25
MOOSEHEART MAGAZINE
The UGLY DUCKLING’S TRIUMPH
“My, what a stunner we are,” he laughed delightfully at his little girl. “I wouldn't have known you. I sure must write and thank your Aunt Prudence for the good care she has taken of you.”	־*
That evening Letitia had a surprise of her own. A tall, handsome youth on a big black horse, rode up to her house, threw the reins over the hitching post and strode masterfully up the walk. She rushed down to meet him. It wa$ Hugh. Hugh, sound as new dollar, strong and straight and full of vigor and life.
There was more rejoicing all around, for Letitia’s father liked Hugh, and the three sat together in the big living room under the watchful eyes of Letitia’s little mother and their joy was deep. For hadn’t they all- what they wanted ?
Hugh had great news to tell. His invention had been accepted and an offer had been made for it that promised to make him the richest man in Connellsville.
And then he had other news to tell. Mr. Leisenring saw it in Hugh’s eyes and because he liked Hug and wanted to give him a chance to tell his other news, he retired early.
Hugh told his news, and Letitia, who had se- * cretly known all along what that news would be, blushed adorabley and said the litlle word of such infinite importance to just two people.
Next day all Connellsville could talk about was the transformation of the Ugly Duckling the success of Hugh as an inventor and as a lover.
Only Rose Lee was skeptical, but she decided to find out about it so she dropped in casually on Letitia and offered her congratulations. The more she looked at Letitia, the more she seemed puzzled, finally, in an outburst of suppressed curiosity, she asked:
“Would you mind telling me, dear, how you did it?”
“Did what, Rose: transforming the Ugly Duckling into the Swan.”
Rose nodded her head violently in the effirm-ative.
“No, Rose. I don’t mind telling you. I don’t mind telling anbody. Here is the secret of my transformation,” and she took a magazine from the table and handed it to Rose. And this is what Rose read:	(Advertisement)
By CONSTANCE LEXINGTON
by the most important automobile manufacturing concern in the country, and it was whispered that the report on the invention was most favorable.
Connellsville hadn’t experienced so many thrills at one time for years.
The day Letitia was to return nearly everybody in town found it advisable to be in the neighborhood of the railroad station about the time the Eastern express was due. Indeed, but for the fact that Letitia could never have been called a popular girl, one might imagine that they were all there to greet her.
At last the train pulled in and from the steps of the sleeping car descended a picture of loveliness that made everybody gasp.
This exquisite creature was surely not Letitia, said everyone. Framed in the rich dark furs of a most fashionable coat was a face clear and brilliant in color delicately tinted as a Greuze painting, brilliant with sparkling mischief, a kissable, loveable, dream-face that started every masculine heart to beating.
No lovlier woman had ever sat foot in Connellsville. AND IT WAS LETITIA.
After the first staggering minutes while all stood back in awe at the transformation there was a rush forward and dozens of hands were outstretched in greeting. Letitia’s lips curled a little in derision, then her gentle nature asserted itself and she accepted the warming greetings and was soon talking and laughing with all. Invitations were showered on her. Urgent invitations that would not accept a refusal, piled in on her from every side. Only little Rose Lee hung back. Her little soul was not big enough to acknowledge the new rivalry to her claims as the prettiest girl in Connell-ville.
But Letitia didn’t notice the slight. She had just caught sight of her Dad standing by the automobile waiting for her and flew into his arms with a warming hug that melted the snows around his heart, tie bundled her into the big car, saw to her luggage, and then getting in beside her, they drove off.
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Henry Leisenring was a hard man. They pited the lonely little girl in the big house and they talked of her, but there was something about Leisenring that kept them away from the house.
Yet, the old man loved his young-daughter with all the concentrated affection of a lonely man robbed of the life-mate by a cruel fate. He spared no expense in giving her everything that he believed would make her happy, but he stinted in those demonstrations of affection that the little girl’s starved heart needed more than good clothes or luxuries.
Letitia would gladly have traded all she had for one real chum, one friend who understood, hut she had a good deal of her father’s reserve and a few little snubs she had received when trying to enter into the life and pleasure of her acquaintances chilled her and made her withdraw into her shell so that she soon gained the reputation of being haughty as well as lonely.
There was one hoy, however, to whom Letitia’s homeliness didn’t act as a bar. Like Letitia he hovered on the outside of the charmed circle. He, too, had an affliction, not one like Letitia’s, for his face was intensely appealing, with great dark eyes, clear, ivory skin, great masses of soft, black hair and a tender, gentle mouth. But
he had a physical affliction. In his boyhood a careless nurse had dropped him, injuring his hip so that he was compelled to walk on crutches. His big brown eyes followed Letitia adoringly wherever she went, for of all the young people in town only Letitia had ever shown him kindness and friendliness. The others ignored him for he could not dance or ride or share the athletic sports which were so much the vogue. So they didn’t trouble themselves over him. They just ignored him.
Letitia talked to him because she felt a fellow feeling for the poor lonely boy. And when she_ talked to him and overcame the diffidence which he showed so plainly she found a rich mind, stored with all kinds of treasures of knowledge. So these two became friends, that
is,	Letitia regarded him as her best friend and he adored the girl for her beautiful soul and gentle kindliness.
