The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-16
THE REVOLT OF
VERA SANDERSON
VERA GROWS MORE REBELLIoUs
BY JANE PHELPS


/ Chapter As.
Life was daily, I was going to say
hourly, growing more difficult for me.
1t was not the big things of life that
made it so; it was seemingly, at times,
the matters of no real importance that
caused me the most misery. I was
frightened for myself. What did the
future hold for me? What further
depths of unhappiness?
Margaret Dalton, my husbands sis
| ter, hated me. Yet I must live in the
same house with her, give up my de-
sires to please her-even in the most
trivial things.
| Keith had kept his promise to Mar
i garet. My little Pom had been sent
win was that it should be sent to his
mothers home, where the old house
keeper would look after it for me.
When mother comes back you can
run down and stay a week or So, he
said. trying to comfort me. But as his
it was rather cold comfort.
1t was almost laughable how quick
| ly Margaret recovered after she had
had her way But she made it extra.
cause for finding fault with me by
saying:
you see, Vera, if you had let the
| dog go at once when you found me
getting so nervous I should have been
spared several very unpleasant days.
1t is strange how a selfish person can
upset an entire household. don't
| mind so much for myself. but when
am i'll, Keith and the children are so
unhappy, and the servants become
disorga nized.''
made no reply to this lengthy til
rade. I was becoming almost afraid
to answer her for fear I would say
something she would misconstrue, or
which she would repeat to Keith with
embellishments.
I grieved terribly for my little Pom.
He had been SO cunning, so affection
ate. Gloria cuddled in my arms one
day soon after he had been sent to the
country and said:
at think mother was Just as mean
as could be to send your doggie away"
I reprimanded her for speaking so
of her mother, yet in my heart !
echoed every word-with other adjec-
tives added.
Keith saw I was grieved and tried
| to make it up to me by being unusu-
ally kind and generous for some days
afterward. But as usual Margaret in
sisted he do for her all he had done
for me, and he soon drifted back into
the same old way of consulting her
as to what he should buy me or allow
me to have.
At this time Keith was much away
from home. Altho 1 was often terribly
unhappy, 1 really tried to keep most
| of the unpleasant things that hap
pened from him. But occasionally
| felt SO bitter, SO abused, that I could
not keep still and would complain Bit
terly of Margaret'S actions. 1t inVari-
| ably brought on quarrel at best q
| disagreement. And altho felt it was
| driving Keith from me, could not
| control myself at times. I SO longed
| for sympathy, for understanding from
| him.
| MI. ,aor. ,,rAaDo,- ,,,o- 49, ,.,.-.
I loved Keith. 1t sounds paradoxical,
| but it was true. Had it not been for
Ern4a Longstreet 1 don't know how
| could have endured my life at times.
| But when 1 was blue and disheartened
| I often went to her for an hour or two
| and her sweet, sane outlook upon life
| and things helped me-for the time
| being.
| Mrs. Grant, too, continued to be
nice to me. OF course we had not
| been to the club since Father Sander
son passed away a1tho 1 played oc-
casionally with Erma and Jim. just
to keep myself from forgetting what
I had learned.
| Margaret will be sure to bar me
out if she can when she commences
| to go out again." told them.
Our mourning had been another
bone of contention between US. Black
| was terribly unbecoming to me. dull
| Black. But Margaret insisted that I
wear it. unrelieved by any touches OF
| white.
| II can't understand your Directing"
| she said acidly when 1 said that a
| daughterin-law was not expected to
| be as funereally clad as an own daugh-
| ter. Most girls in your position
would be glad to show respect to their
husbands father"
''It is no lack of respect, Margaret"
| I returned. And because you think
| it the right thing to do 1 am willing
to wear black in the street. But it is
| horribly unbecoming to me; it makes
| me look lfeless and sallow. I hate to
| look SO badly before Keith, especially
now when he is home so little"
at is of Keith I am thinking He
would feel dreadfully, did he hear you
talk. 1 wear black, why shouldn't
your"
+, I said no more. What was the use
That black was becoming to her, Mar
| garet knew; she also knew 1t was no.
| to me. This discussion had been
| brought on because I had put on a
| simple white dress for dinner one
night when I expected Keith. He did
not come, which Margaret said was
| fortunate.
| Tomorrow act on foolish inn
pulse.)