The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-23
THE EVENING STORY
Saving Grace.
(By M. Observation-Disclosures

| Esmond tossed the noe into glow
| ing fire with a smile that was not
quite pleasant. This was pity-ne
had a handsome mouth, one that real
smiles became wonderfully.
$50 am chosen for the sacrifice" he
said to himself in the mantel mirror.
| Hanged If I will be. 1 won't let my
self be made ridiculous gallanting that
| gawk-not even for Juliette Grayson-
| Man proposes, woman disposes. Just
then there came rataplan of knocks
Ia gay voice cried from the outside:
| open! In the name of the law! Else
We shall break in-we are simply fam
| ished."
Inside minute Esmond had seated
| in the easiest chairs, where the fire
| glow was warmest, yet most beautiful
| ly tempered, one very, very pretty crea-
| ture, made up it seems of blue skies,
| sunshine and rose leaves, and another
tall and dark, pallid and heavy of eye.
You got my note, of course" the
sunshiny one-half chanted. so you
know all about everything! We've
| been buzzing about since noon, getting
folks to promise what we needed with
out the least coaxing. Now-won't you
please, please, give US tear And be
sure there is a lot of bread and butter
yes, and jam-and I'd like some ham
or cold tongue"
Anything else?" Esmond asked.
mo, think not. Yes, now I remen-
Der, you may call up Phil Darlington
and tell him he is wanted to balance
you at dinner tomorrow evening. OF
j course you are coming-it will be so
much better to get together before the
performance Miss Sunshine, otherwise
Juliette Grayson, flung at Esrnond as
he stood with his hand on the door
knob
When the door had shut upon him,
Juliette giggled hushedl :, saying: HE
hates Phil-like poison-that is why 1
asked him to call him.
Il don't understand" dark Grace be-
gan.
Juliette broke in imperatively: "Of
course not, beloved goose. 1 don't be-
heve you understand a thing about
men-it would never occur to you to
find out, this way, just how far gone
Jack Esmond really is"
"You-love him ?'' Grace asked
breathing hard and reddening a little
over the love.
Juliette nodded saucily. We'll
enough to marry him when am good
Meantime-the queen will amuse her
self. Phil is amusing-you can't deny
that, solemn, heightened lady that
you are. Also-there are others,
Master Jack may glunp all he likes
1 made up that word just to fit him.
BY and by he will have his reward,
but men should have nothing they
don't earn in full"
Grace looked into the fire. Per-
haps it was the flame heat that drew
color to her cheeks. Certainly when
Esmond came back she was in sort
TRANSPORTED. Always he had thought
her face hard, even wooden. Now the
mouth was pathetic, the dropping,
finite appeal. At sight of them his
revolt vanished-it would really not
be hardship to play opposite her in
the tableaux Ju1iette was improvising
- 81 INr-axy .rsv1
housemaid, whose Observation-Disclosures
had been brought home to her crush
ed out of human shape. Later on
there would be money from bigger
sources-now the girl-widow and her
young baby had only friends to keep
the wolf from the door. Sympathy
would pack the town ha1l-of that
there was not the least doubt. Sym
pathy alone, vivid and compelling had
got the better of Grace Avery's natural
shyness and made her agree to ap-
pear.
: She was older than Juliette. as well
as taller and richer. Il-natured folk
said falsely the riches were the root
the saying but having a warm heart |
and a steady head underneath her |
lfghtness, she ignored it. She was truly |
fond of Grace, also infinitely sorry for |
her. Grace had grown up in shadow IN |
a tragic household which had revolved !
about her, father, hopeless and fret
full cripple She was motherless. The |
lack cut deep when she saw daily |
her fathers mother, a woman OF iron |
to all else tender, pitiful, lavishly low
ing toward her stricken son. She had |
held on life grimly until his life flick
cred out Then, in a week, Grace had |
found herself alone. She had gone
abroad hardly knowing what else to
do. Thus she had come to know Ju-
liette and in sequence. Juliette's world. |
1t had not taken to her-she was too
shy, too stiff, too direct. Her impulse
had been to send the widow $500 in such
"a shion nobody would know whence it
came JuIiette had stopped that, say
ing:
wait! You shall Civ. it afterward
II you do it now other folks won't come
to the tableaux; we shall make nearly
as much by them, and you have no
right to cheat poor Lizzie out of any
thing she can GET
Grace had felt the force of this, but /
in her mind the $5Vv was already Liz
lies property. In like manner she had
Yielded her own inclination against the L
spotlight and agreed to appear in 1.-THE
There had been no time for rehear-
SAILS Juliette carried through her en-
terprises always in whirlwind style 1
And really there was little need-she |
had chosen simple familiar pictures
With merry malice she had cast Phil
for the hopeless bachelor |.
squirting at his darning needle over
| welter of toeless socks and posed a
pair of lovers so shy they were word
ess to set forth "a Leap Year Pro-
oosal."
It was that way all down the line.
indeed the fitting of the pictures 10
he actors in them drew roars Of
aughing applause from the very first
What. did it matter that the lighting
vas feeble, the costuming not over ac-
;urate? 1t was different at least-un-
ike the everyday seeming.
Juliette herself made g stunningl
Gretchen, staring wide eyed att