The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-04-09

plAoso % nH upssAl py me youthful eli.
tof u 3 now w0lnAn's paDef, who had met
her at The Writer'S dub and Thought hg
pretty paid her weekly hill at tho board
ing houss Her storisa found frequent 90.
ceptanoe and oocasiopal welcome In the
minor psriadicsle spd happy messing
with IN editor at 0 dinner patty paved the
way to her appearance 10 Q widely read
magazine. BY the end Of the year Eva
Norrington had got so far toward the real
tzation Of her ambition that when people
heard her name mentioned they wrinkled
their brows and tried to remember where
they had heard 1t before. At home, Of
course, her fame was great. The papers
In WHICH she wrote circulated freely In the
town, her stories were discussed at after
noon teas, and townsfolk were glad to
think that they participated to some ex-
tent In the literary movement of the CEN
fury.
And all this time Eva was horribly lone
ly. She knew plenty Of people, and liked
them. They were kind to her, some Of
them because they liked her for herself,
others because they saw that she was
marked for ultimate success. Having ad-
vanced certain distance along the road
she had longed to travel she could judge
better whittier 1t would lead her. 1t would
lead her to a place in the newspaper para
graphs, to place on the bookstalls, to
place in the photographers windows, and
to a place at Bayswater or South Kensing-
ton. This, then, must be tho end of the
q struggle and the turmoil of the fight And
how she hated the fightl A fight wherein
victory would bring her no nearer to the
actualities of life, for she had come to
learn in the years struggle that our social
system by no means places women on an
equality with men, and that whereas men
can buy the fruit Of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil by the polite, women
must buy the tree outright, and pay cash.
1t was terribly unfair. And the most I'M
fair thing about the whole business was
that, while success was almost within
her grasp, success was not what she want
ed. There is no fun in living your own
life when that is precisely the life you do
not want to lead.
1t was not as though Allan Craig had
never kissed Eva Norrington. ~
She opened the letter, cutting the envels
ope with her nail scissors, for some dis
tinction must be made between your first
love letter and your bootmakers bill. She
felt rs one who has held his breath to feel
what suffocation Ia like The letter was
long. Eva read quickly at first, then
slowly, knitting her brows as she turned
the pages and came at last to the sigma
ture, Ever your friend, Allan Craig"
The letter lay for some minutes in Eva's
lap, while she looked vaguely round her
room.
"He Is afraid Of spelling my career-my
success has put an insuperable barrier
between us, she murmnred. The phrases
of the letter had burned themselves into
her brain. ooh, Allan! Iwish / could
tell you-or do you want to heari"
When the dinner bell rang an hour aft
erward, Eva rose YEARLY from her writ
ing table, where she had been toiling over
her half finished manuscript She had not
burned it.
Five years passed before she saw Allan
Craig again, and then the meeting was
at the exit of the theuter with |
er Eva had gone to see tho hundredth por-
formanco of her play. Allan was obvious
ly proud of knowing her, and introduced
his wife, to whom she gave graceful recog-
milton. 1t was raining, and Allan offered
to sec Eva to cab. They stood for mo-
ment on the steps to the entrance.
Yes" said Allan in answer to Eva's
polite question, "all is going well. We
have little daughter-Eva-my wife's
name, curiously enough" He stood by
he hanson as she entered, guarding her
lress from the wheel AS sho turned to
give the address he said:
II ought to congratulate you on your
ucccss. 1t is very sweet to me. You know
-you-you owe 1t all to me. Are you
yratefulp"
eyes owe 1t to you, she said, lean
ng forward as the apron closed upon her,
nd the attendant constable grew impa-
lent. "Como and see wednesdays.
II can't think why should be so silly"
aid Eva to herself as she stuffed her hand
,erchief back into her pocket and felt for
Ter latchkey, when the cab drew up before
ho hall door of her flat in Keasington.~
london Black and White.