The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-08
The EVENING STORY
Big and LittIe Things.
BY Ethel Darlington. }

llA oSdIeQ on n lower step, ne knew
just how the face above him was look
ing.
The sultrinsss of the closed house.
where for a few days pending the
completion of certain plumbing altera-
tions she had been left sole occupant,
had driven the girl to seek the COM
parative freshness circulating about
the brownstone steps and there Jeff
Rhen had found her when he arrived
to explain his absence the previous
evening.
ut takes a woman to make a pyra-
mid out of grain of dust grumbled
he.
Its the accumulation of grains that
makes it, corrected the other. TITS
not the first time you have mortified
me before my friends. I expected you
right up to the last"
Il apologize, dear; I was finishing
some old work.
Leaving me to get home as best I
could.'
TT wasn't so late. and Grace was
with you. Besides, you're not timid.
a week. lived alone in this great
house ?"
MY mental position. then, justif1es
your treating me in such cavalier
You know better!' Rehn's temper
was rising. ''The grit YOU showed by
putting your shoulder to the wheel in
your family's emergency Won my re-
Unfortunately the girl was beyond
being Modified by soft speeches. Ac-
lions are the crucial test, and measured
by the standard formed by recent as
ISOLATION with her wealthy employers
family, with their social niceties and
easy courtesy, ESSENTIAL or ornamental
plain, hard working Jeff REIN fell
lamentably short.
IF you consider me so little now
how would it be after marriage?" was
her protest.
Name the day and I'll show YOU"
TITS no use, jeff, / won't marry
you. I've grown to crave those little
attentions, those social obligations that
are meaningless to you-and, anyway,
1 don't feel 1 can rely on you."
A dull. thick red burned the mans
cheek. He rose.
Did / ever fail you-when the thing
was of consequence
His muscular hand trembled as it
clenched upon the balustrade, and for
q moment the girls resolution waver-
ed, but she drew coldly back.
I'll ray goodnight. as 1 must rise
early. The plumbers finished today. so
I'm joining the family in the Adiron-
dacks tomorrow"
REIN scarcely heard. intent on one
point only. "You mean it-you won't
marry me?"
Just that. Jeff. But we can still be
friends"
Stunned by her decision. yet too
proud to show the depth of his wound,
REIN went heavily down the steps.
reached the corner. And with him de-
parted the girls anger. She ShiVered
on entering the silent house. Closing
tie door. she, stood motionless in the
wide hall, the dim light from a solitary
burner falling on her face, pale with
elf-questioning. What had she done?
She had not seriously intended a final
break a44 81 -,=
MethodicalIy she secured the bolts be-
fore entering the elevator to ascend to
her room on the fourth floor. The ma
Chinery was controlled by electricity,
and She pressed the button several
times before the switch caught. The
car rose with a jerk. then more slowly
passed The second floor. After which 1t
crawled by irches until it stopped al
together and the lights went out. She
pressed the button without effect. The
car hung motto Mess. Only after re-
peated efforts did it occur to her that
she was in a ver1table trap, and a rush
of norrer seized her. Helpless, alone,
she was suspended between two floors
of what was believed to be an empty
house. Had she not distinctly informed
the plumbers, and. later, Jeff, that she
was leaving early in the morning?
Naturally, after their quarrel, the latter
would not stop for a final goodby. She
might die in her narrow cell before
ny one would think to inquire about
A
But, refusing to yield to fear. she press
ed frantically upon the button. Soon
recognizing the futility of her efforts,
She screamed aloud. only to have her
. Cice flung back upon her by the con-
finish space.
Hours elapsed. but in the blackness
Of the shaft few sounds penetrated.
Her throat grew raw and, exhausted,
she flung herself upon the seat that
SPAWNED the back of the car. Failing
into an uneasy dose. she aWoke with
4 horrible sensation of being smoth-
cred. She could not draw free
breath. Her head throbbed as If the
temples must burst The door locked
could not move it. Casting around her |
The look of q trapped animal. she |
found thin ray of light filtering down |
through the ornate roof of the car. In
t We're set several Danes of colored |
glass Could she break these .suffoca- |
ion need not be dreaded. Climbing |
into the seat, she struck with clenched |
list at the glass and rush of purer |
lir rewarding her. sank back. Day !
had risen and with renewed hope she |
screamed afresh. Surely her plight /
vas desperate. The day of horror |
jagged on until darkness fell. Ut |
erly worn in mind and body, sleep was |
The heat was almost I'M
,ndurabIe, and she suffered madden
ngly from thirst.
The second day passed as the first /
lad done. and only when the third |
morning broke did she lack the spirit
md strength to move. Huddled upon /
he floor, she lay, for the most part,
,assively accepting fate, though in
he intervals of feverish delirium her
,arched lips continued to call on Jeff.
'sAlice, Alice Her name pierced
he darkness. But so frequently had
he beaten with frenzied hope upon
he unyieIding walls of her prison, in
nswer to summonses born purely Of
ilr1a
noaned.
~.Alice-" Again the cry, and this
ime clear enough to destroy the dead
ming lethargy and bring her to her
eet.
'Jeff-dear, Jeff-Tm here"
nn the small window in the shaft