The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-03
E0ening Story
Leap Year and Suzanne.
BY H. LOUIS RAYBoLD.

Il say. people, let's take the ski jump
at midnight. There's no moon, so it
will be fairly dark. How about it?"
"Hear-hear!" cried a chorus of
voices. Sure thing-jolly good
SPORT"
"All settled. then" said Suzanne,
and returned placidly to her consump
! ton of Maryland chicken.
OF all the merry care-free crowd
( gathered for the winter sports at Aga
wan Lodge of Lake Adirondack. SUI
zanne was the most daredevil and the
most persistent in her pursuit of pleas
/ ure. 1.-the. glowing with health, she
was the life of the party-quite too
much so to suit Cameron Stuart, whose
one pursuit was Suzanne herself He
would have preferred a little less gre
gariousness on Sues part and more of
an inclination to spend some time
alone with him.
But his pleadings had effected moth
| ing more than a peremptory stamp of
the girls extensively shod foot. Some
clared. land do nothing but boss the
servants and say How divine! at old
ladies' musicales. but now, right now.
l am going to have my fling and play
the game for all there is in it," Cam
eron. watching the play Of expression
across the girls piquant features,
| loved her more than ever. The nine
years difference in their ages made
him more tolerant of her youthful
| spirits than a younger man might have
/ been.
l Sues parents, feeling the urge of the
sunny Florida regions more potent
than the call of the north. had dis
I patched the girl and her 15-year-old
brother to the Lodge, under the wings
| of various friends already foregath-
cred there. Dwight was really not
strong enough to engage in the ener-
getic sports of the season. A consti-
tutional tendency to feet fatigue quick
| ly and slight heart weakness often
| barred him from strenuous activities.
much to his disgust. His one great
friend was Cameron Stuart.
| And after dinner Cameron sought
i out the boy and begged him not to
make one of the party taking the
| jump.
Are you going?" asked Dwight:
| "Of course" said Cameron. You
know 1 play watchdog for your sis
| ''She needs one" resumed the boy
frankly But he did not say he would
not go. Just at the age when a boy
most feels himself a man, he re-
sented. even from Cameron Stuart,
any implication that he was not per-
fectly well able to hold his own with
Eleven o'clock saw a laughing
mackinawed crowd with waving
| scarves and woolly tams set out across
|
Lodge. Past the iced shute for the
| toboggans, across the blackness of the
lake. into the shadowy forest they
tramped, skis slung across their
| shoulders.
At the jump itself the skis were
carefully strapped on and tested. SUI
eanne herself led off, sailing gracefully
out into the air and landing trl-
umphant on the snowy stretch hum
dred and thirty feet below. One by
! l. 1anN h n q
time Suzanne had regained the crest
only Cameron and Dwight remained
| Dwight had never attempted 1t be-
! fore, being satisfied with the lesser
jumps near the lodge. And Sue could
not recall having seen Cameron take
! it either. AS she approached cam
eron stood on the brink as if irreso-
Lutte, gazing down into the darkness
| below. Suddenly he turned, stopped
! down to unstrap his skis, and re-
! it after ALL
| Suzanne stared at him unbelieving.
| Cameron Stuart a coward She hard
/ ~ noticed that Dwight also was TAX
/ ing off his skis. She was merely
| thankful that the rest of the crowd,
| plodding slowly up the slope, had not
witnessed Cameron's act. Cameron
Stuart" she said with cutting empha-
! you again" Her head high, she
| moved away. And Cameron hrtle
knew the pain in her heart-only the
great emptiness in his.
Some nights later Cameron sat saz-
depths of the huge fireplace in the
| heavy beamed living room of the
Lodge. The crowd had gone sleigh
! ing but he had chosen to stay here
alone What use, he unused bitterly.
to tantalize miself watching Sue flirt
with first one and then another of
the men in the party, to catch glimpses
| of her profile as she talked to some
man beside her, sending what mes
| eyes No, he did not care to go. What
| was more, he would leave the Lodge
tomorrow She thought he was a
! coward Since the day when he had
not taken the jump she had avoided
any chance encounter with him.
Some one opened the door. Cam
eron looked quickly up. There stood
the girl who had been in his thoughts,
glorious picture in soft brown mink,
with a furry toque perched jauntily
askew on her towny hair. oh" she
said slowly, tauntingly, Home
where 1t is safe!
| Cameron sprang to his feet. "Suz
anne!' he Numbered, don't dare use
those words to me, or that tone. You
| come with me- The girl stunned.
stood still. In all her life none had
ever spoken to her like that. Cam
eron. snatching up mackinaw and cap
/ from a settle, grasped her arm and
| led her unresisting to the door. TAX
! ing down his skis from the rack in the
! outer hall. still without word, Cam
eron strobe rapidly over the snow,
Suzanne followed meekly, like one
hypnotized.
| Arrived at the spot where Cameron
had shown the white feather, accord
| ing to Sue, the man buckled on the
skis, took the start. and leaped Off
! Presently he was back. Again he
F., jumped. Suzanne, ready to take back
all she had ever said, was silenced
i by the look on his face when he re-
turned. Again he leaped. This time
he did not come back so quickly-in
fact. he did not come at all. Sue
| waited - waited - then, fearing she
knew not what. ran quickly down the
slope, in and out thru the trees. What
was that dark object on the snow
| PROSTATE? Not Cameron.
/ But it was Cameron-Cameron with
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