The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-05
EDening Story
BiIFs Bad Half Hour.
BY II. LOUIS RAYRoLI

61 n. 4OO1O RAJ 0OAO.
Bill Evans. whistling aloud out OF
his happy, care-free young heart,
picked up the letter which lay on his
desk, unfolded it. and read. His whis-
tie stopped abruptly. Not only that
but an expression of utmost horror
dark eyes took on a look almost of
fear, certainly of blaffTed bewilder-
ment.
Head propped in his two hands, he
read the letter again, spread out on
his desk, as If second perusal might
alter the situation.
Dear BiIl-Don't think that have
forgotten you, for all the long silence
When I told you did not love you
enough to marry, but loved your
friend instead, / was wrong. He never
asked me again, by the way. If you
still want ME, I will marry you. IN
fact, 1 am taking a chance an6/com-
ing out by the next boat, which will
dock at Honolulu almost as soon as
you receive this letter. If you don't
want me, Bill, why, can at least go
home again! AS ever, Beatrice Shaw"
Beatrice Shaw! Yes, he had once
thought he loved her-had been pref
ty well cut up when she turned him
down. But he hadn't thought of her
for months. Not since he had met
Eileen Cary to whom he was to be
married at noon tomorrow.
But noon tomorrow! Why, that
was when the Matsonia would dock,
bringing Eileen's aunt to the wedding
from her home in the States, and also
Beatrice. How could he explain to
Eileen that this girl had no claim on
him? That the old aiffair-and it had
hardly been that-was over and done
with years ago.
How could he know that Beatrice
would revive an affection for him she
had never shown and out of a clear
sky would descend to ruin his we'd
ding day? What madness allied the
girl?
Bill rose and paced the floor of
the comfortable study he shared with
his old friend and present fellow
worker at the Inter-Island Navigation
company with nervous, angry strides
Then strong desire surged within
him to share his trouble with some
one. His roommate was off on an
excursion to Hilo and would not be
back until evening, just in time to
take his part in the rehearsal for the
wedding tomorrow, when he was to
be best man for Bill.
Should he tell Eileen? Instinct
urged him to wait, yet the longing to
hear her voice was oyerpowering.
Perhaps he wouldn't hear it many
times more. She was an obstinate
little thing and Bill felt forlornly that
did she ever hear of Beatrice and
misconstrue the situation, she would
be quite capable of throwing him
down hard.
ne LOOK QOWn-L1e receiver ana
called the number of her fathers
plantation on the city's outskirts.
That you. Etleen?"
Anxious for tomorrow"
"Suppose-suppose you should hear
on, nothing, dear; I don't know
what I'm saying"
"Of course I love you No. there
never was any one else. On my word
of honor, Eileen!"
at H,n
see the Matsonia steaming nearer
and nearer. bringing the girl who ap-
parently thought he still cared, as,
hang it, he evidently must have
seemed to care those cons ago. when.
spurred by a moonlight night at a
dance at Coronado, he had suggested
they be engaged. So long ago had it
been that he had even forgotten why
she had turned him down. Oh, the
letter had mentioned his friend.
What friend? To Billy the whole
matter was as vague as that. o.
Yet there was nothing vague about
the imminence of the Matsonia. You
could regulate your life by the arrival
herring steamer.
Desperately Bill sat down and tried
to reason a way out of the tangIe
He would get his roommate to go
down to the Matsonia and explain to
Beatrice that he was about to be mar
r1ed, that she was mistaken in think
ing he cared, that she must return on
the next boat, providing she had
funds. But. hang it, his roommate.
the only one he could trust not to let
the cat out of the bag to Eileen, had
other duties as best man. He was 10
meet Eileen's aunt, take her to the
church and return Immediately to ac-
company Bill.
Meanwhile Beatrice, wondering why
Bill had not met her, would probably
be hunting him up, ana like as not
stumble on him as he entered the
church! A nice conLrerempS that
would be! For to Bits disordered
mind it seemed quite possible that any
girl capable of chasing an old and
discarded lover to Honolulu would be
quite as capable of breaking up a
wedding with another girl on the spot.
A wild thought leaped in Bills