The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-23
THE EVENING STORY
The Substitutes.

you would never dream that she was
one Of those who keep alight the hid
den fire. She was small and thin and
careworn, and her eyes, except when
she smiled, were. full Of the tiredness
put there.
long narrow table of Mrs. Penning-
toms basement dining room filled in the
pauses between soup and roast with
friendly POPULARITY, in which Miss Ed
ridge took no part.
To be sure, she answered pleasantly
enough II any one spoke to her. yet
she always lapsed into silence immed-
lately afterward, and as soon as din
ner was over sought the narrow con-
fines Of her little hall bedroom. up
four flights Of creaking. ill-lit stairs.
But as no way is really ever dark to
those who have the inner vision, SO to
Miss Eldridge her skylight room was
not the cherries place it seemed. To
others it might look sparse and cramp-
ed and lonely, but to her 1t was a
sanctuary of dreams, where night after
night she lived over again the one
great event that had crowned her
meager life.
Once in a past, now growing very
dim and far, romance had touched her
with a sweep of rosy pinions. That was
twelve years before-twelve dreary,
uneventful, work-worn years-and yet
Miss Eldridge had never forgotten. She
still held the vision as If 1t were yester-
day.
1t had been commonplacely enough.
A wealthy aunt had chosen to remem-
Der Miss Eldridge's existence and had
sent her q bit of pasteboard that babe
her be present at an evening musicale.
Tremblingly and unexpectant, little
IlrsI ero ho6 md
it like most musicales until the magi-
cal moment when a tall young man
who looked like a Greek god in evening
dress came up to her and wanted 10
know If he couldn't bring her an Ice.
Then he had stood with her chatting
lightly and easily Of this thing and
that, so brilliant, so apart from all
that made up her humdrum little round
that she had listened to him. rapt and
spellbound, as if he were indeed the
true bringer Of the Promethean fire.
And from that time on she had never
forgotten him. He was the ideal beside
which all other men were compared
and found wanting. And though she
had never seen him again, and though
he moved in worlds quite other than
her own. the hope that she would one
day meet him still made her heart
leap, still filled her days with expect
ancy, and her nights with dreams.
Though that one blissful invitation
was all that her august aunt hao
chosen to send her, were there not 9TH
er places where she might glimpse her
hero-the park, the bride path, or
Riverside? 1t gave an eager uplift to
each moment without which her life
would have been bare indeed.
She faded, but her hope never did.
Perpetual alteration kept it vital and
alive. Yet there were times when even
her high spirit faltered; times when
l in raonhad MI for
| more actual companionship than that
| of visions, and 1t was on one of these
days that she first met the professor.
| Really met him, that is; for he had sat
| opposite her at the table month In and
month out with no deeper acquaint-
anceship than that which arises from
politely passing the bread or intimat-
| ing ones willingness to share the salt
| and pepper.
| But now the professor had met her
face to face In the lower hall one sui
| try September night when the rest OF
| the boarders were DANGEROUSLY scram-
bling for places of vantage on the stone
| steps.
| Perhaps he read fellow feeling in
| Miss Eldridge's eyes; perhaps he
| she. too, found Mrs. Pennington's unen-
| durable. Be that as it might, on the
| spur of the moment he stopped her AMI
1 asked if she wouldn't rather go for g
| stroll than "join that pandemonium Out
1 there" Indicating the doorstep and its
occupants by a vague wave of the
| hand.
Miss Eldridge paused. hesitated and
| accepted. Not that by this was hel
| idol removed from its niche. Far from
it. For as time progressed the SYM
| pathetic understanding which sprans
| up between herself and the professor
brought to light the fact that he. too
had had his ideal-a woman seen only
once, but beautifully remembered and
treasured in his middle-aged heart a:
an unfading rose whose luster dimmec
| all other flowers.
| ANY glimpse?'' he would ask hel
| whimsically as they walked side by
| side in the crisping November weather
Undiscouraged, she would shake hel
head. And your"
Not the slightest" he would answer
| And so 1t went.
Then came the morning when a large
square envelope was laid by Miss Ell
bridges plate. Her aunt, growing ole
and feeble, had not the less diminish
ed her social activities. After lone
! absence in Europe she had returned
! to New York and requested the pleas
| ure of Miss Eldridge's company at -
Miss Eldridge put down the invitation
white to the lips, her heart bounding
furiously. Pride urged her not to ac-
| cept, but a feeling stronger than any
self-love swept over the barriers OF
| pride and brought them low. The old
| inextinguishable hope was there. Vita
and dominant as ever.
On the great evening she arrayed
| herself with trembling fingers. The
i face her mirror showed was flushed
and radiant. 1t was as if her lost youth
| had stepped back to crown her for a
moment with the touch of all sweet
1 imperishable things.
| The professor was going to a special
meeting of the board Of education and
| had promised to wait for her at the
| car when it was time for her to return
\ Ten minutes before she arrived he was
| at his post, pacing restlessly. Under
the thin flare of the street lamps his
| face looked more tired and haggard
| xa,a, ,,SuoJ Tho glory too had faded