The Dolores star., 1920-09-24

sn uI the summer school, ana reit-hi-
Ing the wooden scarf TO the bottom OF
her trunk she invested in knitted
silk Jacket, such as i've out OF every
Ten Of the younger women students
wore.
Her fsather-trimmed best hat that
she had worn with her from Holmes
Center abdicatcd In favor of sinp!"
straw sailor that proved Immensely
becoming worn over her soft brown
curls and shading her truly lovely blue
eyes.
All of which might not have proved
so difficult 10 tell George had II not
been in order to buy the knitted silk
Jacket. the simple sailor which had
fairly high price attached 10 II in spite
of its simplicity, and the little silk
afternoon dress and white pumps and
satin slippers, she had dipped into
that little hoard and actually had
spent enough of II TO mean possibly
the sacrifice of that parlor suit she
had been planning on. That made 1t
seem almost treachery to George.
Besides George, dear. trusting
George, had liked her always just as
she was. He would not understand.
The day after her transformation
Gladys did not see George. He was
working late that night and had no
spare afternoon hours.
She was glad that there was no in
terview because until she became
used to the new situation-that of
wearing smart city clothes instead of
clumsy country clOthes-She felt that
she would show her self-conscions-
ness.
OF course she would not wear the
new city clothes when she saw him.
So when the next day they met for an
hour together toward the close Of
fine summer afternoon Gladys was ar
rayed in her Holmes Center getup.
1t had been only two days before
that she discarded ii. yet 1t seemed
not too long to her, and she hesitated
to look at herself in the glass. She
did not want to know how she had
looked. She was sitting on bench in
one of the city parks where she and
George had arranged to meet.
First she was conscious of her own
awkward appearance. Then she
looked up to see George approach her.
Could that be her George? she won
dered Before she had never noticed
how badly his suit had fitted, nor had
she realized how impossbly his shoes
were shaped. He wore his hat at an
uncirified angle.
She was tempted to pull 1t into a
better position. George must have
seen her look of disappointment. for
he could not conceal his embarrasS-
ment. He sat beside her on the bench
Then a wave of contrition came over
Gladys. He looked tired and anxious.
He had been working hard, very hard.
and 1t was all for her.
Gladys could not express the con-
triton she felt, for she did not want
George even to know the cause of 1t.
They tried to talk Of their work, but
it was so widely diverse that they
seemed not to interest each other. The
affairs of Holmes Center were too re-
mote to be interesting.
And the worst Of it was that when
Gladys returned to her dormitory
room and had again donned her city
clothes she felt something almost akin
to contempt for the clothes of her
George. Could it be a contempt for
George?
Then a feeling of inconsistencies came
over her. She wished she had never
come to the city to experience its
temptations, and this was followed by
great longing-a longing to remain
always In the city, never to go back
to the clothes of Holmes Center.
There was faculty reception that
evening-the first opportunity she had
had to meet out of class the men and
women from whom she was receiving
instruction. To go to this reception
and enter into the festivity it offered
would be to forget at least for a few
hours the disturbing emotions of the
afternoon.
Gladys found herself that evening
noticing the clothes the men wore and
the way they wore them. And always
there was the image of George In his
bagging suit, Out-Of-date shoes and
badly poised hat. What If she had
never known him? There was no
doubt of the fact that the young In
structor who was talking to her was
interested In her. He had already
asked to call to see her at the dormi-
tory.
Then among the faces Gladys caught
glimpse of one that could be no ones
but Georges. In a few minutes more
he had come up to her. The interest
ed professor had withdrawn of his
own accord, and they were standing
there in quiet corner of the college
gymnasium.
GEORGE"
"Gladys!"
There was infinite relief in the tone
of each. Neither had known that the
other was coming. But now the truth