The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-03-05
THE EVENING STORY
His Game OF Patience.
(By Gertrude Delaney. }

4
Old Capt. Blanding had two absorb
| ing passions in life-his love for cards
and his love for his daughter That's
| 1t was wonderful how many young
men were willing to pass their even
| ingS at the captains house, playing
with him. He was wary old oppo-
nent and all but invincible.
The young men came by twoS and
threeS in their best tailor-made suits,
with posies in their buttonholes. often
they brought offerings to the captains
daughter.
That's accepted the gifts and the too
evident goodwill indifferently. Some
| times when a fourth hand was needed
at whist she lent her aid. Otherwise,
she betook herself to the parior and
practised as diligently as If there was
not a man in the house.
Aunt Lefty, Capt. Blanding's widow
mothered his otherwise motherless
daughter. She was a gentle SOUL.
largehearted and small minded, who
made the best doughnuts in town. BY
the aid of her smiles and her cakes she
encouraged eligible men TO frequent
the captains house, hoping that some
one of them would prove acceptable to
That's.
Thais's name had been given her be-
cause of an early fondneSS of her fath-
er for Greek literature. That's. despite
her name, did not lean toward schol-
arly achievement. She was butter
fly, very beautiful to look at and very
difficult to catch.
She had read a little poetry and q
great many romanceS where the hero
ines were all beautiful like herself and
the heroes proved their devotion by
astounding deeds Of valor. These men
who sat evening after evening with
| bits of red and black pasteboard be-
tween them evidently lacked every
1 heroic quality.
When one by one these timid ador-
lie n ~ Of he
| promptly trampled upon it and sent
him away smarting.
When after a few evenings he did
not again appear the old captain
would wonder mildly what kept him
| away. Sometimes he asked the victim
and received a stammered excuse.
BY the time the young mans place
at the card table was Allied the captain
| had ceased to remember him.
1t was Sheldon King who brought
Billy Smith to the house for the first
! time. Billy was a newcomer in Ken
sington and wholly unacquainted- He
, particular shade of brown. square
plain face and blue eyes behind
glasses. He had no stories to tell. no
jokes to raise a laugh and he had new
er handled cards before in his life:
1t took him the entire evening to
learn to play pedro, but he applied his
mind to it with will, and when he
went away the captain slapped him
| on the shoulder and told him he would
make a player if he kept at 1t. The
captain always said that to the de-
, feated, who sometimes chewed their
lips over it bitterly. ~-
The captain conceived a great Xix
ing for Billy and they spent many
evenings together. BY spring Billy had
learned all the games the captain
| knew, and could even beat him in
some of them.
He came obviously for the captains
1,.o rI@f off in cyc
to That's. He had his own way to
make and an invalid sister to maintain
at an expensive santtarium. This
much he told the captain and was
forever after silent about his affairs.
Sheldon King presently, having had
his wings badly singed- at the candle
of Thais's Indifference, ceased to be
seen at the captains card table. But
Billy came unfailingiy The. captain
was delighted with him.
Here at last was a man who did not
play to ones humor, who beat one I'M
mercifully if he could or was beaten
without showing the white feather.
The second winter Billy'S sister died
He stayed away two months and the
captain openly fretted for him. Then
one evening Billy appeared with box
of the captains favorite cigars. The
captain fairly wept for joy at the sight
of him and shook his hand twenty
times.
He called That's to see who had
come. That's came. startled by the
clamor, and little disguised when
she found only Billy. She gave him
a cool little hand and a cool little
smile and a cool little phrase of well
come, then returned to the piano and
"Chaminade." She did not understand
Billy, who brought cigars to her father
instead of bonbons to her
Two years went by The circle
about the captains card table had
changed many times and had dwindled
\ H. Gil FTN,VN
Pike and Billy. One by one the other
young men had mended their hearts
and offered them good as new else
where.
The votive offerings that now came
to Thais'S shrine were far less fire.
quent. Billy brought her nothing at
all, but it was wonderful how many
little things he found to present the
captain with. He even gave Aunt
Lefty a beautiful crochet hook with
a chased gold handle.
More years passed and more slowly
for That's. "Chaminade" had ceased
to charm her and she missed the ex-
element of past alteration. Mr..
Sweet had gone away and Tom Pike.
in despair of winning That's, had mar
ried woman easier to WOO. There
were no new lovers forthcoming, for
That's was now generally labeled dan
gerous Moreover, she had ceased to
be the beauty of the time.
She had reached a very trying per-
iod of her life, being too old to go in
the young set, too young to go in the
old set and prohibited by reason of her
maidenhood from the married set.
Her dreams did not as in the past
satisfy her; her hero, the ideal of her
ina ginings, had not come; she believ-
ed now he never would come. She
began to sigh when she looked in the
glass. Sometimes she saw herself
quite old, sitting at table pouring tea
for Aunt Lefty or playing cards with
her father. and having no interest in
life beyond these two daily duties.
Thais's ideas of life were changing.
She discovered that Billy Smith had
a good forehead and mouth and that