The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-15

Copyright, 1903, by Daily Story Pub. Co.
Outside the snow zigzagged and
'Whirled and carried southwark on a
whistling wind. The gloom within was
broken by gayly capped candles on
rows of white tables Dreariness Turk
ed In the corners of the long cafe and
the unaccustomed stiffness seemed
frelghted with the melancholy of two
lonIy Christmas diners.
T In the dimmest corner sat a young
man busy with pad of newspaper
copy" between alternate stabs at some
tiny blue points.
Over at window table a woman
rested on her elbows and stared out
|. moodily. She was gaudily dressed,
even to her complexion, grotesquely re-
touched with paint and blue white
powder.
The reporter was absorbed in a
'story" which he was preparing for d
newspaper, not over scrupulous in the
quality of it's matter. 1t involved a
lady known to fame and fashion for
her beauty and the wealth of her
father. The young man was thinking
how his scoop" would astonish the Of
flee and again of how he would see HIM
self in the first column on the front
page in the morning. For a difficult
interview had been obtained with the
wealthy lady whose escapade furnished
the facts for his pen. She had made
the fatal mistake of granting him an
interview in the hope of averting.
through her womans tact, the catas-
trophe of public print. On the contra
ry, as the reporter had regarded her
beauty, quite unmoved, it was she who
weakened like a silly school girl, while
he had made the mental observation
that she had seen prettier women III
the police court" Her low, cultivated
voice, with just the expected proportion
of tears in it, likewise had failed to
move him. His one thought was of The
golden value of each sentence for his
precious copy" At last. losing all
self-control, she had bitterly plead with
him. Still had he remained impervious.
But here, in the almost deserted res
taurant. with the lonely flavor Of his
solitary Christmas feast to help along
natural melancholy, the human side
of the situation presented itself.
Neither the woman's husband nor her
father had heard of the scandal, which
was no less in fact than that the en-
wed daughter Of smart society had
been secretly appearing at intervals
behind the footlights of a variety
theater in a most alarming lack OF
costume. Only the enterprising man
ager had been oognizant of her iden-
tity until, in the hope of some free ad-
vertising, he had shared his knowledge
with the reporter.
A waiter cleared away the blue
points The man took up his pencil.
More and more reluctantly he set
down the sorry story. Never before In
his newspaper experience had he been
bothered with undue sympathies. "If
people would go on making fools of
themselves they deserved to suffer the
sequence of their acts" But somehow
the significance of the day dampened
his professional ardor. His story
would crush all the seasons joy out of
the hearts of three persons-had
brought misery to one.
Il almost hate pretty women" he
mumbled, seeking with thoughtful gaze
the snow fiurries beyond the frames
of plate glass His line of vision in
cluded the gaudy woman in the win
dow who was steadily regarding him.
Her painted face thrust itself most un-
welcomely into his thoughts. and it was