"GINGER"
By Frances Elizabeth Lanyon
Lorna Reeves reached the station
at Maiden just as the train was mov
ing away. She started a run, might
have caught it if she had not tripped,
and would have fallen had she not
been caught in the arms of a tall,
handsome young fellow dressed in a
khaki suit i
"Taking that train?" he asked
3wif tly.
"Yes, if you please. But it's too
ate!" she panted.
"Not if you run that's it!"
With one hand he swung her
satchel to his own grasp. - The other
clasped her arm. What a manly,
hopeful fellow he was ! Lorna's pret
ty feet seemed to skim the ground.
He lifted her to the steps of the last
car of the train, crowded after her
and got ready to spring back from
the moving car. when Lorna, her
hand at the knob of the door, ex
claimed: '
"Oh, deaY! it's locked!"
The strangeness of her position,
the swaying car unnerved her. Her
helper read the situation at a glance,
got up. beside her, steadied her
satchel with bis foot and half sur
rounded her with a guiding arm.
'Don't get nervous," he said in a
reassuring tone. "The conductor will
soon be here."
Lorna flushed at their necessarily
close contact She did not edge
away however. There was a "big
brother" consideration in the mas
terful ways of the handsome young
fellow. She observed that his attire
was. distinctly military. He seemed
to read her thoughts.
"I must get back to my train when
we stop at the junction," he ex
plained. "Company there. You see,
we are on our way to Mexico."
"Oh, you were not going on this
train?" spoke Lorna, really dis
mayed. "And I have put you to all
this trouble!"
"Pleasure honor," and the train
drowned out some conventional
words and Just then the conductor
unlocked the door. A rose that Lor
na wore fell from her coat Her es
cort picked it up and then the
satchel, placed it inside the car and
hurried back to the platform as a
crossing was signaled. As the train
slowed up the young man jumped off.
Lorna. at the window, Impulsively
waved her hand to her chivalrous
"But;Jt's Too Late," She Panted.
helper and"smiled. He lifted his hat
with one hand, with the other he
swept the rose almost to his lips,
and the train rolled on, and Lorna,
having time to analyze the situation,
blushed as she wondered1 if she had
been at all unmaidenly under the in
fluence of the exciting incidents of
the hour.
She had just graduated from a nor
mal school and was a full-fledged