The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-26
The Daily Short Story

aware of what happened, he had
pressed her lips to his, and she,
loving, trusting and amazed, was
too astounded to recoil. In a sec
ond, which seemed minutes, she
had drawn herself up to her full
five feet two and a half inches and,
gazing sorrowfully up to him, said
in a soft, regretful voice, mo, I'm
not angry. I'm only grleved to
know that you can think that I'm
the kind of girl to be kissed in re-
turn for an evenings pleasure. Oh,
l thought"
please forgive me. I'm truly
sorry. How was l to know that
you're not like the rest of them?
Rouge-yes- dressed, wearing
stilts-and then the boys thought |
was slow"
Yes, 1 understand, but" and
with that she turned and fled up
the stairs.
But she thought of him and won
dered if he ever thought of her. She
felt that kiss and wondered if
would she ever have had the pleas
ure of tit was pleasure, in spite
of the pain-would he have ever
noticed her without the "fxin 81?
Were paint and powder and dia-
phanous clothing essential to hap
piness? Was physical beauty more
precious than beauty born of truth
What was beauty? Truth is
beauty" Had she been true to
herself and others in making peo-
pie think her different than what
she was?
She was bewildered, and those
confused questions raced through
her tortured mind In the weeks
that followed she tried to untangIe
her thoughts and obliterate the
memory of that night. But his
face, flushed with embarrassment,
would not erase itself from her
memory. Tonight, in an abandon
of longing and despair, she had
locked herself into the spare room.
which brings US to where we
started
She slowly rose and, walking
over to the window, pulled down
the shade. This action disturbed a
book that had been resting on the
sill and, falling, it opened She
stopped listlessly to pick it up,
whereupon her eyes fell on the
open page. She stared, then look
ed again. 1t was as if her thoughts
had been transferred to the page
before her-''I want to be happy"
she turned the page-'but it de-
ponds on myself"
She bent her head and the pent-
up tears fell. "Oh, Lord" she
breathed, you have shown me the
way 1t depends on myself. 1
want to be happy, but it depends
on myself.
Il have pitied myself, have
thought people unjust to think me
old-fash1oned, but | guess | just
missed the sun" So she smoothed
her apron. pushed in a falling hair
pin and, smiling bravely, went
down to the kitchen to start sup
per.
As she stood with one foot on the
threshold, her heart stopped beat
ing. then, skipping two or three
times, it ran itself a race. Mother
was extelling her many virtues to
someone-couid it be Charles? Yes
he had called rather tardily to
apologize for that night, and ne
stayed to supper and ate of Jemi-
mas gems.
That wasn't the last time, either,
and South America wasn't the only
thing they talked about, and on one
of these visits lin the kitchen, by
the way1 he looked at her wistfulIv.
grasped her hands and in a coax
ing tone said, May II"
She lifted up her face for an an
swer, and, between kisses, he de-
clared, "0h, Jem, you are truly a
gem, the most beautiful girl in the
world. They all say that.
And Jem murmured happily, Il
on-you-s