The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-10-10
THE EVENING STORY
Lights of Home.
(By Philip Kean.l

always been the joy of his return. His
mother had kept a candle in the win
| dow, and after a long voyage the
steady fame was Stephens welcome.
A jutting rock hid the cottage until
one was almost upon it, but he knew
that the obstacle once passed he would
see the starlike CLEAN. 1t was with
a feeling of intense disappointment,
rock, he faced blackness. Following
the disappointment came fear. Why
had the light gone out?
The house when he reached it show
ed locked door and closed shutters.
the forlornness of an uninhabited
building.
Stephen sat down weakly on the
front steps. He was sure that some
| thing had happened to his mother. In
his voyage of two years it had not
though he had written regularly
Many things might have happened in
that time-illness, death.
With a feeling of deep foreboding
he rose, uncertain where to go, but
with the remembrance of a former
| schoolmate, little Anne Martin. who
had comforted his mother in her lone
illness.
He went down the path with heavy
steps, then stopped short and turned
as a sudden flicker of light illumined
the darkness. With the light life came
back into the empty house, the shut
tiers in the sitting room were opened,
and the candle could be seen straight
and tall on the table.
It was not the candle at which
| Stephen looked, however, but at a girl
who stood behind the table, her hand
shielding the flame. She was tall and
fair with a blue ribbon banded around
her shining curls. The room behind
her had the dreary look of place not
lived in. There was no fire on the
hearth, no work basket on the window
ledge, or purring cat on the cushion
ed bench. There was an unreal air of
tidiness which chilled him.
From outside the window he called
the girl: Little Anne!"
She came and looked into the dark
ness. us it Stephen" she asked
breathlessly. 'at last?"
He caught her hand in his.
Where is my mother?" he demand
"ohr' she walled, has nobody told
mo, but the room tells me-" he said
heavily.
''she was very Ill.," the girl said
softly, land at last she went to sleep
and I promised to keep the light al
ways in the window for you. Tonight
I was late because I stopped at the
wharf to watch the ship come in, never
dreaming that you were on it."
She opened the door and let him in.
1t Is a SAD nome coming, SH0 Sc1u,
but you must let me get your supper.
I bought mine in town and I will cook
it here and then 1 won't have to eat
alone"
"Alone?" he questioned.
Father is out fishing. There's just
the two of US left
In the basket which she brought
from the steps were a loaf of bread,
bacon and eggs.
There is tea left in your mothers
canister" said Little Anne, land if you
will build the fire I viii soon have
things ready"
With the fire burning steadily in the
stove, he watched her fit from room
to room. Her presence rested and COM
forted him. In his wandering life he
had felt little need for domestic joys
The little New England village had not
provided enough excitement to satisfy
him, and he had Travelled to the end of
the world seeking adventure.
He had found it, and what after ali
was 1t worth? He had sense sudden
ly of utter forlornness. With his moth
er dead, there was no one who cared.
No one but little Anne. He had a
vision of what life might be if he could
make himself settle down in some quiet
place with this girl as his wife. Surely
there would be much that was pleas
ant in an existence with such woman
by his side. While he was not con-
ceited, he had little fear that he could
win her. They had been friends, al
ways, and he did not doubt that he
could rouse a deeper feeling.
He voiced something of his feeling
when, as they sat down at the table,
he said, 81 wish your face might be
always opposite me, Anne"
She was pouring his tea, and she
smiled at him brightly. You must stay
with father and me until you go away
again.
perhaps I shall not go away" he
said.
She shook her head at him. you
could never stay in one place long,"
she said.
Perhaps if there was some one to
keep me- he said, significantly.
But she refused to take his mean
ing. You could never settle down"
she insisted.
1t was not the time or the place to
press his suit, but when he had been
home a week he asked her to marry
him, and she refused.
The spirit Of the wanderer will come
next week, you will want to go with
it, and I could never live the life that
your mother lived, waiting with the
candle in the window"
''I would stay with you" he said ard
emily. You would hold any man." But
she persisted in her refusal.
You will want to go with your ship
she repeated; you will grow restless,
and shall feel that 1 am second in
your thoughts"
81 shall not want to 60" he declared,
but, when the time for railing came he
found himself drawn irresistibly to the
dock. The great steamer was ready
for her voyage, fresh with paint; and
there was about her the atmosphere of
mystery which belongs to vessels that
sail the tropic seas. The other end of
her voyage would find her where dark
skinned people stood on white sands to
welcome her. Back of them would be
waving palms, where bright-hued birds
made their nests-a land of Incidence
and allurenent.
He realized that his love of Little
Anne was thing of recent growth
while, all his life, his passion for the
sea had held him. Was there anything