Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-14
UCIA TODD turned from the
big window that overlooked
Y L. III l,

Y UCIA TODD turned from the
big window that overlooked
san Simeon Valley. white Will
L. bloSSoming orchards that Wert
divided into patterns by green
tined roads.
MY dear admiral" she said pleas.
ently. Il loathe and despise this cali
fornia paradise q. yours, and l prom
Use YOU that | viii leave II the first
moment Il man offers 10 marry me
ana take me away rom it," She con-
sidercd. adding slowly: Any man.
even Danvers Carr"
The admiral banged the table.
He WAS Il Sunnyfaced. blue-eyed
little man. with a Goatee and sparse
hair. both quite white. He had been
the bully of the Navy in his day. and
now, Geservedly enough. he was the
victim Of a bully. The bully was his
young lady daughter. Lucia did not
look a hully-but then, when you
come TO that, neither had he. She
was almost as tall as he; she held a
small head high and proudly; she had
fetching pOut; her outstanding char
aCteristic was her chestnut hair, which
she had refused 10 bob on the gen
cral principle That she simply never
would do what the people about her
did. She wore that hair like a crown.
You young baggage" cried the adj
miral.
Lucia made him face.
Your arguments are unanswer-
able" she said moCkingly, but that
doesn't alter my decision 1 am going
10 marry the first man from anywhere
outside this precious valley of yours
when he asks me. Right now l am
going for ride"
You are not Lucia
Lucia slammed a distant door,
Whistling. The admiral returned to
his crossword puzzle. wetting his pen
ell with his tongue and murmuring
softly:
ITO end successfully. seven letters,
us-Conquer-um-m-
Lucia rode we'll, and she had taken
an immediate fancy the afternoon be-
fore on her arrival to the neat-legged
vixen of a mare her doting father had
provi3ed for her against her home
coming to the new San Simeon place.
AS she rode. trying the mare out ten
.atiVely. she considered again just how
much she had meant of what she had
told the admiral Most of il, she de-
Cided Just because he had occasional
attacks of what he was plea sed to call
asthma. but which she was convinced
was simple heartburn, superinduced
by eating to much sweets, was no
reason, as far as Lucia could see,
why she should be forever eXiled from
Philadelphia and Washington to twirl
her thumbs-her own eXpression-in
this admittedly beautiful but clearly
alien land, where symphony came to
YOU on phonoSraph records. good
plays arrived when they were thread
bare with age. and where the inhabi
tants We're mild. curious, oX-eyed PEG.
pie. reminding one of the woman in
Millet's "Angelus." Exactly, That
fellow ahead there, for example. a
typical San Simeonite. Staring, with
his mouth oDen. Redfaced, long-leg-
ged. fannel-shirted. Gewky. with
shotgun in he crook of his arm and
the two handsome setter dogs watch
ing him with their ears cooked and
disturbing the dust Of the shady fence
line with slow tails.
Lucia realized the dogs.
Good morning" she said sharply,
rs one would speak to a doorman or a
hotel porter. Are those dogs for
sale?"
The man had something wrong with
him. He simply stared. Lucia won
dered If he weren't feeble-minded
SheIl-shock, perhaps. A pity, too, be-