The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-18
THE EVENING STORY
Her Birthday violets.
By Nen Speedy

MISS Imogene Goldberg Mrs. De Lam /
cey nrmly believed that Miss Goldberg's |
dog collar lent eclat to her establish-
ment.
But oddly enough Jane williams, |
whose hair was parted demurely in the |
middle and who wore her grandmother's |
old-fashioned locket under her plain |
pongee shirtwaist, realized that the fine |
gray eyes Of the new boarder were look |
Ing her way frequently and intently.
she tried to analyze her feelings with |
the salad, and when the coffee-such |
thick yet spiritless coffee-was served. |
she decided that 1t was embarrassment |
and not memory which stirred her |
whenever the gray eyes glanced her |
way.
she climbed three incorporating |
flights of poorly carpeted stairs to her
ballroom and drew from her trunk her |
small but treasured box Of photo
graphs.
There they were; the father who had
died the year of her graduation; the
mother who had left her alone to fight
the world only twelve months before;
couple OF aunts who had forgotten her
in the needs and pleasures Of their own
children: several teachers and three
girls in her class at the high school.
But there was no picture with mascu-
line eyes that could possibly have re-
sembled the gray ones which had
watched her gravely across the table IN
the dingy dining room.
IT am getting moody" she said to
herself as she prepared for bed Il must
turn over a new leaf. Tomorrow is my
birthday. I can't afford to turn sour
and old-maidish at twenty-one. When
I go back to the office on Monday morn
ing I'll be more pleasant and make
friends with the other girls. I've been
living too much in dreams of the past
Yet when she fell asleep it was to
dream again of the past. 1t was her
birthday. the first party in celebration
of that day which she could remember
with any sort of distinctness.
She was dressed in pink tulle all spat-
tered with paper stars, and there We're
pink candles on the birthday cake. NO
one knew why an ordinarily Wen-pe-
haved and unmischievous child should
do such q thing, but she suddenly de-
cided to steal into the dining room and
light the birthday cake before the
party came in"
The matches sputtered and Jumped
She tried to climb quickly from the
chair, but the tiny flame was quicker
still. In a flash the pretty pink tarle-
ton blazed up far above the candles'
and then she forgot everything In ner
fright until she felt some one rolllng
her over and over on the carpet and
battering her with his coat, and that
had been Willie, the cavalier OF her wee
girlhood.
She remembered how her mother
kissed Willie and cried over him. and
he had "pooh-poohed'' with very red
face and shuffling feet. Their adven-
ture was handed down as one OF the
traditions of the town, but when she
was twelve Willie went away to nve
with his Grandfather Grey in the 1ar
west.
Later they had gone to Mexico and
Jane had lost track of them, although
never foreetting in her own hard strug-
gle for q livelihood.
And Willie had big gray eyes, Just
like those of the new boarder. she
woke with a start. Now she knew why
this man had attracted her attention
OF course the world was full OF men
with gray eyes. There were NOT coiors
enough to go around. Some must pc
duplicated-and it was very silly OF ner
to think about Willie any more. DOUBT
less he was married even now to some
dusky senorita whose father owned val
liable silver mines.
So she turned over and fell asleep
again, not to awaken until some one
tapped at her door and the maid, with
new respect in her bearing, entered
CARRYING a huge purple box.
"This here packages for you, MISS
Williams" she said, but holding 1t as II
loath to yield it to its rightful owner
AN bein' as It's Sunday mornln an an,
Miss De Lancey gone to church, I'll
bring you a cup of coffee an some toast
For all the world loves a lover. And
are not violets and lovers synonymous:
Jane sat up in bed and reached for
the box
ssNever mind about the coffee. I've
oversight, but I'll be Gown In few
minutes"
She was undoing the box with
trembling fingers, and the maid all
unnoticed fingered curiously Out
Of
yiolets. done up in the most approved
fashion, purple foil, cord, tassel and
ALL
For me? Impossible! And there is
no card
She turned to the lid OF the box.
"Gabrielle."
The florist around the corner!
oh, it had been cruel mistake. No
one in the great city knew 1t was her
birthday, and none would care il
they knew.
sternly as was possible, with a mouth
half full of hairpins, fright after
breakfast you'll take that box back.
It belongs to some other Miss Will
liams."
And it went back, the excited girl
rushing right past the new boarder in
her haste-and yes. in her tiny heart
an ache that the flowers were not
meant for her.
Gabrielle spoke a most impos-
sible dialect, and he did his little
worst to make Jane understand that
there had been no mistake. But
Jane firmly refused to carry the
flowers back with her; and just to
convince herself that she was salts
fed with what she had done. she
walked half an hour in the park. re-
turning to find the box standing on
her shabby bureau. Again she open
ed it, and this time an engraved card
met her gaze. mr. Frederick w.
Grey, and beneath was the penciled
legend. birthday wishes, and may
see you soon? I am waiting in the
parlor now il you care to come
down"
"Frederick w. Grey?"
That must be the redlheaded as