Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-05-23
Rumors
CHAPTER 13

Looking back today. from the ex-
that / was not in love with Win that
evening. l could not have been in
love.
For there I was, barely twenty
years old. with an amazing amount
of experience and sophistication In
some ways, and an amazingly dense
ignorance in others. Other men had
tried to make love to me-silly old
men my aunt knew. who thought 1t
fun to hold my hand while they
talked to me in a "fatherly" manner:
callow youths from college who
danced all the newest steps and
murmured in my ear all the senti-
mental sentences they had read in
cheap magazines; worldly wise men
who wondered how far l would let
them go; and just plain nice. chum-
my men who still thought that every
girl expected a certain amount of
sentimental attention.
These men, from my W world.
I knew how to handle. Even at
fifteen, when l was abroad with my
father, l was so well versed in the
art that my father laughed at me
for what he called my ~"cleverness."
ALI ptNduoc L was 81 uStu W lilS
other type, | was in complete ig-
norance of the type I met in this
out-of-the-way town. Winthrop
Taylor had fascinated me. No other
man had ever appealed to me. Win
throp had a lack of polish that 1
took for sincerity. a lack OF knowl-
edge l took for idealism.
Yet today I can see that he was
not in owe that evening either.
1 appealed to him because I was
different from any girl he had ever
known. just as he appealed to me
because he was so different from
those other men. I was pretty-it
was a delicate sort of prettiness that
was accentuated by my recent i'll
ness-and l did have a manner of
talking and acting that made me
unlike the village girls. 1t was not
my fault nor to my credit--it was
the result of different training.
So when Winthrop put his arms
around me suddenly and said I was
the only real thing in life." 1 know
now that he was not really in love.
But that night / did not doubt 1t!
Some feminine instinct made me
pull away a little. But Win kept
both my hands.
Connie he said, with a little
laugh half trembling in his voice,
I'm awfully in love with you. Are
you in love with me?"
Even In the way he said he loved
me there was something of the SIM
plicity and directness Of a child, and
a little humorous recognition of that
very quality.
Are you?" he repeated, when l
did not answer.
ct don't EnoyS said
And it was the truth. 1 did not
actually know. though it kept COM
ing to me more and more clearly
that l was in love with him.
1t al simply that l had not time
to think about it. Every girl, / be-
lieve, dreams ahead of this great
occasion, when the man she is in
love with is going to tell her so for
the first time. She likes to imagine
how it will be and what he will say
and what conversation will lead up
to it. The expectation makes the
reality so much the sweeter.
And here. unexpectedly, Winthrop
had said he was in love with me.
And more than that. he was de-
handing that l tell him whether or
not l was in love with him.
Il don't KNOW" I repeated.
He pulled me towards him a little
and resisted.
Win. Win dear" 1 pleaded.
please do something for me. Please
don't ask me-not for awhile"
when ;"
Not until-next week at least
please. That's so far Off" Again
there was the note Of a small boy
begging for something. I could not
! resist him.
Not until tomorrow then" / said.
And please go home now. 1t Is
getting late, and Parker will worry
about me. I'll think-Ill think
about it and tell you tomorrow.
And please don't kiss me-" I
added, as he leaned toward me. "At
least please don't until-until I'm