The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-10-29

isn't the uncle type.
her, so she kept silent, except for
the singing, singing that went on
in her heart, whenever she
thought of him.
A messenger brought a box for
Miss Janet Keith. A pale blue
florists box, tied with thick scar
let cord.
Not for Miss Dorathea Keith,
nor Mrs. Keith, nor Mrs. Faley.
For Jan!
OF course she'd hoped he would,
but she hadn't really imagined
what it would be like to get box
that Lowell sent. She wanted to
take it off in a corner to open it,
all alone, but the whole family
crowded around to see.
A short hour before, Dorathea'S
corSage had come from the very
same florist, in the very same kind
of box. But that hadn't counted.
This was the only box that that
florist had ever sent out, whether
he knew it or not.
Here! Let mel" Evelyn's fingers
itched to get at the box, Jan was
so clumsy and slow. But stubborn.
She wouldn't let anyone help, and
no one could cut the string.
ooh, white orchids. Aren't you
SWell?" DOrathea cried, trying not
to care that Stewey Parker had
only sent gardeniaS.
Every NICE" Evelyn agreed. And
took them out and tried them on,
while Jan waited, outwardly calm,
inwardly Surging, and her heart
plunging and singing because she
was Lowell Kramer's girl and he'd
sent her white orchids to prove it..
In the graduation dress, with
SteWey'S gardeniaS, Dorathea was
so glowing, so theatrically, arrest
ngly lovely, that even Jan, who
was used to her, was surprised.
It made grandmother wiStful, a
little sad. II can remember Eve
lyn's graduation day." she said,
land Edith'S and Francesca's, too.
They were all pretty-all my girls
were pretty-but there was some
thing about Evelyn-a bloom"
That's what I tell Dorathea."
Evelyn cut in, happy and excited
because she wasn't forgotten in
the girls excitement. "It isn't only
looks. You have to have some
thing more than looks. I had it!
People used to talk about it. I
could have had anyone-couldn'
I, mama? Wasn't I the most pop
ular girl at school? Why at our
senior prom"
They listened, polite and bored,
Dorathea finding solace in watch
ing her own reflection in the mir
ror across the room, Jan staring
at her orchids until she felt
drowned in the depths of their
faint tropic fragrance.
Then the boys came. First
Stewey, very man of the world in
his tux and his new pledge pin,
and then Lowell, gentle and dark
and quietly sure of himself.
Even Lowell blinked at Dorathea.
"Your sister is very beautiful.
She'll be a sensation some day
and make a brilliant match. MY
mother says So" he said to Jan
when they were alone.
Yes, she's pretty. She always
was the pretty one" Jan said. For
the millionth time she wished for
purple eyes and long fringed
lasheS, for classic features, and
soft, dark hair.
How had she been so satisfied
with her looks as she dressed?
With Ards last years formal that
this very minute half the ballroom
was recognizing. With her baby
iSh string of pearl beads, her
straight light hair that had never
had a permanent, her nice, clean,
or din airy American schoolgirl
looks?
Furnishing herself for having
pretended to look the way she
wanted to look, she told him, I'm
the plain one! The only plain one
in the whole family. Everybody
says sol"
She said it in her best Carver
school manner. AS if it didn't mat
ter. AS if nothing mattered. One
OF the orchids had broken off. and
that didn't matter either. It
wouldn't matter if she dropped
dead, if the world came to an end,
II she never saw Lowell Kramer
or the Mill Valley house again.
They danced out Of the ballroom
into the corridor. Walked on to
the dark balconies overlooking the
city.
you are not really plain. You
have a kind of inner loneliness"
the boy said, in his careful, slow
English.
He said it very judiciously, as If
he had been thinking it over for a
long while.
Ito Be Continued
Copyright, 1885. King Pastures