The Topeka state journal., 1908-06-16
THE EVENING STORY
Cupid Across the Seas.

s A
Grantley Graham leaned over the
steamers rail and regarded the city
with a frown. He hated the water, SO
the distant pier promised relief from
the disQuiet he always felt when he
was on ship, yet every beat OF the
powerful engines, every revolution OF
the huge propellers that pushed the
nose of the liner into the very drizzle |
of a summer rain brought him nearer /
to the dreaded dreariness Of his own
home.
With an almost self lf-commiseration,
he looked back upon the last few
months and contrasted their brilliancy
with the life that lay before him, and
his soul revolted at the thought OF re-
turning to take UP the dull monotony l
of the home life he had always known.
Presently they would dock at the |
pier. There would be the usual diff
Guilty with the customs which seems to |
be reserved for the American citizen |
The carriages would be waiting, and in |
little while he would find himself be-
fore the somber brownstone prison that |
in earlier days had stood to him for all |
that was elegant and refined.
Jean, his wife. would come out on
the high stoop at the sound of the car |
riage. She would offer her cheek to be |
kissed. She would ask IL he had had
pleasant trip. And then she would fol- |
low him into the house and with the
closing of the door would be shut out
all the social possibilities Of the past.
Nothing, however, could deprive him
OF the thought that he had lived Tor
once. For six weeks in London he had
dwelt in a fairyland Of fancy. He had
mingled with men and women of the
world, and almost he had learned to
say MY lord" and MY. grace" without
feeling his knees weak at the realtza-
tion that he was speaking to a men,
Der of the nobility.
During the wear inst naSSed he had
| accomplished a triumph of engineering
and had beaten the British masters at
| their own craft. They had given up
the problem which to Graham had
seemed simple enough. and when he
had accomplished the result he had be-
come a national hero for day. The
American colony had dined him, he
| had been presented to the king and he
had received many invitations to coun-
try house parties, all part OF the fairy
| dream.
7 Graham had married early, and as
| soon as he left college he had plunged
| into his work with never a thought of
play. This had been his first real va
| society with q delight that was wholly
unworthy his country and his genius.
| He had had no time for society in
his own land because the work that
made him what he was had prevented
relaxation Then. too Mrs. Graham,
1
content to share his isolation and find
reward for her renunciation of society
in the pleasure Of removing from his
path the hundred petty cares of daily
| life.
! Jean had grown somewhat stout with
the passing Of the years and the COM
p1exion which had been her greatest
charm in her girlhood had faded. AZ
first, while abroad, Graham had miss
ed her for a time, but in the end he
was glad she had not come.
He contrasted her placid content
| with the feverish brilliancy Of the wo-
men he had met, and he knew that
they and she. never could have mixed.
| For the first time he felt an Actual dis
| satisfaction with his wife and wished
that she might be more like those but
terf1y creatures.
AS he thought of them while the car
riage rolled uptown he felt more and
more a distaste for the wife awaiting
him. and when she came to- the door to
greet him he contrasted the portly fig
ure in its sober dress with the slender
ness of the smartly gowned women of
title who had amused themselves by
turning the head Of the clever Ameri-
can for few weeks.
Yet Graham was astonished to find
that he was glad to see Jean. Her kiss
of greeting was less perfunctory than
he had anticipated. There had been
one moment abroad that now he would
like to forget. It was at a ball. The
lights, the music and a stronger punch
than he was used to had all gone to
his head.
For one deIirious moment he had
held a slender, yielding figure in his
arms The next instant Lady Eleanor
had accepted the impetuous embrace
as a graceful excuse for ending a boy
ish filtration that promised to grow
embarrassingly serious instead Of mere
ly amusing. The memory Of that kiss
had not been pleasant to Graham, for
he was a clean-minded man, and he had
shuddered at the brink upon which he
i had found himself.
/ He followed Jean up the narrow
stairway, contrasting it with the great
| staircases he had seen abroad, and,
even with the contrast, it did not seem
to be as mean as he had imagined.
j His room was as though he had left
it the day before. There were matches
in the mantel and some of the cigars
he liked best. A book and a reading
light were by the head of the bed and
his slippers laid out beside the lounge
Graham was of methodical mind. The
| prim orderliness of the room was In
contrast to the hotel rooms in which he
| had spent the greater part of a year
and 1t pleased him to have things just
as he wished them to be. This he had
not found even in the country houses
where he had visited. Some of his dis
quiet vanished to give place to a sense
of satisfaction and the frown had left
his face when he went down to the
library where the recent mail was
waiting his attention.
Yes, he was well content to be at
home again. and yet he was conscious
that a vague something still was lack
ing. He sat over the unopened letters
| and wondered what this new feeling
might be, yet dinner time came with
the solution as far away as ever.
The well-served meal with its few
simple dishes was relief after the
eiahorate dinners of the ocean liner
and the still more elaborate functions
abroad. Mrs. Graham beamed her sat-
isfaction when he was moved to praise