The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-10-04
THE DAILY
SPORT STORY.
sECOND-HANDED
By A. W. PEACH

~
Her vivacious iittle friend chat
.efed on as she bnsied herself WITH
the chafiug dish. andSw With every
Ncfd she was lumbllng the bright
castles that Esther Henley had
besn building through the months.
And you know the eager
yoiee went on, gthe reason for
Sour transfer. Esther, from the
mead office MIS- mat Rsines. said
You reminded him Of a girl he
used TO know Lansing. who Is
Raines's special pal told me SO,
son know said that RaInes was
ready to marry this gIrl-even
told me where she lived and whas
her name Ia; then they quarreled,
and Ralnes never married and she
never did. Quite q romance, eh?r
Eafher agreed With d serene re.
ply, but there was q tornado
within her She held "a responsible
position with the great importing
firm and then suddenly she had
been moved 10 Raines's depart
uient Her sniary was equal t0
his, but he was the senior member
on the executives In charge Of the
department work Then his quiet.
strong personality had begun to
win her and she had ben conscious
-n1ore than once that his brown,
lndiy eyes were following her
with pleasure and a4blt OF longing;
and In spite ok herself; she had
begun to hope dimIy that he cared
for her
Now that hope and that dream
went with the careless words Of
her friend After al, his interest
in her had been for another's sake;
when his eyes rested upon her they
were seeing anether-a vanished
love OF other years There could
he no doubt Of II Lansing was
not IN the habit Of gossiping-what
s'he said was usually founded upon
truth
Esther smiled the evening away,
hut after her friend had gone she
sat long in thought. How foolish
i Is toilet dream get the best OF
Won She thought to herself; tbut
could be happy with him, / know.
How foolish for him and her to
waste these years-the best they
1aveir
She went % her work the next
morning with different emotions
stirring her heart His eyes bright
ened as me saw her with the quick
Light so Welcome IN the eyes of
those we love and he seemed tn
make n point to stop 10 chat
with her Knowing what she did.
she could look at him Sbraveiy
enough now, and even as she re.
called that his regard for her was
seeond'hand In way she could
be Just little aIoot He IN turn
seemed "a sense the distance that
was grpwing between them.
\ Esther came to her final decision.
lthat night and the decision in
nluns way was rash one. First,
lsife Went 70 her fiifle friend sroofa,
Fand using dipleniatle tactics man.
aged TO get The address of the I'M
that Raine had loved iiittle Vii:
lsge IN the northern part Of the
istate >
There Is no use In three Of va
being unhapoy and / might nc
ven try the nifsstonary,s scheme 9.
rs any one, enc argued with her.
So a letter went out, carefully
wrtttsn, With emphasis upon' the
responsibility that Raifies carried
70 splendidly upon the fegar1
that all had for him Esther built
FTP word by word an ELOQUENT ami
moving picture Of the man she
frankly contested that she loved;
and al the end she gave the lrea.
son for the letters he had seen II
Il that She vas kept In hts depart
ment because Of the girl Of whom
she reminded him
1T is rash % me and foolish,
perhaps. but Missionaries some.