Montgomery County sentinel., 1931-04-10

iiiS VIZ. " obbdlH AAO was
ready slated for one Of the vice presi-
dency plums of his firm.
Strange that he should have been
attracted to girl Of the particular
type of Agnes. There was nothing
obvious about her. She dawned upon
you slowly. There was the obvious
about I.illanthal. He was precisely
what he seemed to be- In the phrase
ology Of his trade he was a conner"
And yet, buried in him, was the con-
sciousness that here in this slender,
well-bred girl. was the sort Of woman
with whom he could proudly share
his ultimate success He visualized
her in pearls and good lace, presiding
at his table
A successful man needed wife like
that. Glass That was Agnes all
over--nothing snowy, but class
There came time when the rather
simple routine of the young business
woman became a thing of the past.
Instead, the best lakeshore hotel
restaurant, night after night with
Lllianthal. Opera. Races. Motor
rides. And all, bear in mind, strictly
within the pale of the rigid social
formula of Agnes. Lillanthal, who
was known to have had his fling,
treated her with the kind of elaborate
Difference a man of his type will show
toward the woman he contemplates
as mate.
In fact, If Lilianthal erred at all,
it was in conservatism. Agnes was t.
be treated as the woman worthy to be
come his wife.
For sixteen months Agnes succeeded
in sidestepping the impending pro.
posal of marriage. 1t came one night
the very week, to be exact, that the
banking house which employed her
services increased her salary by 1913
per cent and gave her a bonus of five
hundred dollars.
At the conclusion Of eighteen months
Agnes was not only justifying the con-
fidence of her friends in her executive
ability, but was about to make a mar
riage that was in keeping with her
general success.
1t was then, while Lilianthal was
waiting a promised week for his an
swer, that Agnes sat down and took
stock.
II was the first time she had dared
allow herself the time to make mental
inventory Of the state Of mind and
being of this girl who had come out
of the valley.
First and foremost 1t was obvious
to her that she was not In love-with
I.ilianthal.
It seemed to her as she sat there
facing herself in her boarding house
room, that she was bankrupt in count
less ways; that she was empty hand
ed, empty-hearted. Everything that
the new life had brought her was
something mechanical and outside OF
herself. Good clothes. Good shows
Good restaurants. Snowy companion
ship. And to replace the old joy-of-
the-valley that seemed to have flowed
out of her. there remained nothing.
Lilanthal was out Of the question.
Confidant predictions to the con
trary Notwithstanding, Agnes was mis-
east She was not that kind Of per.
son. Memory of the valley-sweet
mornings of walking to school, the
trouping children, the pleasant chats
beneath the schoolyard oak trees with
sensitive man called Roger Nash
the simple foods, the simple pastlmes
the lovely, tranquil, early American
room, became a nostalgia that was al
most too much to bear.
Agnes had dared to take stock el
herself. The results we're appalling
but had to be faced. Agnes was moi
the kind of person she was supposed
to be. I.
1t took courage to go back; 1t took
more courage than she would have
believed herself capable of. It Is moi
easy in life to take what may be re
garded as retrogressive step and
that is Just what Agnes did In return
ing to her position as school teacher
In the valley. At least that Is how
her friends, who were so ambitious
for her, regarded It. She had gone
backward. She had not been Of The
stamina they had hoped.
Agnes Is not particularly inter
ested In the psychology Of II. Sh'
only knows that the valley Is sweetel
and greencr and cleaner than evci
and the task OF teaching the younl
is one that fills her with ambition
The days have tonic for her tha
nothing else could quite achieve am
so have the long, stimulating hour,
in the company OF Roger Nash, thu
visionary.