The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-04-13
THE EVENING STORY
Playbills ana Sentiment,

word OF thanks Tor the penny bestowed
upon her and scampered back down
stairs. while Elizabeth returned to the
parlor with the mail which the child
had just brought.
It was comfortable little city apart
ment, and only the typewriter table In
one corner betrayed the fact that It
was g. work as well as play room.
Through an arch an absurdly small
| dining room with the table laid for one
| proclaimed 1t to be the home of q
bachelor girl, though Elisabeth Belk-
| maps dainty femininity gave no sug-
gestfon Of spinisterhood. either from
choice or circumstance.
The coffee percolator steamed on the
table unheeded while she ran through
| her letters-a check for a story. two
manuscripts returned, a couple OF per-
sonal letters, paper and a thin. fiat
package bearing a foreign stamp.
Elizabeth frowned over one letter,
smiled over another, patted the check
lovingly as she thrust 1t into the
drawer of her tiny desk and ripped the
covering from the package. Out fell
| a playful. glaring thing OF red and
| blue letters on yellow paper. bearing
the list Of artists appearing at Ro-
man music hall.
One Of the names was marked with
an inky cross, and in defiance OF pos
written on the margin DO you re-
member we saw her at the theater the
night before I sailed? It's q small
world, after ALL
Elizabeth smiled at the remembrance.
Four other girls and herself had given
Nell going-away party the night be-
fore the latter sailed to study in Italy.
They had wound up the evening at a
vaudeville theater where the little
dancer of the glazing programme had
appeared. Now Nell, in Rome. had
seen the same act and had remember
ed their last night together. Was she
homesick?
It was several moments before Elix-
abeth opened the newspaper, the OLD
home paper and las good as a letter.,
so Jack Hardy had often declared. Not
an item of news worth the telling
escaped publication in the Blairsville
Beacon" for even with detailed infor-
nation as to newly painted fences, the
editor found 1t difficult to I'LL his yaWn-
ing columns.
The .Beacon" was Hardy's compro-
mise with his conscience. for he had
declared when Elizabeth had determin-
ed to leave Blairsvi1le for the greater
opportunities of the city that he would
not write. He had not written, but az
ter the first week the Beacon came
regularly, addressed in his strong,
masculine handwriting, and Elizabeth
always smiled a softly triumphant
smile whenever the copy arrived.
There had been an understanding"
with Jack Hardy until the stories she
loved to write had so frequently found
publication as to awaken in Elizabeth
an ambition to get in personal touch
with the editors.
Hardy had frowned upon the sugges-
ton OF removal to New York. He could
not leave Evansville because his own
and his mothers incomes were derived
from the lumber business which MS
father had left, and Hardy knew that
to go to the city meant beginning all
over again the fight for a competence
There had been heated words over
Elizabeth's determination to leave. and
she had been given her choice OF
career or marriage. She had elected In
favor Of the career. She had prospered
in the great city. She had told herself
over and over again that she had done
the only sensible thing, and yet"
Today there was an Enclosure with
the Beacon" playful. announcing in
famboyant language weeks engage
ment at the opera house Of the Rice &
Bennett Empire Stock company.
Elizabeth smiled as she read the IA
miliar repertoire. The Rice & Bennett
company was almost an institution IN
Blairsvflle Twice q year they played
for week in the town hall, and every
one who could afford 1t attended all
their performances. 1t was the one real
dramatic treat Of the season, for the
few other attractions that made Blairs-
Vile were travelling iHdSiCidiiS, OASic
Toms Cabin" companies and an occa-
sional medicine show" The Rice &
Bennett company was to Blatrsv1lle
what grand opera is to the cities
Last wear she and Jack had attended
the spring performances together. but
in the fall she was gone. How times
had flown! The Rice & Bennett COM |
pany would open their spring engage
ment the following week. and Jack had !
sent her a hanger. An odd lump came |
in her throat as she returned to the |
table and her neglected coffee.
When she started to tidy up after
the meal she thumb-tacked the italian |
poster to the wall of her tiny private |
hall. The wall was bare and the yellow
poster with its foreign lettering gave |
smart touch to the hall. like hotel
labels on steamer trunk or suit case. |
Elizabeth sat down to the typewriter,
but presently there came an tnsistent
ring at the hall door. Tony. the rosy
faced Italian who supplied the tenants |
of the house with ice, displayed two
rows of cleaning teeth as he explos-
lively announced "Icei" Elizabeth held |
open the door for him while he lifted
the cake from the dumbwaiter and
placed 1t in her refrigerator.
But the smile had faded from Tony's |
face as he turned to leave. With an |
inarticulate cry he sprang at the pos
ter lingering it lovingly and scanning |!
every word Of the beloved Italian.
'sIt is from the home" he explained,
blushing when the first shock of sur |
prise had passed. TT is to there that |
/ take-a what you call-sweetheart? |
All! To the Salone Margherita me an |
my Marie. Marie she cannot leave de |
pop-de fard'. I come-as to America to /
make-a mon. 1t is YER lonely, signora. |
Scus-a MI"
He shuffled halting1y from the apart |
ment, his jovia1 face drawn with home |
sickness and thoughts of the distant |
Marie.
Elizabeth went back to her work. On |
the floor the Rice & Bennett playful |
still lay neglected, and now it caught |