The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-12-29
THE EVENING STORY
Cinderella to Date.

i
"I suppose you have read in the pa
| pers III you have time to think about
anything except yourself) that the
1 Westfeld bank Is wrecked. They have
arrested Mr.. Hartley and Mr. Manner $,
but that does not help the rest of US.
In g short time I presume I shall be on
the county. If you had married Dan
Martin, Is I wanted you to, I would
not be facing this terrible situation, out
you always were headstrong, and my
whole life has been sacrificed to the
effort to raise you as your dear dead
mother would have had me. Even now,
Dan is willing to forgive your folly and
marry you. He will have the house all
done over and his sister will go to
Johns to live, and there will be only
Dan and you and me-"
The letter covered five closely writ
ten pages, and Annabel read 1t through
twice with firmly set lips and dry eyes
coat, hat and gloves and went out for a
long walk in the snowy park, where mo-
tor cars filled with fur-clad figures flew
past and laughing children pelted her
with harmless balls of feathery white
ness. 1t was a glorious day. and when
she came back to her dfngy hall room
she was smiling and the hard lines had
faded from her face. Then she wrote
her answer:
MY Dear Aunt MoIIy:-I am so
grieved to hear of the bank wreck. l
had not read of 1t in the papers, be-
cause we have been enjoying the privii
ege of some special instruction under
Professor -, of New York, and
have been working at the academy
night and day. Perhaps the bank re-
ceivers may save something, and in the
meantime you must not worry. I Will
have the store decided to you and the
rent will more than keep your house
going and each week 1 will send you
some of my earnings. I am 1nclosing a
money order for $25 that 1 happen to
have in hand. Have Mr.. Gregory ar
range the transfer of the store proper
fn
urge that upon me again. / still feel
that have some right to happiness,
and 1 know 1t will never come to me
through Dan Martin"
Not one word of reproach no re-
minders of a dun-colored childhood and
dreary girlhood, spent under nagging
of the most trying sort. No reference
to the fact that her own patrimony had
gone under with her aunt's small for
tune in the bank wreck No intimation
that she had sent almost her last dollar
in the money order and must now drop
her art studies and seek a position In
the wOrkaday world She smiled grimly
as she mailed the letter. Her aunt
would accept the sacrifice and wall to
Dan Martin over Annabel'S lack of ap-
probation.
Dan Martin-how she hated every
inch of his understood person, his
SMALL beady eyes. his perpetual smile,
his weak, receding chin She mailed
the letter with a strange feeling of in
dependence achieved, for now she had
paid, to her own satisfaction, the debt
of gratitude imposed by her aunt. which
had hung over her young life like
pail. She was free now to work out
her own happiness.
But for the next week, happiness
seemed to move further and further
away. In later years she never thought
of those days without shuddering.
The holidays were over. nobody
wanted to hire clerks. nor buy illumt-
mated cards telephone records. or
any of the pretty things she painted.
might sell her few casts and painting
outfit. She set her lips f1rmly-and
climbed the stairs to fashionable en-
ployment agency. The manager was
sitting at the telephone when Annabel
entered. She hung up the receiver with
an impatient frown.
What do you want-a position as
governess or companion? Nothing ike
that in view. A hundred applicants
for every position. Oh, wait a minute
You look bright. Can you do manicur-
ing and dress hair a bit and mend
laces? If you can do it even half way.
1 wish you'd try this place. I've sent
the customer a dozen girls, and they
always part after a terrible scene. The
woman's a crank-but you look as II
you had tact"
The upshot was that Annabel. with
25 cents in her purse and a notice OF
rent due under the door OF her hall
room went to see Mrs Cartwright
Brown, and that highly strung person
age said with dissatisfaction and sus-
picion in her voice that she would give
the girl a trial.
The Cartwright Browns were newly |
rich. The father had made an enor- |
nous fortune through his own efforts.
and was proud of 1t. The mother was |
so burdened by it that she was on the
verge of nervous prostration- Anna |
n
per. and took heart Later she learn
ed that there were a son and daugh-
ter away at college who were Just a
little ashamed of their new rlGhes.
how It happened. but she became the
virtual head of the Cartwright Brown
household. Mrs. Brown vowed that
she could hire q visiting manicurist
stand between her and domestic and
social worries as Annabel could
It was Annabel who reorgan1zed the
staff of servants and installed a COM
netent housekeeper. 1t was Annabel
who had the Conservatives brought
up to date. Annabel who mace out
congenial dinner lists. Annabel who
conferred with Mrs. Browns mOdlste
and Mr.. Browns tailor, Annabel who
shiDped smart suitable clothing and
room furnishings to two colleges.
AnnabeYs position in the household
was peculiar. She was neither house
keeper nor private secretary-Just
miss Annabei" She did not receive
with Mrs. Brown on Wednesday after
Moons. but she did join the family oc-
casfonally at the theater or IN viewing
a IT exhibitions. And it was after one
Of these rare occasions that she real
lied the full extent of her happiness
She had been hunting congenial work
not an art career. She knew now
that her small talent for drawing had
ofYered her only an excuse for fleeing
an unhappy home hfe-but that she
never would have become great
artist while she was competent
manager of the Cartwright Brown
home. she sent her aunt's allowance
and gave no thought to the