Evening star., 1928-06-14
Poor Miss Angel.

%HE whole town called her poor
Miss Angel" and she knew IT..
She knew it with shame and
humiliation and regret. Yet she
- had done nothing to deserve the
\ title except that she had waited 100
long for A man who had changed MS
Nnind concerning her.
Cora Angel had begun going" with
Henry Van Orden when she was 20.
In q small town when girl goes"
with a man 1t means that she accepts
his attention to the exclusion of all
Others II they continue to find en-
1ovuaent In each others society they
become engaged and soon after mar
ried. But sometimes these tentative
pre-engagement attachments last for
years without any other outcome than
an increasing coldneSs on the part of
the one or the other or both. Then 1t
may be a heartache enSues. but this
depends upon whether love enters into
the arrangement
Prom the first Cora had loved Henry
Van Orden. and she was the happiest
thing alive when he asked her for the
first time TO dance with him. After
that evening he escorted her home from
choir practice, TO concerts. church sup
perS and other functions of that kind.
People became accustomed to seeing
them together and wondered IL they
would marry
Henry was the younger of the two
Van Orden boys. He was handsome.
lively and with good deal of camou-
mage in his makeup. He never kept
any job long, but was always on the
hunt for something better. His older
brother John. after getting what educa-
tion he could. went to work in the bank
and stayed there. That was about as
much as any one knew about John Van
Orden, for it was Henry who claimed
all the attention.
Without doubt. any girl in Hillville
would have been glad to be the re-
cipient of Henry Van Orden'S favor. II
was odd that he should have chosen
Cora Angel, for Cora was not pretty,
ehe was merely a sweet, quiet. gentle
girl with tender mouth. dreamy eyes
and . cloud of wavy fair hair Her
mother was q widow with considerable
means and they lived in the incest
way. Old Mrs. Grove said that Cora
would always have enough TO take care
of the family whether Henry earned
anything or not.
Cora went with Henry for years be-
fore he proposed to her. Up to that
point theirs had been the most casual
Of friendships on Henry's part and on
CorA's the most discreet. There was
never any spoonings. Even after they
became engaged they went as much as
before In the daylight of public opinion
Henry never seemed to care to play the
lover. and Cora kept her affections out
Of sight. But she wondered sometimes
why Henry never sought TO kiss df en-
brace her.
They had not been engaged long be-
fore Henry left Hillville and went TO the
city, where he found new job more to
his liking than anything the small town
offered He wrote to Cora and occa-
sionaily came TO see her, but he never
aaid anything about their getting mar
rieo. And this went on for eight years
Cora was 30 now. a little quieter and
gentler than ever. The girls OF her set
had married. most of them had chill
oren. A new set was coming up which
thought her rather old People began
70 ask her when she and Henry were
going 10 get married, and she tried to
EEnaie IS she answered that she didn't
knew.
Theu her mother lost everything she
had ex1sps the house on Pleasant street.
In the turnover after the war the stocks
afae had invested In had become worth
less
Cora went TO work. She could not
teach, for instead Of gDing to college she
had waited for Henry. Sd she got
place In the bank Most Of her business
MMe kng columns Of figures. Some
times when she went home at night her
throat was dry with reading. and always
her heart ached.
For Henry Van Orden had suddenly
ceased 10 write 70 her. When the news