Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1923-05-17

W navy alu nAllCO hU uu6 uCNCE 1hAAEu
In love with any one yet he might as
well fall In love with a suffraglst as
anybody else"
Hester laughed. $50 he has com
missioned you to meet some attractive
~suffragistS and introduce him to them
SO he can find a wife to fill the bill?'
Eyes, that is substantially why |
came to the headquarters the other
day. And 1 must say / have had 20
report to Mr.. Stevens that there are
some very attractive looking girls in
terested in the cause. The idea used
to be that good looking women didn't
go in for that sort of thing. but judg-
ing from what I've seen over here l
should say that the bad looking wom-
en- must all be antis."
wouldn't it be wonderful If he
should meet and marry Hazel Stop
pleton?" suggested Hester, beginning
to approve of the scheme. HE couldn't
help but love her-she is a regular
goddess"
II don't quite believe Mr.. Stevens
goes in for the goddess type and If
you mean that tall, copper haired,
cold-blooded lady who talked with
broad as here the other afternoon,
why l can just say that Mr.. Stevens
wouldn't fall for her one little bit"
what type does he llke?" asked
Hester, quite willing to help in the
search for a wife since 1t was all for
the cause.
"Ive heard him say he was partial
to smallish, ~brown-eyed girls. 1 know
for a fact he's very fond of dimples."
Both secretaries redeemed a little
with confusion-Mr. Walker, because
he felt he had said something rather
foolish and Hester, because she was
little, and had brown eyes and very
nice dimples. There was an awkward
pause, and her Mr.. Walker went
straight to the point.
81 have an idea that Mr.. Stevens
would like a wife very much like
yourself. Excuse me for being per
sonal but ninety-nine men would lose
their hearts to you-that is, a girl
like you-to the one that would fall
in love with Miss Stoppleton."
There was another awkward pause
and then: Pardon me for asking,
but if 1 should arrange to have Mr..
Stevens meet you and he should fall
very much in love with you, as 1 am
practically certain he wOuld-judging
from what I've heard him say about
his taste-is there any reason you
know Of why-well, what l want to
know is this-are you engaged to any
other man or pledged in any way that
would make it quite u of the ques-
tion for you to think of marrying Mr..
Stevens?"
Hester struggled to hide her embar-
rassment. She thought of half a doz-
en- possible things to say to relieve the
tension, but the silence grew longer
till Mr.. Walker explained: "You see
sometimes a man like Mr.. Stevens
falls very, very much in love with a
girl like you in a very short time-and
I'd hate to have him lose his heart
only to find out that-that you were
engaged to somebody else"
"But, I'm afraid you didn't know
that Pm only a paid secretary. To
be sure, I'm a suffragist but a man in
Mr.. Stevens position would want to
marry a society ~suffragist."
'There was nothing about that in
the grandmother's stipulation" ar
gued Mr.. Walker. "All hat was nee
essary was a suffragist who had
worked for the cause and you work
harder than all the rest put together"
1t was late in the afternoon and
fortunately the headquarters was
empty save for Hester and the big
man sitting beside her desk, so there
were no eyes to be opened in dismay
when he leaned forward and took Hes
ter's two hands in his and kissed them.
Then he slipped o. his knees before
her in the attitude Of supplication that
Hester thought had passed out of
mode among suitors.
"I'm mad about you, Hester. You
must listen to me. I've known you
only a few days, but with a girl like
you falling in love doesn't take long.
That very first time I felt there vas
something that drew us together and
I was fool enough to think that you
felt that way, too. Tell me you love
me-"
az believe-in fact, 1 know that I
do love you. There is no use saying
1 don't. Perhaps after all, Mr.. Stevens
would like Hazel Stoppleton. l can't
be a bigamist ever if 1 am a suffra-
gist!"
And it was not till a half-hour later,
after Hester had been escorted to her
boarding house door, that she realized
that she was really promised to marry
the heir of the celebrated Mrs. Ste
vens and that Robert Walker, private
secretary, was merely a convenient
alias of that notable woman's grand
son. !