The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-15
THE EVENING STORY
Two Hermits.
(By Belle Maniates.)

q,
most isolated farmhouse in your dis
trict, where can have comfortable
accomm rotations for the summer. and
In no way be hampered in the creation
of the book that at present exists in
embryo within my BRAIN
After much skirmishing and scour-
ing of the country, Murray found what
he thought he wanted, and wrote his
friend to come on.
Orville came by next train. Murray
met him at the station in his big red
car, and they sped down a broad. DUST
white highway.
Looks thickly settled" objected Or
vile anxiously.
I'VE have only started on our road
to nowhere" laughed Murray. It'll
cure you Of your desire for solitude.
| think"
Six miles farther, he turned into
crossroad with farmhouses few and
far between.
This is better" declared Orville.
1T will keep getting better from
your standpoint" retorted Murray.
On they sped until the car swerved
and turned into what looked to Orville
like an overgrown copse.
you don't mean this is a road?' he
said, as the car bumped and protested
against the ruts and underbrush.
4. No; Just lane, the only house on
which is the one where 1 have en-
gagged quarters for you. The Gliddens
live there, but rent out their ground,
SO there will be no help even. just
Glidden and his wife. Not a rural
route delivery to break the monotony!
believe q peddler passes once year.
You can be lost to the world. and. like
the little girl in the song, have nobody
nigh to hinder
Murray, this place was made for
mel" calculated the young author as
the car swooped down upon white
house nestled among the trees.
Murray helped him carry his belong
g., $v,%@ he L. OF, had n
then returned to town with a curious
smile lighting his face
The place proved ideal for Orville's
purpose. The farmer and his wife
speech. They never disturbed him
when he was at work. even to the ex-
tent of summoning him to a, meal.
When hunger drove him from his
work, mo matter what the hour might
be, food was prepared without an OBJ
lection. A beautiful winding river
with incurving shores swept through
the farm, and here at eve Dick Orville
was wont to repair for inspiration. I'm
der these blissful conditions his ideas
Then there came the inevitable ending.
II am sorry" faltered his landlady
one morning, but Hiram went to the
postoffice today and he found a letter
from a young lady in the city. She is
an artist and wants to come here to
paint and to be alone
"WeIl. write to her that she can't
| come" replied Orville quickly. I'll
pay you double
IT'S too late" said Mrs. Glidden
you see the letter was written a week
ago. We don't get our mail only once in
while. She said If she didn't hear to
the contrary she'd come today. But
I'll try and find her another place near
here. The Aliens take boarders. I
may have to keep her over night if she
comes. Would you like to hear her
letter."
Before he could politely decline tn is
prefer. Mrs. Glidden began to read the
letter. which was girlishly written. She
said that she longed for a place where
she could be quiet, some place that
was remote from neighbors where she
could paint and dream at will; that a
friend in passing the Glidden farm had
thought it would be just the kind of
place she craved and had written her
about it.
upon hearing the letter. There was a
note of appeal in it. reflection of his
own mood that touched him.
"She evidently Graves solitude as
much as do: and SO she will avoid
me-" he thought.
1--WE might try 1t. Mrs. Glidden," he
proposed, land if I find her presence
interrupts my work in any way we
can ask Mrs. Allen to take her in They
have other boarders, and I imagine she
wouldn't get the quiet there that she so
evidently wants. I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll move my writing table and
books and things down to the little
cabin on the river bank and do my
work there"
He proceeded to carry out this plan
and remained in his new quarters the
rest of the day. 1t was dusk when he
came to the farm house for something
to eat
"She's upstairs" volunteered Mrs.
Gudden "She's awfully young and
pretty. I told her I had a gentleman
boarder who came here to be alone, and
she said she wouldn't disturb you in the
least"
But Orville wasn't interested in hear
ing of the newcomer His mind was in
tent on a complicated situation in his
book, and he paid no heed to what his
landlady was saying.
Three days and nights interviewed
without an encounter of the two would
be hermits. Once Orville came upon an
easel down in the orchard. He paused
before it for some time, lost in admira-
ton of the talent displayed. Then he
walked on to the river. That night he
was unable to write. Memories he was
striving to stifie were awakened by the
bit of landscape he had viewed
The next morning as he was seated
at his writing table in the cabin, max
ing heroic efforts to concentrate his
thoughts on his work, he heard the
sound as of some one running. He went
to the door and saw young girl carry
ing a tin pail filled with artists mater
ials running toward the cabin in great
.Oh." she gasped with a half sob.
"saye me. He'll follow me in here
In an instant Orville's strong right
arm was about her shivering form
.sKathie. Would I let any one or
ANYTHING harm you?"
She lifted white face.
"Oh, Dick! You? Why-you are not
Mrs Glidden's boarder-the one I've
been hiding from?"
Eyes: but tell me. what frightened
sThe BULL. He chased me down here
through the meadows.
Oryille placed her in chair and
stepped outside. In moment he re,