The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-04
JUST GIRL
STRAY THOUGHTS.
Blu JANE PHELPS
CHAPTER 81.


The recipe came almost i'm
mediately, and with it a long letter of
instructions Just how to proceed.
I'VE couldn't spoil them If we
wanted to- Mary said, but I noticed
she read the letter several times.
chafed her about learning it by heart.
She went at once to work. The
berry season had just commenced.
tried to make her remain at home all
| day during this time. but she insisted
upon coming down for luncheon.
III 1 stay away mornings I can get
enough to last u.s." she said. land who
| knows what mischief you will get into
1 if 1 leave you alone all day."
Her preserves were just as good as
Aunt Susan's. We had followed aunt s
/ advice and had a farmer bring US his
berries. They were much firmer and
We bought the sugar at wholesale. and
also the glasses.
Were the real thing when II comes
/ to business" Mary boasted.
In the fall we added to our menu
tea biscuits. and, eggs cooked in any
way desired.
| I'VE just had to have the biscuitsr'
Mary explained to Mrs. Fagin. They
go with preserves, you know
1t had been a suggestion of one of
our steady customers. She had
praised the preserves, then said:
They would be delicious with hot
tea biscuits Mary had overheard,
and the addition to the menu had been
the result.
We were doing very well, and so
| hired a girl to wash dishes and clean.
We had put in three more tables, and
even so, were often obliged to make
people wait
| Wen soon have to have a bigger
place." I remarked to Mrs. Fagin one
day after we had been running nearly
seven months.
"Yes-but finish the year where you
are. 1 was talking to Mr.. Pope about
YOU, and he is looking out for a larger
| better place.
You wonderful woman," I said
again, as I had said once months be-
fore.
She's Irish, amt she?" Mary asked
again.
Mary had begun to study seriously
She bought some secondhand school
books, and then we read together
books 1 thought would help her. ]
hated to have her studies drudgery for
her, and so used the school books only
when necessary. She was very quick;
her grammar, her speech, was ne1
| greatest stumbling block.
Il never. shall talk right-neyer. If
live to be as old as that fellow in
the Bible who lived 900 years." she
1 bemoaned.
oh. yes. you will. You improve
words like that which she had used
all her life were still often on her lips
but almost invariably she would cor
rect herself. 1 was delighted with her
progress. She had always been COM
panionable, but now that we read good
/ rd
discuss them with me. often bringing
out points I had failed to see. Her
mind, like her wit, was quicker than
mine Her sense of humor, her quaint
speeches, all made her most attractive
You would be a belle in any set
instead of having to spend your days
in the shop" I told her once.
Am I really doing better. Zena?"
Indeed you are! You never forget
your 'G's' nowadays. You used to
think them unnecessary" Then ]
| added, Il notice Mr.. Pope talks to you
lot, Mary. He's a bachelor. Be
CAREFUL"
stop your kidding! He only talks
about the shop and-you. I honestly
think he is falling in love with you,
Zena.''
Nonsense, We scarcely exchange
word unless we talk about pam
cakes"
They say the way to a mans heart
| is thru his stomach. Perhaps the road
to his runs thru pancake lane"
laughed. But as always when any
thing of the sort came up, my thoughts
| flew to Kenneth Lawrence-the man
I never expected to see again, yet who
had kept me from caring for any other
perhaps from marrying. Jack Pryor.
If he had not obeyed mother. I should
have heard from hin1-of that I was
sure.
Some way, deep down in my heart,
knew that in that time so far away
he cared for me. cared more than he
had allowed me to see. I had been
a butterfly girl then, so he said, and
he a poor man. Would he care for
me now? I doubted it. Hhad changed.
and to my own fears, not for the
better