The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-05-13
THE REVOLT OF
VERA SANDERSON
BY JANE PHELPS



CHAPTER IT.
All my life 1 had been sort of
hero worshipper. And when 1 met
Keith, his masterful ways had been
one of his attractions. That Keith
was autocratie there wasn't the slight
est doubt. But he was also so good
looking, SO big and strong. that he
fulfilled my idea of a perfect lover,
and of course he would be a perfect
husband. Doesn't every girl take that
for granted?
That even in his courtship he talked
more of his love for his sister than
of his affection for me, did not i'm
press me unpleasantly. If l thought
of it at all, it was that man who was
so good a brother would make good
husband. Then l never had heard of
a sister making trouble between hus-
band and wife. 1t was invariably the
mother-in-iaw. in all the books / had
read and in one or two families in our
own town, who made the trouble, or
at least caused things to be unpleas-
ant.
1 planned how I should liye. what
good times 1 should have. free from
all household cares, ct cetera. I had
not been married a month before !
would have been willing to clean and
scrub if only I could have had little
place all my own---where 1 could be
alone with Keith.
/ was a sentimental creature when
I married. I used to listen to Sallie
and her girl friends talk OF their
beaux, and envy them their two or
three years that made them eligible.
They talked of marrying foF money,
ct cetera.
TT would be awful to marry a man
you didn't love even if he did have
money" I said one day, and sallie
answered.:
"It would be worse to marry a. poor
man and go without all the lovely
things money can buy"
I realize now that Sallie and Beat
rice. my other sister, were really wor-
ried because of the expense they were
lived in, but that was all. Father
was not well, and when Keith came
accounting, it meant that il I married
him there would be one less to care
for, dress and feed. For I was begin
ming to ehafe at occupying the back
ground, and sometimes made mother
quite angry because'I called Sallie and
Beatrice "o1d maids" and said unpleas-
ant things about them because they
had pretty clothes and went to parties,
while / had nothing and rarely was
allowed to show myself outside of the
home.
"It isn't considered the thing for
younger daughter to go out until the
older sisters marry mother once said
to me when I had grumbied.
ST suppose if they never marry,
sThey viii marry, they must"
Mother had sighed heavily, and I was
repentant at once. I was naturally
affectionate, but I felt I was in the
way, that I was doomed to be
Cinderella indefinitely. So when Keith
came and preferred me to either of
my sisters, no one was so surprised
as I.
I used to build air castles and after
met Keith let my imagination run
riot at times. I forgot his SQUARE
chin, the determination with which
he emphasized all he said and en-
dowed him with all the perfection
wished the man l loved to possess.
When 7 found that loved him, that
the days when I did not see him
dragged heavily. was delighted.
and the Cinderella of the family.
During this period of my life
events lost their identity. Keith ex-
planned to father that he was very
busy man, that he wished to be mar
ried at once. I was not only willing.
but anxious to do as he wished So
my modest trouseeau was hurried,
and I was married. e.
1t was a glorious day in the fall
when we. stood in the parlor at home
and the old minister said the words
that gave me to Keith. l never
thought about the same words giving
him to me. He seemed even then to
belong so completely to himself His
ways were settled to a degree.
found afterward that it had been be-
cause of his manner of living. He was
really the head of the house as much
as if he had been married, had been
ever since his sisters husband died.
AS soon as we had been settled in
our rooms a few days I saw I would
have to be very careful if I were to
keep Keith from being cross with me.
wanted to like his sister, but she
held me at arms length from the be-
ginning. She was cold, unresponsive.
1t was not long before I knew the
reason-she was jealous. annoyed
that Keith had married. Then came
the knowledge that he made 1t pos
sible for her to indulge her love of
luxury, that he paid most of the ex--
pensss of the house, ct eetera, and
that she feared my coming would de-
pTtive her of what in the seven years
they had been living together she had
come to consider as her right.
It was a peculiar situation. One
which required more tact than a
simply brought up girl of 10 pos
sessed.
(Tomorrow-Sally is Indignantly
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