The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-01
A ROMANTIC GIRL.


s'f all the riches in the world were on
one side of the scales, and just your love
on the Other she answered, with the vi
bration of deep feeling in her voice, ''you
know which would weigh the more with
my heart
''But my father may never reient. He
vows he'll have no long haired poet in his
house or for his herr
She laughed obdurate fathers to scorn-
not angrily, but merriiy.
''Oh, my dear, my dearI'' she cried.
HWhy do you waste time talking of IA
theirs? See the sunshine on the water.
Come where we can feel 1.-THE air, the
light. Conael''
mo, Helen, I'm not coming now said
Robert, with sudden frmness. fYou
must see the situation as it Is. Here am
I, loving you. My father raised me as rich
men raise their sons. Now he says that
unless give up what he calls my tomfool
literary ambitions and go back to Fur
naceville to learn about the smelling of
iron he'll neither give me an allowance
now nor make me his heir. Your father,
naturally enough, refuses to treat with
sutton who has no other assets than SON
net in his pocket. And love you.s
The conclusion seemed perfectly rele-
want to Helen. She looked at him with
eyes swimming in tears OF tenderness and
trust and pride She smiled at him sun
as she spoke, though her words were jest
ing.
do coin your sonnet into CRUST she
said, land bid me share it with you, and
shall be happy. Happy, do you under
stand? Happy And that is all you want
my happiness. -
He caught her face between his hands
and looked adoringly at her. Then he
said, with sudden foreboding:
"Helen, Helen, are you sure 1t is /?
Are you sure You love meme, and not
merely the situation, the romance?''
CHOW, SIR said Helen, tossing her
head, while righteous indignation dried
the tears in her eyes, ''you are insulting
me.''
Helen's father unintentionaIly famed
the flames of love. He forbade his daugh-
ter to SEQ Robert.
"You have a right to forbid Robert
your house, - said the young woman in
grand heroic style, "but you cannot pre-
vent my seeing him. I assure you I
shall. Your treatment of me justifies it. -
"Don't make fool of yourself, Helen,''
advised her father, "or I'll forbid you the
street What has that feather Drained boy
to live on?''
"Hes genius and he is prosecuted"
"He's young idiot I hope a bread
and water diet will bring him to his
senses. See here, Helen. I don't object to
the boy, if you love him, though heaven
alone knows why you should. But I m
not going to have you marrying pauper,
and l. ~ not going to aid and abet him in
instruction against his father. If you'll
persuade him to be sensible now
"You do not know your daughter, SIR, -
said Helen, her bosom swelling with the
proud consciousness that here was a dra-
matic occasion and that she was a heroine
equal to it. Heaven forbid that should
| advise the man 1 love to his own undoing.
Did you actually believe that would try
| to persuade him to turn from odes to iron
| ore, to fetter his genius, to-
$50 to your room, Helen, and pack your
trunk for Europei'' Numbered the old
gentleman.
But later he compromised on month
at Lakewood. He knew that the lovers
exchanged daily letters, each bidding the
other be of good cheer. He observed
| Helen's pride and glory in her martyrdom
| with feeling of helplessness.
1.-THE little fool is positively radiant
| over her misery he said to himself.
| ''She fancies she's a heroinel Confound
| old Donnebroon! Why doesn't he give his
! son some money and let him spend it
| printing his poetry?"
| When they came back to town, the TO-
nance was at it's height. Helen placed a
taper before her curtained window, and at
| night Robert patrolled the sidewalk gaz-
| ing at it as at shrine. They wrote long
| letters, though they did not carry out
their intention of meeting clandestine1y.
| And Helen was radiant with joy of her
romance.
Robert had been i'll in his east side lodg-
ing. His father had come, had seen and
| yielded.
Bob, my boy" he had said, "be what
ever sort of a fool you choose. III not be
| one any longer
| And Robert, weakened by illness, was
! won by kindness, as he had not been by
| harsh usage.
''I'u come back to FurnacevilIe," he
said, land 1 will learn the business. Po-
etry will be a side issue"
Whereupon there was rejoicing among
the elders, but Helen was unaccountably
cold
Robert recovered. There was no more
martyrdom. He called when he would.
| He talked politics with her father. He
came to dinner. He went to the opera with
her. He no longer had to look to her taper
| lighted window in order to feel near her.
The days of Helen were remarkably like
| those of any other young woman upon
| whom fortune had smiled. They wearied
| her. He had been a prosecuted genius,
| she reasoned. He was no longer perseout-
| ed. By feminine logic he was no longer a
genius. She had been a martyr because
| she loved. She was no longer a martyr.
Did she no longer lover Feminine logic
faltered. She wept. "She was disappoint-
ed in him. she told herself. And finally
she told him SO.
"For,'' as Mr.. Robert Donnebroon said
in the novel he published a few years lat
\ er. Though men love women, women
| affections are given to situations, to TO
nance, excitement or to love itself. And
men are interesting to them only as the
vehicles by which these things come to
them. New York World.