The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-11-21
EDening Story
Making It Unanimous.
By MARTHA McC. WILLIAMS.

| past belief. And she had expected
nothing beyond the warm thanks rem
dered by those strange motor folk for
the small help she had rendered. She
could not understand what had moved
| her to run out into the highway and
| tell them of the bridge destroyed, the
! mile of road left impossible by the re-
cent flood and direct them to the old
| turnpike high on the hillside, by
which they had vanished. Evidently
| they had got her name from the post
box The note ran:
Dear Miss Grayson-
I'VE hope, my brother and I, that
YOU will accept the Enclosure, and buy
with it something you may care to
have and keep, in memory of your
| immeasurable service to us. But for
reached the best of fathers before the
end. Please GO not think we are Of
fering pay for tive are only putting
ourselves in your place as far as we
may; to us a concrete token of a good
deed could not be unwelcome.
wishing you all the beautiful
things you deserve, we ask you to be-
lieve US. a ways,
Gratefully your friends.
ALICE AND LINDSAY WARE"
Again Marietta caught her breath.
So they were not married, as she had
thought almost enviously-it must be
so fine to 20 with the one you loved
best all thru a summer world, with
No such luck r her-she would die
as she had been born, poor, thwarted,
hampered by fate and the something
within that would not let her finch
from the weight laid upon her. A
weight irritatingly commonplace-fill
ing in chinks, stopping gaps in the
household that ran SO slack1y under
Aunt Ems sway. If only she had
free hand-but Aunt En- was ''tetchy''
regarding her prerogatives, also of an
explosive temper regarding affronts
to her dignity. Mariette stayed with
her, an unpaid, unthanked servant,
trying to pay IL debt she was never al
lowed to fofget-the money Aunt En-
comfortable il. the hospital until he
died of his broken back. That had
taken two years, so the charge was
really something considerable. But
save in her mind, Mrs. Emma Grayson
Twyning did not feel it. A childless
widow, with a fine farm and money
ahead, she had no need even to be
thrifty. Thrifty. however, she was
the neighbors said, among themselves,
'taS close as the bark to tree"
Except toward Luke Twyning, her
husbands grandson-him she pam
pered 1avishly, not reckoning the cost.
Marietta got food, good food. clothes
that were mostly secondhand, and
the ugliest, stuffiest of the upstairs
rooms, cramfu1 of tag-ends of furni-
ture. She had new shoes once ear
Ems old ones simply would
not stay on her small feet. But the
shoes came out of the egg money
which Marietta earned several times
over. Christmas and birthdays she
got five dollar bills. Luke had tried
once to thrust a ten into her hand
and had had it returned to him along
with a singing slap. Marietta would
not. have given it had she dreamed
what would come of it. Luke, who
had regarded her merely with Iordly
patronage developed a keen interest in
her upon finding she witFstood him.
He was so persistent, latterly so
she had felt there must some
how be q breakaway. Aunt En- would
stand by him whatever he might say
or do-continuous flouting of him
Marietta knew might be dangerous.
Until now she had been hopeless of eS-
cape. Nobody within walking range
would harbor her or give her paying
work; her scant savings would not
take her far and leave anything over
for food and shelter. Not a valuable
remained to her. Even her silver pap
spoon and her mothers wedding ring
had gone into the NAV of hospital eX-
penses. Scanning the check, unsee-
ingly she folded it and slipped the let
ter inside her blouse, barely in time.
AS she gathered together the miscel-
laneous heap of mail resting at her
feet, Luke refined in a yard away. say
ing in a lordly mannr: What's
there? Anybody left me a million
this morring?'
Were you expecting it?' Mariefte |
asked, handing up to him letter and |
toward the house.
Wait he said imperatively, tear
ing open the letter: MAN have to |
have to copy it write such poor
list"
,'-And your spelling proves you've |
been thru college," Marietta unwisely |
A muttered oath startled her. Luke |
was tearing the notes to bits. his face /
ivid with passion. You will have to |
answer this-thfs hussy," he said thru
set teeth. I'm going to marry you
md show her wanted her money
lot herself
'There'H be two words-maybe
nore-to that bargain Marietta
lung back, running away, her hands
ocl1ed hard above the hiding place of
Ter precious letter.
Suppose it had not come-suppose
he had not read it unseen. She shiv-
red at the thought, but when she de-
ivered mail to Aunt En- she was her
Usual self. Aunt En- buried herself
n her favorite story-paper, saying alb
ently: Go on now and help Nam
Oilsey with the peach preserves-and
Inner. Better have it late-Luke
aid he was goin' for all day-but I
omehow think he'll be home around
o'clock"
Marietta bowed obedientIy and ran
way But not to the preserving-in-
tead to her own place. There she
ragged out a suit case. crammed the
Jest and least cumbrous of her clothes
inside. put on her newest shoes. then
Tipped out the back way, losing her
elf in hazel thickets beyond the or
hard, thru which she won finally I'M
cen by any eyes to the road leading
o the railway.
She never quite knew how she trav-
rSed it, how she climbed breathleSS
board a train providentiaIl- late But
he will never forget the despair that
ell on her when a kindly conductor !
hook his head over the check, in Z
pite of the letter, but offered to carry l