The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-16
TEE EVENING STORY
Shadows.
(By Dorothy Douglas.)

1
er the statue that stood in the center
of the square, but the figure dropping
| near its base neither moved nor made
sound.
A fog-hung, damp midnight was not
| the time for either man or beast to
| be gracing the foot of statue, and
! Trevor approached the person there,
keen sense of duty toward the out
casts of life squirting him on.
| In the dim light he could discern
nothing save a huddled mass. He
| touched the human wreckage gently
with his walking stick.
From the darkness and shadows the
ghostly outlines Of white tragic face
appeared like a mirage in the desert.
| Trevor caught his breath sharply and
half recoiled. The face was that of a
woman, drawn and miserable in Its
portrayal of abject failure. She would
| have sunk down again into that semi
conscious stupor of deSolat1on mad not
Treyor prevented her by speaking. So,
what is it?" he asked gently. II
| want to help you"
The girl raised a slender, tapering
hand to her brow as If to brush away
an imaginary shadow. When ssne s
| voice gripped at Trevor's heart with a
| hitherto unknown terror. He realized
suddenly that he had never expert
enced big emotions.
you are kind" she managed to say
| in that sorrowfui voice that trembled
even as a frightened child's, "but my
faith is gone-faith in God, in myself,
| in art, and even my faith in death as a
peace giver has gone, and have not
| the power to take my
"Don't!" Trevor stopped her alb
ruptly, shrinking from the words that
would have followed.
The woman drew a long, weary
| breath and her head fell forward on
her outstretched arms. Trevor stood
a long moment looking down at the
huddled mass that was the habitation
.<f e hrOlxnO and utterly
trodden under by the hoofs of destiny.
but why (Trevor was scarcely con-
scious of voicing his thoughts) ''is she
here? What upheaval in the human
reckoning has sent her adrift?"
Her voice came from the muffled
depths of her arms. She had not
raised her head nor moved. II
thought you had gone she sighed;
then her voice continued it's low muir
murings. "I am here because dur
ing the last year 1 have given brain
and body and everything that pos
sessed to my art-strugghng, hight
ing and always sure of winning the
big prize that was at stake. l failed"
An ironical hardness had come into
her voice. after giving gladly, freely
of the very breath / drew toward the
completion of my competition statue
1 was awarded the second prize--a
shining gold medal with red ribbon
attached to it," Trevor again flinched
from the timbre of her. voice. Il
tried to crush the golden bauble with
a rock just now, but it only Knocked
me in the glimmer of the arc light
and 1 flung it into that fountain!
do you mean," questioned Trevor,
to whom her words were not quite
clear that you have won some kind
of medal and that you have cared
so little as to throw it away"
what good did a golden bauble do
me-" she asked with a mockery Of
laughter in her voice, when 1 have
struggled for the $4,000 prize? What
good is the sign of genius If you have
not the food with which to keep the
body alive? What irony to give
stS-ving sculptor a medal with a red
ribbon attached She laughed dis
cordantly, but there was tragedy I'M
derneath it all that could not pass I'M
noticed Trevor paced the length of
the stone steps.
After a moment of restless move
ment he returned to the side of the
girl Her head had again fallen on
her outstretched arms.
Be it said of Trevor that he had
not once doubted the girls honesty.
s'Tonight'' he began hesitatingly,
s.I won three times the amount you
have lost Every night at the club
like sums pass from one to the other
of us, and it is, as it were, farth-
ing exchanging hands-so horribly
ewalthy we all are. Will you let me
give you the sum I won tonight?"
An unusual, pleasurable sensation
swept over Trevor. After the halt
ing words had left his lips he realized
how seldom was he given the oppor- |
tunity of rendering service
THE girl looked up through the dark |
ness her eyes -straining toward Ire |
vor's face From his face her glance |
Travelled to his attire, and for the
first time she seemed to realize that
he was a son of the rich. And while |
she absorbed the meaning conveyed in
his words a new radiance flung out
from her personality. Trevor waited.
"Ohlif you only would!' she half
hreathed TT would give me another |
lease of lifel I will work and slave |
with every atom of my power, and in |
+bo end-I will win! I know WILL |
she had risen in this moment Of great |
expectation and stood facing Trevor, |
her figure slim and writhlike in the
glimmer of the arc light.
Trevor caught at his breath The
girl had slipped her fingers into his |
and the pressure was of so compelling |
self. Afterward he reasoned that sculp- |
tors fingers would of necessity be mas
terful. Every trace of tragedy had |
vanished from her voice, leaving in its |
wake a trail of untold depths Trevor |
dragged his thoughts from the mag
netism of her touch to the import OF |
her next words
IT col.ld have had friends in the |
CITY upon whom l would have called, |
hut I have sacrificed everything and |
every one for my 1art!' The girl was |
.breathless; the great temperament of |
genius had responded quickly to a |
new inspiration. In years time |
will no doubt be in a position to re-
pay
Trevor stopped her with a gesture |
I'VE will not talk OF repaying any
thing The money is nothing to me-
sometimes I am ashamed of having |
so much" He laughed a trif1e I'M /
steadily. The situation was at least