The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-10-28
A MODERN MELODRAMA.
babel Waited, and Her Patience Was at
Last ReEarded.

Last Rewarded.
"Once more and for the last time, Mabel
Hickups, ask you to marry me-
"Onee more and for tho last time, James
Gaddleshacks, I answer no!''
Remember, 1 hold the mortgage on
the cid farm
81 remember
This day week, then, I shall foreclose
b. You and your poor old mother, who
sits weeping yonGer, will be turned out of
doors, houseless and homeless, wanderers
on the face and hands of the earth. Oh,
think of your mother, Mabelr'
'Oh, have some pity. girl'' walled tho
poor, broken widow.
"Peace, mother said the brave girl,
who intended no-allusion thereby to the
fact that her mother was broken, ''peace. :"
Then, turning to her tormentor, she ex-
claimed: "False oneI Seek not thus to
play upon my sympathies. No. I am
pledged to marry William Dibbs, ard 1
will keep my troth.'
Eyes, and where is William Dibbs now?
Why does he not come to your aid? Where
is he, 1 say?"
For the first time Mabel hung her head
and murmured low, ''In Brooklyn"
I'm Brooklyn, eh? Ha! ha! hal"
With queenly Indignation Mabel shook
out a reef and Strengthened to her full
which Bernhardt might have coveted, she
pointed to the door.
Leave! Leave this houseI Our housed"
"Your house," he sneercd.
eyes, our house. for it is ours till next
week. Till then under this roof you have
no right to breathe into my ear your vile
insinuations. Go! Breathe them into
your own ear if you will, but not into
mine. Not into m-i-n-ei"
Calm yourself, my daughterl" said her
weeping mother. IAN may yet be well. "
Alas, how often does the jagged man
strive to escort the other fellow home.
Mabel gave one last, wild shuttle and
cried: 1T is not fear for myself that IN
womans Inc, but fear for William For
three long months I have not had the
scratch OF a pen from him. And yet-and
yet
And yet what?''
Rising from her chair and smiling
through her tears, the brave girl ex-
claimed: Something tells me that Will
liam viii yet como to the rescue. Good
old Bill"
Each day Mabel watched for the post
man, but each day the gray clad messen-
ger shook his head and answered ''Nit!"
"Never mind. Tomorrow viii bring
letter, she declared, hoping against hope.
Through the long day she bore ND brave
ly, but at night, when there was no eye to
see, she wept until her pillow WAS as wet as
sop.
The morning of the foreclosure came.
No word from William.
1t was 10 o'clock, and the friends and
neighbors of the Hickupses from far and
near assent led to witness the sale, some
to mingle their tears with those Of the wild
ow and her daughter, and some to triumph
over their downfall, for the Hickupses had
always held up their heads, unlike the
other villagers who juked them forward
like bicyolers.
James Gaddleshacks strolled up with a
smile on his handsome evil face, and, curl
ing a loose leaf on his Subtle Morte cigar,
whispered to Mabel: at is not too late
yet, my proud beauty. Say but the little
word Yes and this mortgage shall be
Cancelled in the shake of lambs tall
But she made out that she didn't hear
him.
Suddenly there was a commotion in the
boomers of the crowd, skirts having gone
out of fashion: "Way therel Gangwayl"
A man bandaged and battered worse
than the survivor OF q Yale-Princeton foot
ball match staggered into the open space
''It is Willa1nl' squealed Mabel and
hung herself into his er1ns-
.'Oueh n he groaned. LEO g little easyI"
1t was indeed William, damaged, it is
true but still William.
He kissed her tenderly ON the forehead,
ard thaz- nickin9 loose hair from his