no way of knowing yeur
thoughtsN of ne-or have you even
remembered? Your kind little note
makes me think you have not ut
terly forgotten the western fellow
who fitted across your landscape for
a few weeks-so long ago.
Il think now that can be in Chi
cago in about three weeks. Let me
know If you will be- there at that
time, and Wilt was going to say
be gladf to see me. / will change
1t to will you let me see you? My
regards to your mother. Until then,
every sincerely your friend,
"KENNETH LAWRENCE" s.
There was not much in this letter
to cause a girl to feel elated. Yet-ht
had remembered. he wanted to see
me again. That it least soothed m,
pride that often rebelled when
thought OF him because I had no way
OF knowing he ever thought of me
or remembered that time in New York
when he had sought me.
But mingled with this feeling was
another. Kenneth Lawrence had been
my ideal man. 1t was very i1nma-
ture giriish ideal. to be sure, but
had Rugged it close and in a way II
had prevented me from becoming in
terested in anyone else. 1 believe
many girls and women are influenced
by meeting man who inflanes theil
imaginations, and whom they hold in
til cir hearts as the ideal man for them.
and SO perhaps miss much that is good
in life because of the virtues with
which they endbw the man whose cas-
ual mountaineering has taken hold
upon their imagination.
I knew Kenneth Lawrence was diff
ferent from the young men with whom
I had associated in that he was more
serious at-the time I met him than the
others of his. age That. should oc-
casion arise, these other boys as they
grew older would have proved just as
capable, did not occur to me. L had
seen only the frivolous side of their
lives. Tony Deland had proven his
business acumen when large interests
were left him upon his fathers qeath.
But of the others I knew nothtnSy and
the serious Kenneth had remained the
man who would mako a serious girl OF
woman happy. because he himself had
been a worker, producer.
But mother was comingi I had nc
time to speculate. or to worry. She
arrived late after the shop was closed
so Mary and Tom went to the train
with me to meet her.
was so proud and happy when she
She looked SO sweet, she
was so dear to Tom and Mary, telling
them she already felt acquainted with
them because of my letters, that she
put them at once at ease. Tom in
sisted upon calling taxi.
MY treat,'' he whispered.
He found mothers luggage. attende1
to it, and relieved me from all trouble
1t is nice to have a man al ound when
one is travelling. When we reached
home they would not come in.
"You and your mother will want to
talk, and It is late" Tom said with his
usual thoughtfulness.
When we opened the door the first
thing I saw was big box from a
florists shop. The janitress. who had
a key, had opened the door and left it.
I opened the box. A perfect riot OF
color greeted my eyes, and a card
II trust your mother has had
pleasant journey. Please accept
these as my greeting to her.
FRANK CLAXTON."
(Tomorrow-A happx<day tosether.>