The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-02
TIE EVENING STORY
Clarissa Across the Way.
CBy Virginia BIair.)

! On the other side of the court ward. in
another little room, Fabian Fales wrote
plays for which he received nothing.
Within the court yard, a shabby gray
cat summed herself occasionally on the
stone wall. Then, for a time, she dis
appeared, and one day she walked forth
with a furry gray morsel of felicity
trotting by her side.
Clarissa looked out of her window.
oh, you darling pussy cat" she said,
ARE you proud of your one little kit
ten?' And Fabian looked and said to
himself, She is an angel of charity to
think of such helpless things
The gray cat also made a mea ger liv-
ing. And she and her baby grew thin
and snivered in the bleak winds as
winter came on. Now and then Clarissa
threw down little bits of food, but they
were snatched up by the dogs who
drifted in and out, and who kept the
cats as far as possible to the top of
the wall. The gray cats kitten could
not climb to the top of the wall, and
so it skulked in corners. and its mother
did valiant battle for its life. But one
day a dog, bigger than the others, had
the little mother and her baby at bay.
Clarissa heard the noise of battle and
looked out. Then she wrung her hands
and called across to Fabian. who was
also looking out: ooh, he'll kill them
the dear CATS
Fabian went flying downstairs two at
time, and came into the court yard
just as the big dog made a dive for the
kitten and the gray cat mewed in an
agony of helplessness.
Fabian brought the rescued kitten up
in his arms, the little gray mother fol-
lowing anxiously. Clarissa had a saucer
of milk ready for them. Pm going to
keep them here she said, as she cud-
died the trembling little creature in her
arms. 81 haven't dared before-I had
so little to give them-but it's better
for them than to be in such danger"
You are an angel of charity muir
INJURED Fabian.
Clarissa blushed and said. But it was
you who saved them, and I thank you
so much"
Then she held out her hand to him,
and he bent over it and kissed it in
foreign fashion, and went back to
work at his play with his pulses beat
ing. And somehow the words seemed
to drip from his pen, and he knew that
never before had he written so we'll
But Clarissa's pictures which she
painted that day were all failures, until
the kitten. warmed and fed. began to
play with it's mothers tail. Then
C1arissa took up her pencils and made
a sketch, and, beholdi she had never
done anything quite so perfect. The
next day C1arissa sold her picture, and
Shea and her new family had feast.
But Fabian did not sell his play. The
IL.
went home and took a fearful and shin
ing object from his desk drawer and
laid it before him and began to write
letter, and when he had finished the
letter he went to draw his curtain, and
CIarissa nodded to him from across the
way you should see my pussy CATS
she said "they are as fat as butter"
And Fabian stammered and grew so
pale that after one sharp look at him,
she said, suddenly, Come over and see
the kitten. You have never called on
my new family
ct will not come" said Fabian. II
am not fit to make friends even with
cat. I am a failure"
Come, then" said C1arissa, be
cause I ask it. I have sold several
have a little feast. The old woman
who makes baskets in the room next
to mine is coming, and the old man
who sells violets, and we are going TO
have a chicken, and my pussy cats
shall have the bones"
ct cannot take-charity," said Fa-
bian bitterly.
Then CIarissa spoke gently. eff you
speak of charity?"
'Ah, no." he said brokenly. "Dear
lady, I will come
And when he came the table was
set with a clean white cloth, and there
were violets in the center which the
old man had brought, and the bread
was IN q little green basket winch InS
old woman had made.
And the gray cat and her kitten had
bits of violet ribbon about their necks.
ITO fit in with the color scheme"
Clarissa explained, and Clarissa her
self had a little amethyst pin at the
neck of her black gown.
And Fabian, rested and rescued,
thought of that fearful object in his
desk drawer and shuddered.
And when the feast was ended, and
while the gray cats ate the bones, Fa-
bian stood up. your sweet hospital
he said, than you can ever know.
thank you. You have given me cour-
age"
And the next day he took his play
to another manager.
In three weeks the manager sent for
him. you have written a master
piece he said. 81 shall put it on inn
mediately. Your royalties will not be
large, because nobody knows you. But
it will be beginning"
And how much" asked Fabian,
breathlessly, will I get out of it?"
III pay you five hundred down.
said the manager, land 10 per cent Of
the proceeds"
Fabian walked home in a sort of
ecstacy of thanksgiving. He went to
his window and spoke to Clarissa.
''Will you go to church with me % he
asked, then we can have a little talk
as we come home"
Clarissa looked at him, wondering.
How changed you SEEM" she said;
sit is as if some great joy had come
"A great joy has come said F'a-
bian, but I am hoping that it may
bring a greater joy
And as he and Clarissa walked later
through the gray twilight, he said to
her, my play is going to be produced
The greatest scene in it 1 wrote that