The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-07-25
TIE EVENING STORY
While They 1Yalted.

He jumped out of the little country
rig leaving it in the hands Of freckle-
FACED boy and rushed up TO the ticket
office just as his train was pulling out
from the station.
Pshawi" he exclaimed irascibly- And
then to the sleepy-looklng. contented
ticket agent; When does the next train
leave for New York2''
Two hours replied that individual
laconicallx.
Maverick oliver wasn't a man 70 cry
over spilled milk. He sat himself phil
osophically down in a shady recess OF
the waiting room and extracted a note
book He would look over some MEM
oranda ne had jotted down for his So
licited article for the Review, and then
take stroll along the country hedges
There seemed to be rather attractive
bit Of woodland just beyond:
How long must I wait for connec-
lions for Rosecliff7''
Something in the woman's voice. half
contralto, half alto, made the man with
the note book suddenly start. He'd
been SO enErossly coming his mem
oranda that he had scarcely noticed the
incoming train with all its attendant
hustle; now, however, a single wOmans
voice made him start and caused the
review article to be as far from his
thoughts as the military affairs Of ma
tions r. G.
The woman's back was turned toward
Oliver, but he knew it was Eleanor.
Who else, in all the world, had that
queenly carriage, that soft slope Of
shoulder, that bewitching mass OF coll
ed chestnut hair?
For Rosecliff?" came the ticket
agents monotonous voice, as he ca
ressed his wrinkled forehead with the
back Of his hand. "A half hour, na-ann.
Trains Is minutes late" The woman
turned impatiently away from the Win
1t was then they came face to face.
You!' cried Oliver. sprin ging up,
She stood there in the barren wait
ing room, filing It's emptiness with
the richness of her charm. To the
mans hungry eyes she was food of
the most satisfying as well as of the
most delicate sort.
She did not hold out her hand.
Neverth eless she encountered him not
smile including him in some mood
too large to be wholly personal.
How you've changed, Eleanor he
cried involuntarily.
Are you, too, waiting for q train %
she answered softly IN return. In
which direction do you go2''
''South-to New York" said Oliver.
And you?"
TO Roseclin-fourteen miles east"
Oliver took her umbrella and tiny
walked slowly up and down the plat
form together, man and woman, in
stead of husband and wife. held apart
by some strange nat they had both
In the fields. all around, the butter
cups were golden. and the wild carrot
was in white. lace-Iike flower. Over
in the woods beyond some songbirds,
waking from their summer siesta, were
beginning to MARBLE. A group OF trav-
ing at the far end of the platform,
expectorating copiously TO punctuate
the points in their stories.
Oliver busted the platform steps at
L ~ -.~f&E 1 l.
handkerchief. and the woman sat Sc
renely down, her delicate profile OUT
lined against the clean blue of the sky
like some exquisite cameo She had
always been beautiful, though;
wasn't that which made the man ex-
claim again irrepressibly:
You've changed SO, Eleanor" Ii
was true It was no mere fancy of his
imaginative writer's eye that discover
ed new meanings in the face before
him; it had undergone q vague but
very gracious Transformation.
'Changed?'' repeated she, with
curious tenderness. i've tried to
change. Tried-do you understand?
separate I've been trying-so hard,
Maverick-to take control of my own
stunted nature, turn 1t where It
twists"
humility, I'VE were both to blame
both. do you hear? And I'm afraid
you've been cleverer than I If you've
unsnarled things where they failed to
fit the pattern. I've not changed much
I'm afraid
Under her black lashes the woman
smiled at him with a reverence he
might have translated chad he been
high plumed). as some loyal acqui-
essence in his former state. What
Oliver felt now, however. was curiosity
in his young wife, not in himself
So
"Ten me-" he burst forth, what has
changed you so?
kerchief into string, and. throwing
it over her knee. pulled it unconscious
~ by both ends, gazing steadfastly
into the blue distance above divers
head.
IT don't know whether I ought to
tell you" she began.
oliver recalled that delicious little
habit she used to have of tenn pttng
the Fates sIlyly: Of hesitating when
she meant to be right-down out
rageous-
"Of course. you ought" he urged.
You always do in the end, you know,
and it will save time. Under her
playfulness he had allowed himself to
grow light-hearted.
well. then she began. but her
voice trailed OFF vaguely. Her cheeks
took on q pinker bloom: she forgot
the handkerchief and finished her
thought with a mature dignity that
became her like the armor OF her sex:
''Our little boy, Maverick. Our little
boy has changed me-
s'Ahl Our boy Oliver broke of
abruptly, for something had suddenly
ciutched him by the throat.
The woman hastily brushed her
tears away. and went on practically:
You'd be proud of him. Maverick
such strong. agile limbs-and he
has the will OF a little savage
Let me see.'' Oliver said brusquely.
stopping over the platforms edge and
plucking a buttercup stalk that had
ambitiously grown up from the gravel;
The must be eleven months now
yes, he was five when-when you
Last saw him. She kept her eyes