The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-06-07
TIE EVENING ST0R Y
Love and Laundry.
(By Joseph nc

If you keep on having deaths in the
family at this rate you will kill them
all Off before the end of the year and
have to marry into another family to
get more relatives to kill warned
Freeman as he regarded the woman
who was supposed to keep his apart
ments in order.
The ebony face opened wide in a
guffaw- Cynthia regarded Freeman as
a. rare joker.
Deed she protested, II didn't lose
no family. 1t was my bes' lady Her
lille gal done got married yesterday"
Well, don't let it happen again" he
warned. Give the rooms good
cleaning today"
Cynthia wriggled first on one foot
then on the other. Il don't can do no
cleanin' today" she protested. dis
my young lady day. I jes' come for
your wash. She told me 1 could wash
yours there"
IF you mean you are going to do my
laundry on some one else's gas range,
pc careful that you get all my things
back
Cynthia, with many voIuble protes-
tatons, escorted him to the door and
returned to the apartment to gather up
the Soiled clothes. and Freeman went
downtown to work.
Things all went wrong that day, and
when he came home in the evening he
photograph and a handkerchief he was
wont to draw comfort. The girl in the
photograph smiled up at him, but the
handkerchief was gone, and though he
turned out the contents of every draw
er, he could not find it.
With an odd sense of foreboding, he
sat down to think it over. Freeman
was of an unusually sensitive tempera-
ment and the loss of the handkerchief
seemed to him to be an omen.
RR=Gin haH " he
to say good-by before he had started
for the city, and she had given it to
him to wrap the photograph in when
he slipped it into his pocket. It had
been his talisman, and the faint per-
fume that he knew SO well cleared his
brain of worries.
Now it was gone, just as Bessie had
gone There was something uncanny
in its disappearance and 1t seemed to
him to preSage evil
She had dropped utterly from sight.
She had written him that she, too, was
coming to town, and that was the last
he had heard. That had been a year
ago and he had searched in vain for
any trace of the girl who had promised
to become his wife.
He was still lost in his thoughts when
a shrill peal of the electric bell reused
him. At the door stood Cynthia, pant
ing from the exertion of stair climbing
and carefully nursing q huge basket
covered with his best red table cloth.
Get through all right?" he asked,
his good temper returning. What did
the young lady say to the intrusion %
''She done expect it, was the COM
Portable reply as Cynthia made her
way toward the bedroom to put the
things away. 81 done tole her that I
had to look after my young gemman,
too"
You better had he laughed, as he
settled himself with his paper.
''I got to go back there she said, as
she came numbering toward him. IT'S
des as funny
Whats funny?" he asked.
Il done took a handkerchief outen
your top drawer"
Thank Cod he breathed softly.
AN I don't know which it is" she
she went on as she handed out a pile
Of f1lmy, lacy things
" our young lady use the same
kind p he asked as he held out his
hand.
Cynthia nodded.
Freeman gave a gasp. There was
nothing by which he could tell the one
he had lost. They were all alike. He
turned to Cynthia.
What's your young lady's name %
he demanded.
Mis- Hadley," was the stammering
response. I'm sorry done got 'em
mixed
I'm not he shouted. 'sWhere does
Miss Hadley liver"
IT was des a'goin' to slip 'em in de
drawer" she protested. "Doan you go
to takin' EN- round"
Hang the handkerchiefs. he shout
ed, as he caught up his hat and start
ed for the door, and he darted out
leaving behind a most astonished ne
gress.
Ten minutes later he was ringing the
bell OF a fiat house half a mile away
and with trembling feet was climbing
the stairs IT r1frrht r al "a
a mistake, yet it would be odd If her
name was Hadley and it was not his
Bessie.
Then door opened in the hall above
ters. With a choking cry, she tottered
toward the stairs just as he sprang to
the top, and an instant later she was
sobbing in his arms.
For a moment he held her there. too
happy to speak then the closing of a
door on the floor above reused him and
he quietly drew her into the parlor.
Il have found you at last" he ex-
claimed st was beginning to fear that
you were dead"
Gently she slipped from his arms and
moved away. Il sent and told you
where I was" she reproached. you
never came to me-
Il did go. he protested. II was out
Of town. When 1 came home they told
me that YOU had gone out one evening
town for you. but could find no trace,
Ind I even went back to the old home
to see If you had become discouraged
and had returned there
Il met with an accident" she ex-
planned 81 was struck by an automo-
bile and my head was hurt=concussion
IF the brain they said it was. I was
nsensible for two weeks. Then I sent
o your address, but you had moved !
md no one seemed to know where you
vere''
sT had fitted UP a fat for two" he |
when I lost you I could |
lot bear to live in it and be constantly |
of all had planned"
''Then how did you find me now?"
he asked
Through your handkerchief" he
explained.
ct did not know they were marked |
With my address," she said coldly. |
There must be some other explana- /
ion of your suddenly awakened desire /