Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

44 relished sitting one out with her, but she did shine on the links, and she knew it. And even the faintest praise or suggestion of flattery was so rare a thing with her that she was delighted at Trueman’s re- mark. “ Hop in and let me give you a lift,” he suggested. “I’m going right past your house.”’ Right past! Of course it had to end that way. They always went right past—with- out thinking of stopping in. But it was kind of Bobby to invite her to ride with him, and because the subject was golf, she chatted brightly as the speedy machine shot along. It paused in front of the pretty little house that was now Alice’s own—a house that she loved, because it always welcomed her, and because it was all she had, except the modest little fortune her mother had left her. Alice got out and thanked him. It did not occur to her to ask him to step in for tea, and Bobby evidently did not expect that she would. “Td like to play with you some day next week, if you’ve nothing better to do,” he suggested, and Alice colored with surprise. ‘Why, I’d like to very much,” she an- swered, somewhat flustered. “Tl call you up,” he promised as he started the car, and the racer sprang off with a snort; but Alice felt that he would not—that he would promptly forget all about it; just as the other men did. Indoors she entered the living-room and threw herself into an easy chair. There were no tears in her eyes, and cold, self- analysis had conquered the hurt in her heart. She looked up at her father’s por- trait, and it seemed to give her new inspira- tion—a fighting spirit that had marked Thomas Blake’s briefly successful career. She even found courage to laugh at the remarks that had lashed her ears at the club. She forgot for the moment how Hallie and Pauline and Marie had changed since their childhood days. Snobbishness on their part had replaced a former sort of sisterly loyalty and affection; when the trio occasionally called upon her, Alice was always conscious of a patronizing note in everything they said. If some one had glimpsed her riding with. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. young Trueman she knew that Bobby would be twitted about it. If the fact ever reached Hallie’s pink, shell-like ears, she would promptly proceed to add him to her string of devotees, just to demonstrate to Alice and the town the folly of trying to com- pete with her in winning masculine favor. And Hallie knew how to do it—with her pretty pout, her baby stare, and her fetch- ing, flirtatious ways. _ Alice’s brow clouded and her little brown hands clenched. ‘It’s your own fault, Alice Blake!” she scolded herself. ‘‘ You’ve let them put you on the shelf just because you are not-pretty. Your looks will never win you a prize at a beauty show—and while clothes might help a lot, they don’t make the woman any more than they make a man!” For a long time she sat there in silence, a new light coming into her eyes. Other homely women had made themselves attrac- tive, had done worth while things, and caused the world to flock about them by sheer force of personality. Yes, she de- cided, personality was one of the things she had lacked—a quality she had carelessly, if not deliberately, neglected to cultivate. But she realized that she must achieve even more than personality to make herself stand out, to take her place as a rival against Hallie and Pauline and Marie. It was not the thought of becoming popu- lar with the men that prompted her, nor was it the desire to be revenged upon the girls for their change of heart and their recent slurring remarks. It was the awak- ening of the girl herself—the ambition to be admired that is latent in the heart of every woman. “Til do it!” she resolved firmly, then wondered just how to go about it. She had read of the foreign actress who had billed herself as the “ Ugliest Woman in the World.” Alice smiled and thought that she might qualify as far as the title went, but she had no talent for acting, dancing or singing—and besides, the stage did not appeal to her. Always of a studi- ous mind, she considered making some im- portant profession her life work; but some- how the idea of becoming a bespectacled professor or a dignified, mannish-appearing COMmiclboo SS C©