New Ulm review., 1921-02-02
HIS CHOICE
BY JESSIE DOUGLAS.

l y L { Il : Z I'd +
"You don't think she's pretty ~ Kit
ty asked scornfully. Why, her eyes
are blue!" she opened her own brown
ones to their widest and gave William
D9avey glance through fringed lashes.
Really, faded blue, / think!' And
she paints-my, how that girl paints pa
/ "Why, thought
That's all you know about it, then!"
She answered almost snappishly. "And
Marcia's features aren't bit regular
Il went into the library to get a
book couldn't find and she showed
me Just where it was in the shelves
smart little thing" he said almost
| to himself
! "Of course, if Marcia wants to work
It's all very well, but / think girls
| place is at home; at least a girl of our
class" she said decisiveIy.
Then she looked up at William
Davey and said, Aren't you starved?
am" A dimple thimble deep in. her
curying cheek caught his eye and he
admitted to himself that Kitty was the
prettiest thing he knew.
He watched Kitty's hands, as they
flew about the preparations, soft white
hands with pink oval nails She light
ed the lamp under the chatting dish and
rang for Sarah. When Sarah came in
to the room bearing tray that held
cheese and butter and toast and tall
| glasses, Williams eyes We're again
fascinated by the skill and rapidity
of those soft hands of Kitty's as they
stirred the 6ubbling mess in the chatting
| DISH
1t was delicious rabbit and Kitty
and William laughed and chartered,
but underneath it all William was con-
scious of discomfort that he, could
not place.
When he had said good night and
the door had banged after him, Kitty
came back into the sitting room and
threw herself down angrily on the big
couch
Fool" she cried to the pillows.
Hes a fool! Why doesn't he pro-
pose? l wouldn't even think of TAX
ing him if his father didn't own the
/ Davey mills-old stupid
!. "I'll soon make William stop living
the simple life After he marries me
/ he'n have to give UP that room over
a shop on Fairyiew street and stop
being a workman in the mills She
blew out the candles beside the mir
ror and climbed the stairs undauntedly.
William tDavey, walking home
through the darkness, was thinking Of
Kitty-and thinking hard, sJove, but
she was pretty. A bit fiighty, Of
course, and lots of notions. That about
not working, for instance, when her
father really needed her help"
He thought of Kitty again suddenly,
| when he went into the library few.
| nights later, returning the book on.
merchants that he had been studying.
He remembered as he handed the book
across the counter to Marcia Haden2
that Kitty had said her eyes, We're fad
ed Faded? He looked into their,
translucent blue depths, quite forgetful.
Of what he was doing until he saw
Marcia's cheeks begin to deepen their
rose. Paint? t?-no,l Kitty was mistaken
there, Marcia didn't paint. Funny how
girls could get those things wrong.
| "Could you show 1ne?" he stumbled,
where I'd find the second volume of
this?"
He followed her into one Of the long,
| dusky, book-lined abysses while she
pointed out the book sitting snugly on
it's shelf. She reached up to it and as
| she did William saw her profile not
regular, but with certain piquancy,
| certain something that drew his eyes
back to hers.
II say" he asked, what time do
you get through here?"
| "At nine," she smiled; and William
! wondered why two such simple words
should sound so charming. "Is there
| anything else can do for you?'
| eyes, you can let me walk home with
| YOU" he said. I.
| She did not answer "yes" or mo-
but when at nine lie stood waiting for
her, she smiled demurely up at him.
All the way home he caught glimpses
of her face beneath the lighted street
anu do .luSt EsllC SlOOu VII HCI
own doorstep, with the yellow light
falling on her, he wondered why he
had never noticed her before.
But; it was Marcia herself who star
| tied him.
"I'm leaving here in a month"; she
said, "I've been offered much better
position in Rockport.' She held out
| bare hand and then as he took it in
his big one, she said "Oh don't please,
don't look at it !i8and drew back the
roughened little hand &
.sYou see my hands aren't soft be-
cause take care of the stoves she
said.a Sc f s}
William suddenly saw another pair.
of hands, soft, white, with oval pink
nails; for some reason a curious lump
| got lin the way of his talking. 2S{
| 'Good night" he said at last. Vi u
4 Why was it that that small rough
hand should come before him again
and again on his way home? And
those expressive eyes, and mouth
neither small nor boWshaped but gem
tie in it's curves? He let himself into
his own quaint chamber at last and