The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-09-26

or TORY
only Happens Once.
d JESSIE DOUGLAS,

~
:. OufE was drying her hair on
the sunny patch OF grass be.
hind the shIghtgreen hedge. It
al,t1ig TO her shoulders, Strangltng
9 m % rusty gold, the tips curling
S3se tsttng u, the fuzzy little curls at
back OF her neck like the soft
on yellow chick.
she hung hersel. back on the
I'm grass, delightinE In the puffy
4 far above her.
It's wonderful to be alive-and
love, she thought.
She hIN8hed holly as though she
ma - oxen aloud: For this was the
x Tire time she had even confessed
love to herself. But how could
help TT She had only known
snry DurAnt two. months, but
lten she had fiuIt met him some.
thtnk IN him had seemed to light a
ptfk8 An her. She had leased him
first with sidelong glance that
~ Come hither!" more plainly
liall my words.
Then they had dropped into a
fiouk friendship for several
eaks And last night-last night
he touched her hand with his and
toopihg quickly had pressed his
Hos galnst It.
Louie turned over the pink palm
nd studied 1T; she could almost
the very spot where his lips had
She laid 1t to her own mouth.
awful the way he's going
6n Just flirting his head off and
girl takes it,seriously," a laugh
81 voice across the hedge floated
Eotiee Gordon's ears.
Louie smiled a little. Henry
gasn't that kind; he was so earn
seSt 30 different.
.And that little Gordon girl
8snt the slightest idea! think
she ought to be told. think she
o6eht 10 put a stop to il"
Eouie'B eyes wIdened., Her heart
heEan to thud very loudly! quite as
though II wanted to escape it's mar
npW confines. 1t must be a mis-
And yet Henry's nice boy"
fhe voices across the hedge drift,
sdawsy. But they had left behind
them utter destruction. Louie hud-
dfedsup on the grass, her round face
ddanly white, her candid blue
full OF a pain as deep as the
ID cry Of some wounded wild thing.
don't believe 1t, Louie told her
sslf Efiercely I'll ask him, tell him
what hoard
Thsn the realization come to her
that this was not the thing she
eotlld ask a man. 1t is the girls
pta TO wait-:-not to go seeking
70 .it was true that he had only
5aen playing while she had given
rim her whole heart; she would
dust have 10 endure it.
How thin the sunlight looked!
How cold the blue dome OF sky that
\ stretched above her! And that
ser lleayiness; where her heart
been. Louie stood up suddenly
aud shook back with an angry tilt
anber.colored mass Of hair. But
~ she had reached the porch and
~ that Mile Andrew was wait
Ii q Tor her she knew that there
htsgb be the solution.
Just dropped ina minute. Mil
Explained as she fIuttered to n
6t the honeysuckle shaded
After She had talked about her
dotted swiss, and Seton's en-
4ment, the recipe for apple turn
overs and poor Mrs. Travers fall.
iS6uis came suddenly to her pur-
bss
30 You think" she asked casual.
almost too casually, that Hen.
flirt?"
There was silence on the shad.
FThnn
fille looked up, her cheeks fam.
M YOU want the truth" she
he'd. n think Henry is a dan
srous mani" she had picked up
Srasol and was down the steps
iSef6feT louie quite realized It.
through that long drowsy
sumner afternoon Louie bent, over
family darning. There was a
On! why Mr.. Gordon groaned
thSt week when he had walked two
rs, and why her brother eyed
He nv nder socks with something
iffe horror.
sIt e her needle did queer things
nor thoughts kept steady course.
realiGed that afternoon what
n to feel dull burning pain
Is ones heart, while she smiled
i m Ii r mother and talked common.
10 Eift her eyes to the maple
6sdad street and find that she saw
Itfhrongh a mist Of tears.
BiiE when the afternoon had
dra yged by, and Louie was setting
~ table for the early supper, her
bfnthe 81, teasing, called in through
stiie screen, door: Henry wont be
6ihd toni ht,,sis. said to tell you
he has date!"
Que smiled back Eayly. but
,sn Ifs tall figure had moved
IN: she stood very still holding
siess and twisting It about her
4 cold fingers.
am Just have to forget him."
told herselt'
I3g way of forgetting him she re.
nsf6bered the first time she had
him The CLINT OF humor in his
II eyes, the way his hair was
he'd back satiny smooth and
ei1fIiething In his voice that
1iS make her heart beat SO fast.
had come across the lawn
XXI the trees strung with Japa.
~ ~ ihnterIns II had been church
and he had said, 1--WE
trying to meet you all eve