The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-29
the EVENING STORY
BilIy's Proposal.
BIZ N. u. PhilIlps..

There was no good reason, except
ing his own overpowering bashfulness.
why Billy De Voc should not marry
Nellie Melrose= Billy loved her de-
Hornville and with numerous admir-
ers, had unmistakab bly, shown her pre-
ference for the quiet Billy.
Billy's income was sufficient for
two. He. was booklxeeper in the Horn
vile Department Store. and besides.
had recently taken to writing short
stories which sold well and which
caused the Alton county Courier" to
refer to him as our rising young au-
thor"
The young mans bashfulness
amounted almost to fear of every
thing feminine, excepting Miss Mel
rose, whom he had known and loved
all his life. And this idiosyncrasy pre-.
vented his asking her to be his wife.
For a year he had been trying to
get out the momentous question.
Each time he started for his tri-week-
ly visit to the girls home. Billy would
promise himself, "It will surely be to-
night" Then he would, in imagination,
build conversation which led, as a
pathway. right up to the storming of
the citadel.
With commendable persistence he
followed the conversation previously
planned to the last redoubt, to the
point where the final desperate charge
began to give way to personalities and
constraining little pauses. the battalion
of Billy's courage broke and fled to
the safe and dreary fields of the COM
monplace again-the weather or the
next church social.
Billy, berating himself soundly. as he
went home one night after another in
glorious failure. realized that matters
Dick Parsons, for instance, had begun
to appear in the Melroses' parlor alto
gether too frequently. and Dicks per-
soEal attractions, he humbly admitted,
far outweighed his own. Must he sit
| idly by and see another charge straight
on to victory? Never; something had
to be done.
Aroused by this fancied danger of
losing Nellie. Billy's brain worked
feyerishly. All sorts of schemes for
| outwitting his bashfulness until he
could propose were tried and rejected,
until great idea burst on his brain
with the suddenness of a comet. Its
brilliancy and daring were appalling.
| In the full glow of his new-found en-
thuSiasm he set to work that very
| night, fearing that time would dim its
brightness and lead again to failure.
Miss Melrose thought it nothing out
| of the ordinary when, a few evenings
later, Billy diffidently drew a neat,
typewriter manuscript from his peck
| ct He had frequently requested her
/ to pass judgment on his stories, and
relied greatly upon her opinion.
4 Il can't seem to get an ending to
| suit me for this one, Nellie" he said;
II don't know whether to make it a
happy or an unhappy one. wish you'd
| tell me what you think about it,
| young woman Is quick to feel agi-
| tation in the man who loves her, nc
matter what her own feelings toward
him may be. The girl knew by the
4 trembling of Billy's hand that some
thing out of the ordinary was astir, and
Eshe took the manuscript with interest
/ "All right, Billy" she replied, smiling
wen see what's the best thing to dc
flor it. But you know the best stories
i the ones people remember longest, Of
item end unhappily.''
Bfllyfdid not seem particularly pleas
ed at this bit of opinion, for he nod.
ded glumly and fidgeted nervously II
4 his chair.
I = Miss Melrose soon discovered the
treason for Billys agitation. Before
she read half dozen lines the girl re
Il allied that, although the names were
/ changed, it was her own story and hi'
that Billy had put on paper. The tals
/ was written with the power of this
true artist. 1t began with their child
4 hood, when Billy carried her books tt
| school or hauled her proudly on hi.
4 sled. 1t recalled the day when Bue
Howard, the school bully had stole1
/ Rilly's lunch, and how, after Billy hat
thrashed him, Nellie, had shared he
4 own two apples and four slices O.
bread and butter with the victor.
Before the first page was turned
/ Nellie had forgotten Billy, forgotten
4 herself, forgotten everything but thu
fortunes of this quaint little pair. thes'
tlivings breathing children of the pas
i which seemed SO long ago. She srnfl
ed again over the description of thei
and her eyes smarted. with the sorrow
i of their first and only quarrel, so gen
timely was it portrayed
\ The narrative swept on to the out
q break of the Spanish war, Billy's en-
J listment his return to Montauk Poin
from Cuba, fever stricken and weak
of Nellie's. coming to the long cot fillet
4 hospital tent where he lay. The cir
and her mother had cut short visi
in New York to find him. She smell
ed the horrid medicine again an'
heard the raving of the deliriun a
she read. Her eyes filled when sh
saw how he treasured the memory o
, hrr kiss that day, the only kiss poo
} bashful Billy had ever claimed.
, The story took up the soldiers ul
: home town to find that his childhood
sweetheart was now considered grow
up-she was land was going ava.
to school. 1t told of her four years
, when both the boy and the girl wer
, in a state of transition. Although tn
old conra deship was there still. sur
, face changes, the girls new surround
ings and acquaintance, had mad
them almost strangers.
| The story went ON to tell how Billy
ever hanpered by his bashfulness. Sc
out to win again the girl who ha,
given him her frank young affections
/ BILLY poured out his hopes and hi
fears. He narrated how in he read
| justment after the four years of thei
: practical separation she had seeme
more distant and unattainable thal
ever. Still, it was not so bad until tn
rival had come who seemed destine
to be the victor. all because the oil
: lover was tongue tied by a morbi
self consciousness. as-
5 On the next few paragraphs Bill
had expended many anxious hours
l With mingled hopes and fears he ha
: watched the girls expressive FACET