The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-07-06
THE WELL.FuRNIsHED FLAT.
TO A LITTLE sTENOGRAPHER,
THE OCCUPANT WAS HER IDEAL.
but Her Dreams of Happiness Were
RutleIy shattered.


she noticed tina: the ITO Rent" sign in
the lower fiat had been taken down, and
when she went down next morning she
founl the hall piled high with furniture
or a grade which rarely came into SO
unpretcntious an apartment building.
That night she noted with envy the
daintiness of the window drapinss, al
though there was an air OF stiffness
about them that limited strangely of
lack Of u womln's touch, says the Chi
cage News.
1t was sunday morning, though. before
II" curious occupants OF the bu'inlhS
were granted d glimpse of the new ten
ant, who proved to be young man.
The bOokkecper on the. third floor sneer-
iugly remarked that his hair was too
Ions, ana the young man who spent
every evening In the parlor Of the little
scamstress around the. corner Kicked ms
dJor-mat half way downs tairs, as he
mumJled something decidedly unconpli.
mcntarv TO bachelors. The widow Just
across the hall slipped in to put. on al
extra dash of pink In her cheeks ana
nam" on the card which had just been
stuck up In the little slip under his bell.
In fact, the unanimous decision or the
women was that ne" the new mani
was a great addition to the house, while
the men sneered openly at the slim
wasted fOp."
1t gradually evolved that the man was
II lawyer, with the soul of poet ana an
or endured. as the, case might be-by
the tenants of the house. He was fond
oc setting into long, dull-re1 lounging
robe tltinS his slender feet hish above
his handsome head and with cigar and
a book making as charming picture or
masculine elegance as one would otten
see Sometimes the book was a big
heavy thing, bound in sheepskin. when the
UNNECESSARILY
even stern. At other times there would
he Il trifie of a paper-backet thing be
tween his long fingers. and his dark eyes
were wont then to take on sort, low
light as though his subject appealed to
his memory rather than his brain. Then
late at night, when his fire was dreamiiy
stubby little well-worn leather affair.
limiting suspiciousy of loved Ruskin,
or better, TX Marvel or Holmes.
An OF which nonsense, In the eyes OF
parlonab.e, while the SENDER little ste
nographer who had first noticed the alb
seucc Of the rent sign began to look at
his softly empowered windows and his
cheerful open fires with an uneXplaina-
bic longing as she crept home, tired and
lonely. at the end of long. hard day.
Neither of them ever knew exactly
ho~ 6rnnR that he hed the big Reavy
evening, when she answered a short;
confident ring at her bell, she found
him standing before her holding out a
glove which he had seen her drop as
she came in from her work. After
that she quite frequently met him on
that they should sometimes get on the
same car when they went downtown
in the morning.
The little stenographer had habit OF
| waiting on the outer steps every morn
ing for the postman, and she soon no
ticed that the young lawyer had a sim
liar fondness for the gray-coated dis,
tributor of missves. However, II all
at once dawned upon her that the bar
rister generally displayed an unusual
| eagerness for his letters. and that there
was an unnecessary CLEAN of satisfac-
ton over large. square envelope. al
ways the same style, always suggestive
of several full pages, which arrived un-
fa!lingly every Tuesday and Saturday
a little detective work soon revealed
the fact that after the receipt of these
| precious missives the young man was
prone to be trife absent minded. and
the days on which the letters came he
| might be seen stealing out to the mail
box at the corner and dropping In a
| tie stenographer could have taken her
oath that, as he stopped to seal his
epistle under the full glare of the lamp
post. he blew II soft little kiss in among
| the closely written pages.
But the little stenographer was lonely
and he was .ru,y very kind. Perhaps
she was playing with fire, but then she
life that she decided that she might as
well give herself up to the enjoyment
of this bit of delicious dreaming, even
though she might have to lose II all
some day: 1t was better to love y
memory than to love nothing at all
reasoned the little stenographer with
a woman's usual unreason, although
there was a choke in her voice AS she
said 1t So she went on and he loaned
her books and even got into the habit
Of bringing up few flowers every
spoiled half the pleasure of the gift by
looking away beyond as he handed
them over to her. just as he did wher
the postman gave him the hateful
square envelopes.
Summer was we'll on when he an
nounced with gay, half bewilderinl
smile that he was going out Of towr
for Il couple of weeks. She only sighet
that she might just as well take hel
little vacation now. for there WASH
much charm in town when he was gone
trance of ecstasy, while that afternoon
she took up her little bag and wen
or to the station alone for her humble
little visit to the poor old grandmothe,
down in the deserted country town
where the grass grew up and the tree
bent down till they almost met in lag.
beauty.
| II was ldte one evening couple o
weeks later that she arrived again a
the foot of the long stairs leading up I,
the box of a room that she called home
There was n subdued, feverish CLEAN
in her eyes as soon as they lighted oil
the faiths fat-and the unusual colo
in her cheeks seemed to die out trih
rs IL all at once struck her that tn
last trace of awkwardness was gon
from the window drapinGs There wa
"A big, tumbling bunch of roses. too. OF
the stand. with q grace in their ar
rangement that was cruel. AS sh
passed the outer door new glad voic
made her clutch at her throat and
nearer approach revealed that the from
door to the little apartment was open
And there, on the hall-tree, was
woman's hat, with pair Of daint
gloves rolled UP In tiny bunch on tn
floor. And he had always been so fon
OF little hands!