The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-20
TIE EVENING STORY
His Double House.
(By Virginia Blair.)

times have you SAID tnat 10 me- MI D
Brinkley?"
7 shall say it until you give me an
answer
IAN that is over for me- bitterly.
Mrs Brinkley turned and faced him.
you've never forgotten Mary Dean !?
Nobody had spoken to stephen OF
Mary Dean since, ten years ago, she
had Tilted him.
His head went up. but he smiled
sadly, as Mrs Brinkley laid her
WI inkled hand over his big brown one.
II want to see you happy" she SAID
softly.
! "Oh, I'm happy, and I'm getting to
be a pretty good housekeeper.
He carried the situation off so lightly
/ that she had nothing else to say, but
when she reached the door she turned
and asked sharply, If Mary should
come back. what then"
Stephen stared at her. He had never
thought of that. He had planned his
future with reference only to his
bachelor needs.
He walked to the gate with Mrs
Brinkley, and when he came back the
| loneliness of his big double house
struck him with a chill. Stephens
mother had been with him until her
death, and she and her son had lived
i'll the newer Fart. The old wing, tur-
nished quantity in the style OF early
Victorian days, was open only once
year whe1A Mrs Brinkley supervised
the cleaning and airing.
1t was Hrs. Blinkley's neighborli-
ness which had made it possible for
stephen to live alone. He loved her
not only Cor herself, but because she
had always been friend of Mary
Dean.
Yet she had never dared speak to
him as she had spoken today. He went
about his tasks furiously, trying to put
out of his head the thought of his hui
tIiaffOr1 and POnSeCnqnt suffering
Outside, it was a night of wind and
of storm. Within, a fire burned on the
hearth, and a cat Durred in the
warmth and glow. Stephen made
cup of coffee for himself and gave the
cat some meat and a dish of milk. In
younger manhood Stephen had not
cared for cats but now there was
som ething of comfort in the presence
of this gentle, white creature.
He sat long over the fire that night
dreaming The door was shut between
his portion of the house and the empty
rooms. Suddenly he sat up startled.
It seemed to him that somewhere,
family, he heard the rustic of wom-
ans dress.
He rubbed his hands across his eyes.
He must have fallen asleep, and the
swish of the rain on the windows had
caused the ILLUSION
He rose. lighted a lamp and went
to bed He left the cat on a cushion
on the hearth. He thought he heard
the click of a latch 1T is the wind"
he said to himself, and fell asleep.
In the morning when he went down
the cat was still on the cushion on the
hearth rug, but there was something
else on the rug-a little fine square of
white linen.
stephen picked up the handkerchief
and stared at it; then he looked at the
cat. If only she could speak what
would she teH?''
It was while he was still standing
there that Mrs. Brinkley came running
over 'eWere you in the other part of
your house last night2" she demanded
breathlessly.
NO Instinctively stephen hid the
little handkerchief in his big hands.
''There was faint Pickering light"
Mrs. Brinkley said, Sin one of the up
per rooms.
you must have been dreaming"
''I couldn't have been,'' Mrs. Brink
ley insisted, ''for called Mr.. Brinkley
up to look at it,
asked, ''who would come into that UNI
heated place in such a night?''
cidedly. eff I believed in ghosts I
should say that it was a ghost. and.
anyhow, it gave me an awful fright
stephen switched her from the sub
ject by inquiring tactfully about a GER
tain chocolate cake which she had
emily she flew homeward to beat up
and bake.
When she had gone stephen stood
still in the middle of the floor. We've
got to look into this, pussy cat he |
said, to the little cat.
He went to a drawer and took out
big key and inserted it softly in
the lock of the dividing door blast
of chill, damp air struck him. He |
shivered and went on. It was a ghost !
win o1- 1fcrnf
sitting through closed blinds. In the |
parlor there was no sign of any living |
presence so Stephen assembled the car |
peted stairway and came to the land |
ing without having made sound And
It was there he stopped, listening. |
mewhere on the upper floor someone |
was coughingl He made his way to |
the end room As he approached the |
open door he saw little figure swathed |
in blankets sitting in big chair by the |
window.
He spoke softly: Mary
She gave a little cry and stood up. |
The heavy covering fell at her feet and |
showed her in a street suit and coat, |
shivering and shaking, her cheeks ]
flushed, her eyes bright.
"Oh, stephen she said, what viii
you think of me?"
He went up to her and took her
hand. II think this" he said kindly, /
THAT YOU are very cold and that you |
must come down and sit by my fire"
ct sat there last night" she said |
eagerly 1T was so bitter up here that |
when I heard you go to bed crept in 1
and shared the warmth with the pussy |
cat"
The tears came in her eyes as she |
said it. and he saw how weak she was.
you must come right down." he |
said with authority. you'll freeze |
here, Mary"
She broke down and sobbed- "Oh. /
nobody has taken care of me for
years. she said. when my husband /
died I tried to get work, and then 1
was i'll, and at last came back in the !
stor-rn and rrhan nassed here I saw