Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1920-03-25
THE PURSUIT
OF FRECkLES
By JANE OSBORN
tSSSSSSS$SSSSs$1SsS Observation-Disclosures
}. 1920, by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.

aSssssssssSSSSsSSssssssssssSSSsSss~
%. 1920, by Mcclure Newspaper syndicate.)
"Say, Freckles, who was that nice
looking, round-faced young man that
spoke to you when you got off the
carr" asked Laura, with all the conde-
scension of an older sister who had
overheard so frequently the remark
that she was the beauty of the family,
and that Peggy was just nice lit
tie girl that she was beginning to be-
lieve it.
"Don't call me Freckles!" snapped
Peggy, as she impetuously pulled off
her jaunty little tam o'shanter that
was part of her skating outfit. Then
she peered into handglass on her
sisters dressing table.
'They really are fading. No one who
hadn't known before l began using
that new cream would know 1 ever had
any freckles, and it sounds just dread
fully to call girl of my age-twenty,
almost-by such a perfectly childish,
silly nickname"
Then another pause, in which she
studied the pleasant, wholesome fea-
lures in the mirror with considerable
scrutiny. Besides, he isn't round
faced. It's quite an oval"
"Who is he? Who introduced you?
Don't be clam"
mo one introduced me. So there!"
peggy Young! How dare you speak
to a young man you don't know any
thing about?"
II do know lot about him." replied
Peggy, who was really very eager to
tell all she knew about the young man
under discussion. "He is young news
paper man. often see him. He goes
to work about the time I'm coming
from skating and-well it was just
case of mutual attraction, I suppose.
I'd noticed him for a few days before
he ever seemed to see me. Then one
day he noticed me; he seemed to be
looking through to my very soul; not
at all in an impertinent way, but in
a searching, serious way. Just that
look was as good as an Introduction.
When man looks at a girl that way,
she just knows he's all right.
looked up and he seemed really en-
barrassed. He hadn't meant to annoy
me, and then, when left the car and
looked back at him to see whether he
was still looking, he raised his hat ever
so slightly. After that we just natu
rally spoke to each other. And he
told me that the reason why he spoke
raised his hat-that first time was
because he thought other people had
seen him looking at me and he wanted
it to seem that he really knew me.
Wasn't that thoughtful of him?"
II am really shocked!" commented
Laura, whose expression, on the con-
trary, showed intense interest. 81 sup
pose ought to speak to father"
Il didn't tell him about the way you
got acquainted with Stanton Jones,
just, because you had chairs besides
each other coming home from col
lege''
"That was quite different. With
Stanton it was a case of love at first
sight; and when a man loves at first
sight, you don't think he is going to
wait for an opportunity to have an in
troduction!"
Maybe it was. If you could have
seen the way he looked at me! Inever
had anyone look at me that way be-
fore. OF course, he hasn't told me he
loves me yet, though he has said he
was very, very fond of me-
well, / think there was something
very funny about it," said Laura.
"You mean that when a man wants
to meet you the first time he sees you,
it is perfectly natural, because you
are beautiful; but that when man
feels that way about me, there must
be something queer-he must have
been crazy or drunk or something"
II didn't say that, Peggy" assured
Laura. "But if you must know it, YOU
aren't just that type. Some people just
aren't, you know, Freckles, and you're
one of them"
Don't call me Freckles," protested
Peggy. II can stand having you say
all those other mean things, but won't
be called Freckles. am sure Mr.. Bur
CESS doesn't think am freckled. Tn
just going to ask him, so there; and i.
he says Pm freckled, noticeably, ther
you can go on, and if he says he't
hardly notice them, then you jus
mustn't call me Freckles."
Two days later an opportunity ar
rived for Thomas Burgess to settle TIL,
dispute between Laura and Peggy. I
had been decided that Peggy ought +
introduce the new admirer of he
to Laura-propriety really demanded
it, Laura said. And it should be don
correctly in the afternoon, with Laur
pouring tea behind a softly lighted te
table and Peggy looking sweet an
frilly i'm the afternoon frock and ligh
slippers, just as If they always locke
that way and drank tea every after
noon. And it was easier for Mr.. Bun
CESS to acquiesce in the tea-party ide
than for most of Laura's suitors, be
cause he worked at nights and wa
therefore as free at teatime as tn
most leisured of Beau Brummels.