The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-26
THE EVENING STORY
The Once Cat.
(By Temple Bailey.)

Inc Ofnco Cat.
(By Temple Bailey.)
The judge had always looked upon
Miss Staley as a machine. Every
morning she took his dictation for an
hour and later she brought the letters
to be signed. That was the begin
ming and end of their intercourse. The
judge was very busy man, and it
was only when some one interrupted
his routine that he gave exasperated
attention. EXPERIENCES was the price
of Indifference. Hence the first time
he saw the human side of Miss Staley
it came as something of a shock.
She was feeding the Office cat. That
forlorn feline, as far back as the judge
could remember, had been a thin
bodied reproach to the community.
There was a tradition that she lived
by catching rats. But such living was
ways gone about lean and lank, and
somewhat plaintive. On warm days
she took her airing in a restricted
back court, but in cold weather she
curled herself, alphabetically, near
radiator in corner of the hall, sub
jeet always to the moods of the jan
itor.
Today, however, things were. chang
ed. There was bottle of milk on
Miss Staley's desk and her sponge cup
had been converted into a feeding
dish, from which the cat ate ravenous-
ly while the little lady watched
her with tender smile on her lips
and a tired relaxing of her slender
figure, which made her seem. for the
first time, to the judges eyes ex-
quisitely feminine.
The judges post of observation
was his window, which looked across
an airshaft into Miss Staley's small
room, where Typewriter and a great
oak desk hobnobbed with a not of
pansies on the sill
Moved by a sudden impulse, he
raised the window and motioned. and
the girl came blushing to hers.
II couldn't help it," she confessed,
across the space; 'she is such a poor
little creature"
"Why didn't some of us men think
of it % the judge demanded. I'VE are
"Oh, but men are so busy" was her
defense
eve aren't much buster than YOU"
mo, but wornan-oh it's a wonl-
ans privilege to do such things, isn't
it?''
The judge liked that. So many
women of his own world seemed to
have forgotten the claims of COM
passion, and at times the judge, re-
membering his own mother and her
gracious personality, had yearned for
some evidence of brooding tender
ness.
He had certainly not expected to
find it in his Office girl. Yet here was
animal as his own lady mother would
have done, feeding it and making a
bed for it in a paper box; and saying,
as that dear woman would have said
that linen are too busy and that this
was "a woman's privilege"
He thought about 1t so much after
he left the office that the next day
Miss Staley was surprised by a large
parcel, upon the delivery of which the
judge came over to make explana-
tiOns
TITS a basket for the cat. That
old box doesn't look in keeping with
the rest of the furniture
He had chosen tbara it Of sober to brown Ttn
covers for the cushion, to be washed
weekly.
"Oh. Pussykin, Pussykin," Miss
Staley rejoiced, you won't quite
know what to do with such magnif-
cence."
But her eyes were shining as she
thanked him. Now she can keep
her fur white. 1t is hard for her,
poor thing, when there are so many
ashes"
The screen made such an effective
hiding place that no one but the
judge and Miss Staley knew of the
good fortune that had come to the
office cat. It furnished them, too,
with a little secret and delightful in
terest, and brought into the judges
somewhat staid bachelor life a fresh
ness which was relief from the
stale excitements of late suppers and
showgirls which seemed to satisfy his
club-fellows.
Reverence for women had been in
stilled into the judge by his mother,
but he had found few who had justi-
fed it. 1t was a real joy to discover
the depths of Miss Staley's. nature
He had to go about it slowly, for she
permitted no cessation of their strict
business relations. The only subject
which he dared discuss with her in
formally was the office cat. Never did
a feline acquire importance more sud
denly. 1t became a daily occurrence
for the judge to step in and say good
morning to "Pussykin." He put her
milk on the Office expense account,
experimental with prepared foods,
and furnished fresh and dried supplies
of catnips, until at last, when the one
time starving took her place beside
the pot of pansies on Miss Staley's
window, she was a joy to behold.
Thus all went well until one cold
morning when Miss Staley came in
for dictation. The judge saw that
her usual seIf-possession had for
before she broke down, and then she
wrung her hands and said. wistfully,
like a child, "Oh, I've lost my cat
How" the Judge sat up. you
Eyes, I do. I haven't seen her for
two days. The janitor has had it in
for me ever since I told him that If
heard him beating his boy again
would report him to the police
"Well,'' the judge stated, che will
find out that L"
The janitor, after much compulsion,
admitted that he had carried the cat
to the edge of the city, and had
dropped her near the ash dump 'She
was mine,'' was his defense.
81 will get you another cat" was
the way the judge tried to comfort
Miss Staley.
But Miss Staley SHOOK her head.
"Oh, no, you mustn't. I think the
reason I liked this one was because