The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-04
THE EVENING STORY

(By Stanley Barton.O

| AtStC4y appealed 10 Don werner.
One evening while on his way home
he stopped in at an express company's
auction yearly function held by
these corporations to relieve them
selves Of unclaimed packages--and at
a trifiing expense, secured a substan-
tial leather bag. The bag was locked.
Chance led him into the auction
room. His imagination did the rest.
Now, as he plodded home. he was in
Iever of excitement. His wearisome
day at the ofiice-he was G bookkeeper
In commission house-was forgotten.
He anticipated a pleasant half hour in
examining his treasure.
| His romantic mind conjured up all
sorts of probable reasons as to why
| the original owner of the bag had not
claimed it. Heart disease, a trolley
/ accident, everything possible came in
for its share of supposition.
IN this leather vehicle there might
De certificates of deposit for thou
sands of dollars-Don's heart quick
ened at the thought; an unread will,
leaving a vast estate to a properly
appreciative relative, cut off by the
| absence of It without a penny; shares
OF mining stock in a Western hole in
the ground that had suddenly devel-
| oped into a bonanza.
A strenuous five of Don's twenty
| six years had been spent in the heart
world. His father and mother were
both dead. Akron. Ohio-his birth
/ place-had seemed too small to the
ambitious youth and he had sought the
| big city,
Others had done this before him.
/ The majority of them had returned
| to the snug Ravens whence they had
fitted, when a proper conception of
the smart competition existing in the
| metropolis had been disclosed to
them.
Young Werner proved of sterner
stuff. Perseverance, finally won him
/ Tsfr ffxye n
! large establishment and his rise had
been consistent with his almost phe-
nomenal ability.
He was a youth fair to look upon
large, six feet and of the true Saxon
type. He had few close acquaint-
| ances in the city. He was naturally
reticent. He made no cronies. His
| dreams were the growth of a secret
ambition to become as big and great
as some of the princes of his world
/ the world of business.
Now, with 4 light step he mounted
the steps leading to his lodging
| flight leading to the first floor and
! his own room.
with the aid of a jack knife, he
| speedily forced the lock of the leather
bag, tingling with the great expec-
tations his imagination had wrought
up.
A look of disappointment gradually
swept the optimism from his eager
] face as the Gag gave forth its con-
| tents. First, came a well folded pair
| of trousers of good material. Even
had Werner cared to annex these, It
was quite evident that they were built
| for a smaller man. Two night shirts
| followed; three shirts, size 15-Wer-
ner wore size ia bundle of collars,
| all too small two Turkish towels; a
modest comb and brush, and last a
book. No mysterious papers met the
! eyes of the searcher. He turned the
bag upside down-uselessly.
Werner was not satisfied. In
reasonable, he had expected something
some feminine intuition had told him
to expect som ething.- -sa3rz ~,
He sat down on a convenient chair,
and picked up the book. 1t was an an
cient volume of fiction, published by
some old firm long since gone to its
dust, and stiItedly uninteresting- There
was no owners name on the fly leaf
Absent mindedly the youth turned the
pages. The obsolete type made dim
| impression on the yellowed paper, and
he was about to close the book when
he came on the faded picture Of
Never in his most imaginative mo-
ments had Don Werner conjured up
such beauty! This maid was perfec-
tion-from the half pouting Cupid's
brow - and the fact that her great
mass of hair was done in q style that
harked back before his day did away
with none of the charm for it. This
mother as far as age was concerned
the dead and gone fashion of her
pretty gown, the dizziness of the un-
mounted print, everything about her
pictured self told him this-and yet
his aching heart insisted that here
was the one girl.
Don had known many girls in the
old home town, but none who mad
awakened in him the feelings that
this picture maiden inspired. He
closed the volume, carefully replacing
in it the photograph, and with sigh
retired
The next day Don Werner startled
his employer by demanding a long
overdue vacation. Akron, Ohio. was
the objective point. He suddenly had
an inexplicable hunger to see the old
town-to renew old acquaintances.
The next day found him in the
Buckeye state.
At the best hotel in Akron he dined
alone. There was a noticeable scar
city of guests. The winter holidays
had called them home.
At the small table at the right of
Werner sat an elderly man alone. AS
Don gazed at him a pretty girl was
piloted by a SNUG waiter to a chair
beside his neighbor. She was more
than pretty: she was handsome, and
to the solitary diner at the other table,
who now sat positively gasping, she
was even other than this. She was
reincarnationi
For the princess who had just en-
fashions of the times. was a living.
breathing double of the maid whose
likeness Werner had found but two
evenings before in the old book.
With an effort the youth recovered
himself. In a daze he finished his
meal and left the hotel for a short
stroll before retiring.
"Hello, Werner
A hearty hand slapped the returned !
one on the back, and he turned to
recognize and eagerly greet his boy |
hoods chum, Fred Lisdon.
Their families had been neighbors
and then the elder Lisbon had moved |