The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-06-28
THE EVENING STORY
The Girl Across the ais,e
(By Aloise JohnsonN

was snow. The whole world. to all mr.
poSes' mad faded away, leaving the |
ssailed express the center of deadly, |
gnastiy, unstable Wilderness.
Helen Melrose turned from eazino
nopeiessly from the window to the
comparative cheer of the Pullman car.
AS she did so she looked into the con-
templative eyes of the man across the
aisle and hastily carried her gaze on TO
me carved woodwork beyond his head,
desperately restraining her inclination
10 nite her lip in annoyance.
Inc man across the aisle continued
70 watch Miss Melrose in the same
contemplative manner.
Sne mad first interested, then irrita-
TED him. Her extraordinary type of
peauty had caught his eye, as it did
Ilfst time. Hair of a sheer downright
copper that was fairly alive in its
pflght waving, a white face unmarried
ny the tiny freckles that love to follow
IN the wake of hair verging on the
red tones, lips as scarlet as those in a
pictured face Knight had once seen.
ana wondered at. And behind it all the
girl had mind of her own, as a
siance into the wine-brown eyes would
convince one.
1t was her calm independence that
mad brought irritation to supplant ad-
nlrat1on in Geo. knights breast. I'm
consciously he expected heIplessness,
appeaIlngness in woman, 1t ran coun-
ter TO his sense of the correct order of
Things to have a girl so cheerfully able
to look out for herself
When he had boarded the train in
chicago he had instinctively put out a
hand to assist the woman in front of
| MIN up the car steps. the porter being
engaged. It was not till she turned
her head briefly to thank him that
ne knew whether the woman was
young or old and the shock of Miss
Melrose's queer beauty had been ad-
ded to by the realization that her eyes
We're only coldly courteous, almost re-
sentful
For two days he had sat as near the
girl as though they had been opposite
one another at their own dinner table,
yet they We're miles apart. Other pas
sengers chatted, exchanged reading
| matter and anecdotes of the country;
| the copper-haired girl held aloof even
| from the women. But in spite of his
| evaporation, the proud tilt of her
| head, the serenity of her level gaze,
| her entire elf-sufficiency drew him.
At the station where the train stopped
some minutes he would meet her
walking UP and down the platform
with her splendid gait
ct expect Knight told himself on
one of these occasions. that if the
| goddess of liberty took a walk, she'd
start off just that wayt'
| And now high up in the Rockies the
blizzard had gripped them and the
train had stopped. The trainnnen were
!
ing drifts were SO huge even the ro-
| tary plows We're helpless. As Knight
| stood muff1ed on the back platform on
one of his restless trips of observation
the conductor stood beside him.
"If we don't get out of here tonight -
| he said, grimly, ''the whole train Will
be as neatly and completely covered
over with snow, to say nothing of
snowslides that may come, as though
somebody had just dropped us in and
i covered us I'D again.
| The dismal prophecy fingered in
| Knights mind as he. returned to. his
| car. There were mutterings of weari-
| ness and worry from most of the de-
| layed passengers. Only Miss Melrose
| remained apparently unaffected. She
was reading book with intense in
| terest, having given up the deso1ate
| view from the windows as tiresome
| Knight wondered. little Indignantly
| if nothing would move her from her
| calm. And so when after an hour or
| SO in the smoker Knight again tramp
4 ed to the back platform he was sur
prised to find the girl, muffled in an
| ulster, leaning over the iron rail.
| straining her eyes through the white
veil into the hidden valley below.
AS she turned at his step mething
| happened. All Knight knew was that
he was being swamped. smothered.
blinded by an icy, rushing blanket of
snow and that he was holding the girl
| in his arms, frantically bracing him
4
finally swept itself away down the
| slope the two stood clinging to one
another. gasping. beating the snow
from eyes and noses.
I "Are you l1urt?'' knight asked anx-
iously. His ideal woman would be half
| fainting, frantic with fear. This wind
blown, gasping creature actually laugh
ed. Then her voice was riotous with
| mirth.
'.Hurt?" she echoed. "why should
I be hurt? You were here! If you
( hadn't been, however, 1 probably
should be following the snowstorm
down the mountain side! Thank you
] for preventing that unpleasant tripi"
knight laughed, too. Her humor
| was infectious, if novel. He watched
| her sweep back into the warmth of the
car with her free grace of movement
| and again he was irritated. He hated
being denied his manly right to pro-
| tect womanhood in distress. Then he
realized that the girl had not been in
the least distressed. except momentar-
| lily. He wished. savagely, somthing
would happen to bring forth the de-
pendent side of her nature, if she pos
1 sessed it. Then she would be perfect.
| And then he laughed a little sarcas-
tically at his interest in a young wo-
man whose name even he did not
know.
The hours wore on and the coal gave
| out and the cars grew colder Every
body vetoed the porter's efforts to
| make W the berths. The cross and un-
comfortable passengers wrapped them
selves in blankets and huddled in the
corners of their seats. Nobody wanted
to sleep when they knew not what min
ute the gale and an avalanche combin-
| ed might sweep them from the track.
knight watched Miss Melrose soli-
| citously. 1t was at that hideous hour
when the gray dawn makes everything
i its uefiest that Knight, to his unbe-
lievable amazement, saw Miss Melrose
1 quietly crying.
Without voIition he found himself
swept across the aisle
| "What is it 2" he asked breathlessly.
She turned to him frankly. 'Ive
got the nervesi" she confessed, with
| = ~ifif,,I oftau,p a a smile that ended