The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-04-30

London, climbing the grimy stairs of
newspaper offices and talking to people
who did not seem especially pleased
to see her. Her skirts were wet and
a wisp of damp hair was tumbling over
her eyes. On the hall table, disclosed
by the Pickering gas jet, were some
letters.
"A year ago today said Eva to her
self us she closed the door against the
wind. HAS he written or has he for
g%otten?"
He had not forgotten. Eva picked up
the letter from the hall table, looked
quickly round at the closed hall door,
at the closed dining room door, and at
the baise door that led to the kitchen
stairs-and kissed it. Then she went
upstairs to her bed-sitting Don with
in her heart.
Hateful little room!" she murmured
to herself as she struck a match and
lit the gas. But it's the last time,
thank God!'
The room was not really bad-a bed
In the corner, a washstand, a wardrobe,
here and there a picture on the walls,
and a table by the window, rather rick
ETY., on which lay a heap of manuscript
"a half-flnished story.
II will burn that before l go to bed
tonight" said Eva, as she caught sight
of it.
Then she took off her hat and cloak,
drew the only easy chair under the gas
jet, and sat down. lingering the let
ter, she did not open it at once. Now
that happiness stretched in front of her
it was pleasant to linger on the con-
fines of misery, to look back on the life
,he was to leave.
1T is not everyone said Eva re-
~flectively, who can make experiments
In life-without expense"
Eva Norrington had been the pride
of the provincial town which gave her
birth. At the high school no girl could
stand against her. Her former govern
ess, who new and then asked her ia
vorite pupils to tea, said she might be
seemed absurd. But when, at the age
of 20, she gained a guinea prize for a
story in a weekly paper she began to
think that at least she might be a
great novelist. At any rate, she felt
sure that somewhere ahead of her
stretched a career; and as her twenty
first birthday approached she an
nounced to her startled parents her in
tention of going to London in search
of it. Thereupon ensued a series of
domestic scenes, such as have been
common of late in the homes of En-
gland, wherein the parents play the
part Of the a%pprehensive hen, the
daughter that of the adventurous
duckling. The duckling invariably
gains it's point, and so it was with Eva
Norrington. Having refuted argument
and resisted persuasion for a certain
number of weeks, Eva obtained a
grudg;ng consent to her departure. The
toWnspeople knew not whether to adj
mire or d~isapprove. But they had read
in novels of young ladies who took
their lives and their latchkeys into
their own hands, became famous, and
married respectfully after all. So, dur
ing the weeks of preparation for he1
campaign Eva became something Of q
figure in local society, and more thar
one dinLof party was given in her hon.
or, as we'll as plentiful advice as to the
necessary precautions against London
guile and many recipes for guarding
against the colds induced by the fogs
that infest the metropolis.
Eva was almost happy, for she hat
the h~opefulness of youth and beauty
and all the exhilaration Of taking he
life into her hands and f%ashioning i
as she would, with none to raise obiec.
tons to the process. She would have
been quite happy but for Allan Craig
For Allan Craig, whenever he heard
that Eva vas bent on going to Lon.
don to make a name for herself
promptly offered her his own as a sub.
stitute. 1t was a good enough name
and at the foot of a check it was gen.
orally respected, as Allan Craig ha(
lately stepped into his fathers bushes!
of estate agent and was prospecting
Eva was disturbed, but she turned no
aside from her project. She had mapped
out her life and Allan Craig was moi in
cluded in the scheme.
AS she sat lingering her letter in he:
bed-sitting room she went over tn
parting scene in her mind. The de
tails of it would only increase the de
light of the letter. For Eva hat
learned during the last year that hap