The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-07
EVENING STORY
How tte Auto Did q.
~ Irving .Crane.l

cause Maize turned indignant and said
she would go to a police station before
she would submit TO be ~swindled. a
crowd began to gather.
Harry Ffnchly was in the crowd. He
promptly espoused the cause OF the
women, and was struck by cabbys
whip. In return he pulled cabby on
the box and flung him about in the dust
until the man looked like q bundle Of
lost rags. Then, no policeman having
appeared to interfere with hi natural
course Of events, the women were es-
corted TO a hotel.
Cards were exchanged and thanks re-
turned, and 'talls we'll that ends Wei
would have been the finish had not
young Mr.. Finchly decided that Miss
Maize was an extremely fine looking
girl. It had been at least a year since
he had met her equal. Within two hours
he was longing for another look into her
brown eyes, and recalling with salts
faction what a wealth of nair she had,
how white and even were her teeth and
what a cute dimpie ornamented her
chin. At the end of "a hours romance
and love were at work.
OF curse Harry had been invited to
call il he ever found himself in West
chester county. Miss Maize, who did
most Of the talking to him as well as to
the cabman, couldn't do less than issue
this invitation, but she hadn't the least
idea that her rescuer would ever take
the trouble to travel their way. A sur
prise was in store for her. He made q
call within a week, and he took pains to
thoroughly identity himself
His trip into the country was made
in his automobile, and it soon became a
regular thing for him to be seen skit-
ting over the roads once a week. Mr..
Jefferson liked him. Mrs. Jefferson
thought he was a very proper man in
deed, and Mazie-well, she wasn't tell
ing her thoughts. but if they hadn't
favored the young mar in a general
way he would have found her confined
to her room with a convenient head
ache
An acquaintance begun in April
a progressed to September without
a thing to mar 1t. It had ripened in
TO friendship, at least, and there were
signs that it was nearing the critical
point. Then one day Harry Finchly
did ar unwise thing. In his guileless
and innocent way he mentioned that
he had given a little dinner to a lit
tie actress the night before. In an in
slant the brown eyes that had been
full Of laughter began to harden.
He saw that he had made a mis-
take and he began to hedge. That is.
he explained that the mother of the
little actress was at the dinner. The
point of Miss Mazie's nose seemed to
turn up. Mr. Finchly further ex-
planned that two aunts and two uncles
of the actress were also at the dinner.
Half a minute later he was protesting
that he would never have given the
Dime but for the fact that the little
actress seemed to be hungry and he
felt sorry for her. It had not been
much Of a dinner anyhow. He had
sat at one end of the dining room and
the actress at the other. and they had
chewed olives an ddrank poor claret
and confined their conversation to the
weather.
IN fact, Mr.. FinchIy did all possible
in the next few minute 10 repair his
blunder. He even went the length of
saying that the little actress had a
cast IN one eye and was probably.
twenty years older than she claimed
to be, but when he had finished and
could protest no more Miss Maize ask
ed to be Reuse for a moment and he
mother came into the parlor to en-
terrain him, and although both made
a great effort. conversation dragged.
When Miss Maize walked out of the
parlor she simply wanted to be alone
for ten minutes TO recover her self
possession, She was furious at the lit
tie actress, at Mr.. Finchly and at her
self, but she didn't want the second
person mentioned to V g suspect such
a state Of affairs. She would smooth
the lines out of her face, coax back 3
smile and return to him and say that
she always had admired little actressesl
Her intentions were good and polite
and diplomatic, but her temper got the
best of her. Under the big walnut tree
at the gate stood Mr.. Finchly's auto.
He always acted as his own chauffeur.
Twenty times over he had taken the
Jeffersons out for a spin, and Miss
Maize had entertained an idea for some
time that she knew all about the run
ming of the machine.
As she walked about to calm herself
she caught sight Of the auto and there
was mischief in her eyes as she ran
toward it and climbed in. She actually
did know enough to start the thing and
get headed down the broad turnpike.
Perhaps she knew enough to stop and
turn, but the sensation of being alone
! gave her a helpless feeling. She put on
speed instead of diminishing It, and in
the course of five minutes she was
whizzing down that old colonial COW
trail in q way that made the telephone
poles sit UP and wonder.
The first living thing met was a trust
ing and conhding calf that had escaped
from a field and was wandering at large
to broaden its mind When it saw a
cloud Of dust coming down the pike It
trusted that a windfaH of rich green
grass was to be had for the picking up.
1t advanced to the middle Of the road
with eyes bulging out, and ten seconds
later woke up in a far distant spot and
in a mussed-up condition. Miss Maize
had the steering wheel in hand. In fact,
she was frozen to it. She could hold the
old machine reasonably straight in the
middle of the road, but she was help
less beyond that.
The next incident was a load OF hay
with two farmer on top. They were
men who had never harmed a human
being. and they had no idea that any
human being wanted to harm them.
Rude was their awakening. They held
the middle Of the road until they saw
that the auto meant to run into them
head-on. The they swerved and be-
gan to gesticulate and yell to the
white-faced girl. They said darn IT,
and edum it, and by gosh" and sue
ceeded in saving their lives. One hind
wheel of the wage was chopped off
by the auto. however, and as the ma
chine careened onward it also carried
with it q fair-sized haystack.
"Oh, Harryi7 walled the girl as h
turned a corner and felt the machine
-..-4rn m twn whaeIa. hut Harr.-