Then an important series of events entered both of these lives. Hugh Reynolds was taken to Europe to go under the care of a famous specialist and Letitia was invited East to visit her mother’s sister. Their departure did not make much of a stir in Connellsville, for neither occupied a very important place in the life of the gay young people of the town. Before leaving for Europe Hugh stopped in to say good bye to Letitia. He told of his high hopes of recovery. He told her also of ambitions he had been secretly fostering.
“I have been working for a long time on an invention. 1 have at last perfected it and am going to submit it as soon as I get my pat-ents_ on it. It is something that will revolutionize the automobile industry. Wish me luck on both my enterprises, Letitia. I want your prayers arid your good wishes. Both mean much to me.”
Letitia was touched by his confidence and promised to give him her good wishes and her prayers. Then they parted, Hugh for Europe, and Letitia to go on her first trip East.
Six months elasped before Letitia returned. Now and then Connellsville heard reports of her gaieties in the East. Her aunt was quite a prominent woman socially in the aristocratic New England town where she lived and the local newspaper recorded the social activities of the town and everywhere Letitia Leisenring was spoken of for her beauty, her charm and her accomplishments.
Connellsville wondered. The reprints from the Eastern papers created -a good deal of merriment.
Rose Lee was especially sarcastic. “I guess they are not so particular about beauty in New England,” after reading of the social triumphs ־ of the Ugly Duckling. “Either that or'Letitia has been hypnotizing the society reporters.”
One day the Eastern papers had a picture of Letitia, and Ross Lee was one of the first to see
it.	Could this ra diant creature, stunning in the most wonderful frock Connellsville had ever seen, be the homely Letitia they had poked fun at? It must be a mistake. It wasn’t reasonable.
And then one day the. news went forth that Letitia was reported engaged to be married. The report tied her name with that of a man famous for his great wealth and his aristocratic family. A man who could have had his pick of all the unmarried girls in the world, said the report, yet it was common gossip that none had interested him until this wonderfully beautiful young girl from the West had come into his life. Connellsville gasped. It couldn’t believe the evidence of the printed word. While the astonishment was still rife, word filtered through the channels of gossip, that Letitia was coming home.
With this report came also another. Hugh Reynolds had been cured of his lameness by the great specialist and was on his way home. Not only that, but his invention had stood the patent tests and was now under consideration
Letitia was an ugly duckling.
There was no getting around the fact. Every girl in High School admitted the fact frankly. So frankly in fact that it sounded a good deal as though they rejoiced inwardly over the fact. Perhaps they did. Letitia had gifts, they were gifts that girls envy, for she played the harp very well indeed, she had a nice, clear fresh voice that was particularly well suited to the pretty old-fashioned ballads she loved to sing, and she was an accomplished little housekeeper. The envy therefore which tinged the admission of the fact that Letitia was an ugly duckling was qualified by the knowledge that after all beauty goes further than accomplishments in the game of love.
Letitia was not exactly homely, you couldn’t say that. If you analyzed her features you realized that they were regular, her eyes were good, her hair soft and wavy, and her figure was willowy and prettily rounded. The real cause of Letitia’s lack of beauty was the fact that Nature had been most unkind to her in the matter of complexion.
Rosy Lee, who was probably the prettiest and most popular girl in Connelsville, used to say in a pitying way: “Letitia would be a right smart looking girl if she didn’t look like a nutmeg grater.” Which wasn’t very kind, but it was true, for her complexion was enough to repel any attentive eye.
Letitia worried a good deal about her skin. She knew her nickname of “The Ugly Duckling,” for she had heard her so-called friends allude to her by that name when they didn’t know she was within hearing distance. Like all girls she wanted to be admired. She had her dreams of love and happiness and in her girlish dreams there was always a Prince Charming who rode into her life on a wonderful black horse and carried her away to his castle beyond the sea. In her dreams she was always herself but a lovely self with a skin clear and white as driven snow, with soft rosy tinges and a surface like satin. Then she woke up and a glance at her mirror dispelled the dream.
By the time she had finished her high school work her ugliness had become an obscession with her. It poisoned her life. No Prince Charming had ridden his gallant steed into her life, indeed, all the Prince Charmings of Connelsville rode by her door without hesitating. She was asked out often, but at the parties and dances where other girls enjoyed themselves with a host of eager young swains all about them, Letitia sat alone, neglected and uncourted.
But oftener Letitia sat at home alone, and alone in her pretty little room she cried herself to sleep and wished that some good fairy might waive a magic wand over her and change her homliness to radiant beauty.
Letitia lived alone with her father in one of the big old homes of the pretty mid-western town. Her mother had died in giving her life and she often wished that the sweet-faced woman whose portrait smiled down at her from the place of honor over the mantel in the big old-fashioned living room might be there to put tender arms about her and comfort her with the mother love that is sweeter than all loves and most dependable.
It was her mother’s wish that she should be named Letitia. For Letitia means happiness, joyfulness. And the little dying mother hoped that the tiny baby snuggling in her arms might bring joy and happiness to the widowed father. Then she passed quietly away with a smile on her face and Letitia was left alone.
The people of Connelsville said that