Show kathleen norris says i there Is no way to get rack back I 1 lost sweetheart bell syndicate service v d JAT T 4 AA 4 L A I 1 was so stupid that night that I 1 hate to think about it when hugo made fun of me I 1 said I 1 felt I 1 was getting a cold and went upstairs he later told mary alary that when I 1 was a kid I 1 had been his sweetheart by KATHLEEN NORRIS THERE HERE is no harder situ tage j aaion for a woman of any L age than that in which she suspects that the love of the man she idolizes is cooling the self deceptions by which abandoned sweethearts solace themselves are pathetic in their transparency it is almost impossible for any one of us to believe that she has lost her charm for the man she loves the girl who writes me a letter on this subject fortunately is young brenda is only 17 and whether s she he likes the idea now or not she is going to get over her passion for the fickle hugo hugo was first my older sister anna annas friend says arendas Bren das tear stained stained letter but from the moment I 1 first saw him he was the only man in the world lor for me I 1 used to hang around just to see him and my chum and I 1 used to walk downtown so that we could pass his office and perhaps have a glimpse of him my diary in those days was filled him and if I 1 only had a word from him it would make me happy lor for a week that was when I 1 was only 15 last year anna got a school in a city a hundred miles away we had a goodby good by party for her and hugo came lie he and I 1 talked together seriously for the first time and I 1 think he realized that annas kid sister was not quite so young as her years anyway after anna left he came one night and brought rne me candy and stayed talking and I 1 was so happy I 1 could not sleep tor for nights afterward wrote each other dally daily alter after that we saw each other frequently and there was no doubt ot of his bis feeling when he went on short trips we wrote each other every day and although my parents felt I 1 was too young to make plans yet hugo is 31 and could well support a wife and that made a difference the joy of those farst arst days will remain with me all my life tor for I 1 can n never ver feel tor for any other man what I 1 feel for hugo just his voice just his hand on mine when he taught me to drive the very jackets and caps and neckties he wore were sacred to me he asked me to marry him and wrote me that night that he would never forget the moment when a dizzy crazy little girl threw herself into his arms in that same letter he says you are going t to 0 be the most spoiled little wife in the world 1 I suppose the rest ot of this story the letter goes on is a familiar one to jou you hugo had to go away for three weeks and even in his letters before he be came back I 1 felt the change when he be did get back I 1 cut flowers around la in the house and wore a new dress but he be come that evening an all the next day and the next I 1 hear bear from him and every second of those days was 11 an agony on the tea fourth day I 1 telephoned I 1 help it he explained that he had been terribly busy and that his mother had house bouse guests an old schoolmate of hers and the schoolmates twin daughters and that squiring the girls took up all his spare time I 1 asked hirn him if they knew about me and he answered by asking what about you honey invited ui als guests when a I 1 hung u up the tel telephone ephone I 1 was vas almost crying and my mother suggested that I 1 write asking his guests to come to our house tor for sunday supper lie he seemed pleased by that and they came my mother NOTHING TO REGRET the brenda who writes this letter is undoubtedly in for some heartbreaking heart breaking moments but she has nothing with which to reproach herself in later years she may have halve behaved like a silly girl throwing herself at an older man m an and then sulking when he explained that she had misunderstood his brotherly a affection fec tion but she can took look forward war d to a more real a more lasting kind of love in a few years then perhaps berha ps she will bears be e able to laugh at what seems nou noti to be utter tragedy had everything lovely but the evening did not have one happy moment for rne me both these girls are pretty they are 25 years old and have been everywhere and have seen all the plays one is engaged and I 1 think the other likes hugo in fact I 1 know she does and so 0 o do mom and dad 1 I was so stupid th that dt night that I 1 hate to think about it and when hugo made fun of me I 1 said I 1 felt as if 11 I 1 was getting a cold and went upstairs hugo said to mary that when I 1 was a kid I 1 had been his little sweetheart and we had made great marriage plans and were going to build a house up in an oak and live up there which made me seem like a baby last week hugo wrote me quite frankly saying that he is sorry that I 1 misunderstood his attentions that he will always love me as a big brother almost old enough to be my father and that he would like his letters back my mother w who ho now says she is sorry she did it since it disturbed me so much immediately wit without holit consulting me sent back all his letters from my treasure box 1 I love him as much as ever he Is 19 so wonderful there is nobody like him I 1 I 1 it if I 1 live to be 90 and marry 10 times I 1 will always love him better than anyone elsel else I 1 what can I 1 do how can I 1 get him back please please help me keep from de despair spairl the price ot of love it Is a cruel thing brenda that any human being should be given power to hurt another as hugo has hurt you but it is the price ol of love love is the dearest commodity in life the thing for which we pay h highest it is painfully obvious now that his affair with you was just what he be calls it half paternal half brotherly affection for the little girl who so openly adored him he might indeed have made you his wife and he might have been a faithful husband to you there are mew men who have petted and adored a child wife until her tall sons seemed older than she but as a general thing the man to whom a girl gives her heart at 17 the true mate and the real love affair comes along six or seven years later you have a lot for which to be thankful evidently you have sensible affectionate parents willing to stand by you help you in your difficulties make your home a con center ter of hospitalities those are invaluable assets just now also you in your infatuation tor for hugo hugo throw away your self respect when you threw away your heart it might help you to read some of the letters I 1 get from girls girls who dont regard love affairs as their mothers did girls who argue in a moment of passion it affair but our own do and if I 1 love him and want to do anything he asks im tree free to do it |