The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-04
The EVENING STORY

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The Story of an Engagement Ring.
lBy RAINY Nivlem.)
Is this Mr.. Howard 2"
Lawrence Howard looked up. Upon
seeing pretty young woman stand
ing in the door. he. arose.
/ Yes" he answered. Come in
me girl came quietly forward and
took the seat he offered her.
Il have come in answer to your adj
vertisement for bookkeepers. l saw
your father downstairs and he sent
me to you.''
DO you want a placer"
| YES" she answered simply
| where were you last employed ?'
At this the girl colored slightly and
answered that she had no practical
business experience; but that she had
always kept the books at home. and
that she really knew bookkeeping At
ter some more talk. Howard agreed
10 take her name and address and to
let her know If she were needed. Julia
Burning, she said, was her name; and
wnen ne asked the very inquisitive
and entirely unnecessary question as
to her age, she said that she was
| twenty-one.
| When Miss Burling left the Office,
young Howard went with her to the
| door and followed her with his eyes
| -
girl, and Lawrence Howard was al
! ways looking out for interesting per-
sons Although, after four years in
| college, he had been made junior
partner in his fathers business, he
was still student. He enjoyed the
unusual in human nature. This Miss
| Burl1ng seemed to him unusual. She
was refined and gentle. and the chang
ing color in her face made her pretty.
she said that she had never been en-
nI0Und q
guessed as much. Likely" he
| thought "she doesn't know thing
about it; but I'll try her.
So Miss Burling entered upon her
duties at the Office of Howard & How
ard. From the first she showed that
she understood the important points in
her work. and the minor details she
grasped readily under young How
ards teaching. He continued to be
interested In the girl with the sweet
seemed to have brightness hidden
away in them. Often he had occa-
sion to close or open the windoEs near
her. or to pick up her fallen papers.
| thank him for such courtesies showed
| that she could be decidedly beautiful
If only she were happier. One day,
when they happened to leave the big
noisy building at the same time, he
walked home with her, and the en-
thusiasm with which she listened to
his talk charmed him.
One day. about two months after
| she had come to the Office, Miss Bur-
| ling asked Lawrence to help her find
directed his eye along the lines of fig
| ures, he noticed on the ring-finger of
her left hand a large diamond soli-
taire. Somehow the sight did not
please him. That evening impelled
| by something which he told himself
IA Writ r.
again, and when they reached her
boarding house she invited him up
| into her sitting room.
Lawrence went. He found the room
furnished In mahogany, with hand
some rugs upon the floor and copies
Of well-known pictures upon the wall.
When he complimented her taste she
| smiled and said: Eyes, these things
are my own, Of course. I saved them
when everything else was solo,
Lawrence never had known her to
offer so much information concerning
| herself, and though he desired to
know more he could not find 1t In him
to ask. In vain he searched the walls,
photograph of young man-of her
fiance. Why was she in mourning.
and where did her ring come from
Presently he looked up. from his alb
sorption to find that Miss Bur1ing was
busy setting a little table for two. She
glance.
"oh, you're going to have supper
with me-" she said. IT haven't had
any company for long time. not
see, I cook my meals myself except
on Sundays and holidays; I find it
cheaper"
After their simple, dainty meal.
which Howard enjoyed to the fullest,
Miss Burling sang for him In a sweet,
ma rfiaI1v trained voice some ola love
songs and ballads.
Lawrence Howard knew that night
before he left Miss Burling's little sit
ting room that he was more than in
walked home. happy in the memory
Of her smile, that that smile was to
him more than beautiful.
Summer had come and gone. Miss
ter a two weeks holiday. Lawrence
noticed that she still wore black, and
that diamond solitaire. She had told
him. he remembered, that first even
ing when he visited her little sitting
room, that she had not had any COM
pany since she had been living there.
He adopted the plan of calling to see
her on Monday evening of one week,
Tuesday of another, Wednesday of
another, and so on, until he had as
su-ed himself that she had no regu-
lar and permanent visitor. He had
sometimes visited her unexpectedly,
and though he often found girls with
her. never a trace of her lover could
he find.
|. one evening when he called in the
early spring she was dressed in a soft.
mink gown Lawrence never had seen
her in anything but black and he
made no effort to conceal his acmira-
ton now.
"Oh." she said, coloring as she no.
ticed his fixed gaze, IT felt so queer
putting this on. But thought that I
Just couldn't wear black clothes for
another whole year, and can't AFFORD