Owingsville outlook., 1922-09-21

mis- eyes and turneC TO a radiant
1 ,or' senior at my side,
Ind that was aIl-for hir.. But for
| me
All that day l watched him whcn-
ever opportunity offered and | suspect
that | took care that opportunity of
fered frequently. | was fascinated.
had never seen any one like him be
fore. Tall. handsome. brilliant at per
feet ease, he plainly dominated every
group of which he was Il part. Toward
him every face was turned-yct he
never seemed to know it. CWhatevcr
his faults. Jerry Is not conccitrd. |
will give him credit for thatD To mc
he did not speak again that day.
nm not sure that he even looked nj mo
II he did there must still have been
| in his eyes only the "Oh, some frirnd
Of iIclcn's," that | had seen at the
| morning Introduction.
| did not meet him again for nearly
Il year: hut that did not mean that
lid not hear of him. | wonder it
Helen ever noticed how often used
| to get her to talk uf her home and her
/ family life: and how Interested | wa.
I'm her gallery nf portraits on tn" man
| tcl-thcrr were two fine ones Of her
brother there.
Helen was very fond of her brother
! soon found that she loved To- tai
about him-if she had Il good listener
| Needless tn say she had Il very good
| one i'm me-
Jerry was an artist. il seemed. IL
was twenty-eiEht years old. and nj
/ ready he had won no small distinction.
Prizes medals. honorable mention. AMI
Il special course abroad - all rhcS,.
| Helen told me about. She told me. too.
about the wonderful success he had
| just had with the portrait of IL certain
| New York society woman. She said
| that Ii was just going to make" Jerry
that he could have anything he wanted
now-anything.
I saw Jerry myself during the East
| er vacation of my second year in col
lege. Helen invited me to go home
with her. and Mother wrote that
might 90. Helen had been home with
me for the Christmas vacation. and
Mother and Father liked her very
much. There WAS no hesitation. there
fore, in their consent that | should
visit Helen mt Easter time. So | went.
Helen lived in New York. Their
home was Fifth avenue mansion with
nine servants, four automobiles and
two chauffeurs. Naturally such Il scale
Of living was entirely new to me. and
correspondingly fascinating. From til"
deliberately uniformed fontman that
opened the door for me to the awe
some French maid who did my hair
adored them ALL and moved as In q
dream of enchantmcnt. Then came
Jerry home from n werk-end's trip
and forgot everything else.
knew from the minute his eyes
looked into mine that whatever ! had
been before, | was now certainly no
mere "Oh. some friend of Helen's."
was ESQ his eyes said) "a deucedly
pretty girl, and one well worth cul-
tiyating" Whereupon he began ut
once to do the "cultivating."
In less than thirty-six hours I was
caught up In the whirlwind of his
wooing. and would not have escaped
it if | could
When l " ent back to college he held
my premise that If he could gain the
consent of Father and Mother. he
might put the engagement ring on my
finger.
Back at college. alone I'm my own
room. drew a long breath. and began
20 think II was the first chance | had
had. for even Helen now had become
Icrry-by reflection.
Tie more thought. the more fright
c-r-d. t.smayed. and despairing l he
au'p. I'm the clear light of calm. sane
reasoning. it WIS all so aDsr |. SO i'm
possible! What c0ull | have been
thinklrc of: ! must f"rsot Terry.
. 7 p. tnrcd HIM in Ando-sonrip.. In
- 80. .gro. t-','-T to pirtu., him
aiKing tu tatnrT. 10 Mo-'rpr.
Absursi, What had Jerry to do with
learned treatises on stars. or with the
humdrum. everyday life Of stupid, |
small town? For that matter. what |
dancing and motoring and painting
society queens portraits? Nothing.
Plainly, even If Jerry. for the sake
of the daughter liked Father and |
Mother. Father and Mother certainly |
would not like Jerry. That was GER
tain.
OF course | cried myself to sleep |
that night. That was To be expected. |
was lost. There was nothing left ey-
cept, perhaps. few remnants and |
pieces. scarcely worth the counting
excepting of course, Father and Moth.
er. But one could not always have
ones father and mother. There would |
come Il time when
Jerry's letter came the next day
by special delivery. He had gone
straight home from the station and he
gun to write to me. UIOw like Jerry
that was-particularly the special
delivery stampD The most of his let
ter, aside from the usual lovers rhap-
sOdies, had TO do with plans for the
summer-what we wo' do together
at the WestOns' sum- =, cottage In
Newport. He said he should run up
to AndersOnville early very early;
just as soon as l was back from col
lege, in fact. so that he might meet
Father and Mother. and put that ring
on my finger.