The Topeka state journal., 1909-02-22
THE EVENING STORY
The Boy and the Celebrity.

come to the city to wrest success from
Il the hands of fate. His capital consist
led first of dreams, of which he had an
unlimited supply; and secondly of a
\ small income, just sufficient to pay the
trent of his two rooms and to keep him
from a rough contact with the realities
i of life.
/ Although these stern realities were all
about him, he regarded them from afar.
because he had never been forced to
grapple with them.
Day after day he bent over the keys
of his typewriter, transferring to paper
| a cloud of visions that were then hid
den in long envelopes and took wing to
the literary market, whence too often
they duttered back.
| Still he wrote on, and his dreams rose
as a bulwark against the buffets of the
world, and his cheerful face smiled at
life.
Among the many other dwellers in the
| house was the little music teacher
across the hall, who squeezed barely
enough income from the world to keep
| together her slender body and her gen.
| tie soul.
| Her face was young and sweet, but
the struggle with life had set it's mark
Boy his cheerful face. though she took
herself to task most Sternly for har-
boring such unworthy thoughts.
The Boy thought little of his neigh |
Dor, although he always liked to listen
in the evening when her sweet voice |
and the notes of her old piano f1oated
across the hall.
This afternoon the Boys mind was
busy with quite another person than
the music teacher.
"I wonder he said to himself, 'if
she'll wear them. OF course she'll never
know from whom they came"
A wistfuI line deepened between his
eyes.
"Ot course she'll never know" he
repeated with little sigh. "She must
have any number of admirers"
He Strengthened his square should |
ers as though to shake off an invisible
burden.
"She is so beautiful and so success |
full wouldn't want her to know.
He wrapped his package carefully |
and sought the janitor, whom he re-
quested to act in the capacity of mes |
senger.
The man looked at the Boy with |
amiable tolerance. Every one was ami |
able with the Boy.
stHeIlo" he called after him. "You |
haven't told me which lady on your
hail.
The Boy turned with flushed cheeks |
and shy eyes.
''Why," he said, "she'-he could not |
1t Jared upon him, and he shrank |
from confessing that he did not know |
her real one. The amused eye of the |
janitor was upon him, and he threw |
up his head with sudden, unwonted |
dignity.
err he said proudly.
That evening the Boy pictured the |
celebrity pressing her fair face in the |
fragrant violets. Would she wear |
them? He opened his door and walk |
ed down the long hall to the window
at the end. His eyes were on the door |
of the ceIebrity's sitting room. Pres |
emily she would come out on her way |
to the theater.
She was most lovely in the big. |
black velvet hat and lace veil, and |
a vail fhONCbf he she nnEt /
be lovelier far. His eyes were, bright
when her door opened and woman
looked out into the hall.
She wore a Soiled kimOno. her
cheeks were lined and sallow, her hair
was only half arranged, and in her
hands she held string of auburn
puffs. The boy gazed a her with
of the heart, he recognized the cele-
brity.
Gone were the rosy visions. gone
was his golden-haired ideal whom he
had worshiDed from afar as the per-
sonification of youth and beauty. The
real woman was worn. and there was
something in her face that checked
the Boy more than even her slatternly
attire. The door closed. and he fed.
AS he groped his way through the
darkness of his sitting room he trod
on the pages Of his latest manuscript
that had fallen to the floor, but he
did not heed. Throwing himself into
an armchair. he leaned against the
table and buried his face in his arms.
For a long time he sat in the dark
ness. He thought of his violets now
only with a feeling of self-disgust
Suddenly the soft strains of "Annie
Laurie" fell on his ears. played and
sung by the girl across the hall. He
raised his face and listened 4 sud
den contrast rose before him-the
hard features he had seen and the
sweet modest face of his little neigh
Dor. He obeyed a sudden impulse I;
that brought him to his feet and sent
him across the hall. The door was
ajar. |,
The strains of the old song had
ceased, but the girl was still sitting I
before the piano. her face buried in
the fragrance of bowl of yiolets-
She raised a startled face at his
knock. but at sight of the Boy her
wonder-at the smooth coils of her
soft brown hair-and marveIed that
the garish gold had ever seemed so
fair.
lovely present" and lifting the violets,
she took long, luxurious sniff. II I
don't know who sent them. Just think,
the janitor said they We're for the l
sweet singer" and she laughed hap
PLY. 4
There was something in the Boys
face that startled her.
"Oh," she cried, "did you-I believe
you sent them
The Boy laughed in a light-hearted I
way that quite surprised him.
81 am glad you like them, he said. /
They are like you, somehow-the vio-
let's" /
The girls eyes filed with sudden :
and she held out an 1mpulS1Ve
little hand. =
"Oh. you don't know she said. ST I
was tired and lonely, and I love flow
srs-I feel so very helpless sometimes"