The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-15
The EVENING STORY
In Extreme Moments.
(By Martha McCulloch Williams.

WISH Oa1ldS began, ndlI
turning away his eyes.
should say: I will" Helen May
quoted, mischievously vet with a
faint flush.
Dallas laughed uneasily. IF I
could will, I would have no need to
wish.' he said.
Indeed! Can't you tell me the
wonderful wish?" Helen asked. He
shook his head, but irresolutely.
you wouldn't understand" he
murmured, signing family after the
last word
wouldn't I? What a stupid I
must bel" Helen laughed, pretending
to pout afterward.
Dallas got up and walked the length
of the room. At the fireplace he said
abruptly over his shoulder:
"I wish had never seen you or else
could marry YOU
whether or no?" Helen countered,
her eyes dancing.
He turned short about. Mock mel
All you hke!" he said. "You knew
from the beginning I wasn't free to
for him I should never have got
start. I've paid the money--insisted
on it the first minute I could. But
gratitude! Heavens! All am or ever
shall be. won't begin to pay that. And
he has set his heart on having me in
the family-Marcia herself acquiesces
II doubt IL she greatly cares
you are wrong. She does care,
Helen said also arising. you are as
much an outward and visible sign of
as her motor or her tiara
"And nothing more? Lordi If
thought So" Dallas began.
Helen put up her hand Imperative
ly for silence. ''That was horrid
speech-truth generally is" she said.
Il lr0c n
ference-and remembering will only
Notwithstanding shall remem-
ber," Dallas said, his voice low and
hoarse.
Helen went a pace toward him. "a
hand" she said. ''She is so handsome,
her bridegroom cannot fail to be fond
of her"
st am fond of her-so fond I
thought I loved her-until you came
into my Iife," Dallas said, little
Helen,s eyes met his long gaze
steadily Are you sure you know
what love is? she asked clearly.
eff 1 loved, neither heights nor
depths, nor principalities nor powers,
nor any earthly things could come be-
tween me and my beloved.
81 see you despise me as a coward"
Dallas said, half turning away.
"No-nothing more than wise. a
very wise person." she answered, a
little bitterly. prove the wisdom by
leaving me at once.
Dallas could have caught her to his
breast-she pushed him away, point
ing silently to the door.
AS it closed behind him she sank
down, shaken with gusty sobs. She
had hoped he would stay in spite of
everything-here as everywhere, Fate
stood Marcia'Ss friend.
1t was hard. Marcia was her cousin
once removed-big, slow, splendid,
phlegmatic Helen herself was bit
of human quicksilver-she had not
meant to let herself really love Dallas.
The affair had begun, indeed, in her
determination to show that once, if no
more, she could triumph over
Marcia Marcia had everything
money, friends, the love of real man,
even though she was not going to mar
ry him And as the wife of Dallas she
would have honors-perhaps almost
the highest in the land. Already men
spoke of him as the darling of the
gods. Things came to him, unasked,
apparently, that other men sought
through toilsome years, yet never
found He was rising thirty-f1ve-
1t was part of the situation that, disre-
garding all temptations. he had waited
to match himself with his benefactor's
daughter. He had played with her,
a QlmpieQ, rdIner nedVy creature, ndu
watched her grow into an ugly big
girl, and later a magnificent woman.
She had accepted him as part of the
picture-since she was ten she had
said p1acidly to all talk of her future:
81 am going to marry Eugene, SO he
can really belong to daddy"
Then had come the episode of
Doctor Ware-the last man in the
world one would have thought to go
down before her He was as big, as
vital as she was-moreover, quite
as rich. Science had been his ruling
denly to the fact of Marcia. There
after. for three months. he had been
her shadow-she had made his world
indeed. When it came to an end
with her soft spoken no. he had
flung himself anew into work-hos-
gave aEay,. though, each month more
than thrice his salary.
Therefore it was into his hands
Dallas, almost MORALLY hurt, fell
within an hour from the time he
quilted Helen. He was unconscious,
barely breathing, his heart beats the
merest ghost of pulsation. Doctor
Ware grew nearly as pale-hold him
self as hard as he might, he could
not quite push to the back of his
mind the thought of what might be
possible if Eugene Dallas were thus
removed from his path.
Because of the thought he fought
for Dallas life as he had hardly ever
fought before. Yet after three hours
the issue was still SO doubtful he felt
constrained to send for Marcia.
Marcia came with her father. She
knelt beside the wounded man, her
warm, vital fingers clasping his livid
ones But there was no wild grief in
her eyes, though they misted over
whiles
poor Gene" she murmured softly,
laying her scarlet lips against his
cheek. Dear Gene! Come back to
us. We've can't spare you
She reached for his other hand,
and drew it to her breast. then mes
tied it softly in the hollow of her