Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21
And This Par
HcuIar <.Daddy"
Was Not the Con-
ventional Type.
Read This Un-
usual Tale BY the
HighestPaidShort
Story Writer in
the WmM.

II there ever had been any doubts in
the mind Of Al KOken as to why the
had married him. he was not entitled
to them.
Dot herself, although too young to realize
much of her own psychology. had never treated
him with any more than the affectionate solici-
tude of the very young toward one who is con-
siderahly older and benign.
When Dot Feverin was II. as lovely as q
jonquil, and with voice that promised to be
an operate one, she developed q spot on her
lung. There was nothing of the conventional
"angel" about Al Koken. He was fat, middle
aged stock broker, who had come to know Dot
through friend of his. o business manager OF
one of the largest operate companies in Ameri-
ca. Her case was pathetic, her beauty appeal
ing, and her plight appalling.
It was Kokens money that sent her to Ar1-
iona for two years: 1t was the pudgy little hand
Of the fat old bachelor that wrote out the gen.
erous monthly checks.
DoTS recovery was only partial. Her condition
~ responded TO- the high, clean Western air,
Her health did improve greatly and the old
beauty flowed back into her face. But at the
end of two years. when she returned to New
York to resume her work. the sad truth re-
vealed itself that there were only certain
climates where Dot could thrive. The old lung
condition began to reassert itself; she began to
wilt again.
Humbly, reverently. secretly and deeply in
love was Al Koken. Il b doubtful. had the re-
turn of Dot to q state Of health been o perma-
nent one, that this deep f00ted love OF AL for
Dot would ever have found voice. He was
timid soul, kindly. naive to degree that was
incredible.
FOR . man s-the-wOrld, ct least of-the-
world to the extent that o successful broker
ON Wall Street is b0und 10 be, he was as UNI
complex aS O child I'm certain Of the ways In
which yOu expect the average man to be versed
Al Koken had attained his bachelorhOod Che
was Sc when he met Dot) without more than
half Dozen women having crossed his path,
and those half dozen casually. There are more
ssmen like that in the weird than We realize,
chiefly because their stories are too eventless
to project themselves.
The quality of gratitude that Dot FeveriN
gave Al KOken transoended even her own
understanding. From her teens Life had been q
precarious performance for her. Hers had been
the perilous and somewhat meiodrematic posi-
tion of really beaatifal girl, without parents,
obliged at an early age to get out On her own.
The gift Of Q vsice asserting itself had not
made her position any easier. So many things
could have happened 30 Dot which did not
chiefly because when she was barely in her
twenties man OF the caliber Of Al Koken had
prOvidentially crossed her path.
How it came about after her return to the
East from Arizona, and the subsequent relapse
into III health. that Al Koken was hnally to find
the courage to ask her 10 marry him, was never
clear In his own mind.
She seemed so beyond his reach; she seemed
90 out OF his KEN FROM the flFst day he had
ciamped eyes upon her. he had realized that
and had felt humbly grateful for his capacity
to serve her as o friend
In any event. the pathos Of IL gave AL Koken
the courage. and into the safe retreat of this
kind mans sheltering arms there crept CRATE
fully the wounded and the frightened Dot
THE marriage that resulted was one of those
built on passionate alteration On one side
ana grateful, sweet humility On the other
The happiest day In Al Koken's life was when
ne closed his affairs In the East, pocketed a
large nest-egg Of the money he had earned and
saved throughout the Ieng years Of his bach
eiorhood. and tarned his face, with the frail
lovely one Of his bride. toward the more benign
climate Of Southern California.
AS Al KOken used to say TO himself in the
period that followed. those precious Arst years
OF his marriage contained more happiaess than
any one man had right to expect Of q life
time. The AL KOAeRs took up their abode in
what was literally castle In the air: q lux.
uriols Spanish villa that hung frona O noun.
tainside that faced the piacidity OF the Pacific
Ocean.
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