The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-30
THE EVENING STORY
Nancy's Nerves.

! Mrs. Black was saying emphatlcally
/ to the telephone, casting naughty
! ~Sance at the mouthpiece, which must
have been intended for the jan1tor IN
| the basement below. you see, my
daughter has a Lad case of nervous
| prostration, and that awful thing plays
| all the time"
There was a pause.
! at is almost killing her, and it
| plays nothing but ragtime, and for
anyone with her artistic temperament
| ragtin1e is maddening. I actually be-
lieve they have an electrical attach
ment and turn it on and go away and
forget to turn it off. 1 could break
: the lease, for 1 have perfect right
| to, you know. Oh, yes, have! Only
with my daughter in her condition the
ehock of moving would upset her
i again."
| little apartment; mother, please
don't"
fOh, yes, I can break the lease if I
want to-" the mother went on, "for
there was nothing said in that lease
about putting up with pianolas.
''But, mother, I don't mind the
pianola half SO much as 1 do your
scrapping about it," begged the daugh-
well. I will talk to the people my
SELF" said Mrs. Black and hung up the
receiver.
lor on a lounge, the picture of lazy
comfort. She was reading and
munching bonbons.
| st wish you would forget about that
pianola,'' she said, without raising her
e-es from the pages of her magazine.
"T haven't really got nervous prostra-
ton, have II"
are,'' said the mother fidgeting about
the room. after what you have been
through it is small wonder you didn't
break down completely and then to
have that awful pianola to put up
with. I am just going to wait till that
Mrs. White comes to her dumbwaiter
and then I am going to talk to her.
know they haven't any maid now and
she will come to take the groceries OH
FROM the WAITER
Mrs. Black waited till she heard the
faint squeal of the dumb waiter whis-
tie in the apartment above, and when
the grocery boy had delivered his
basket she nut her head into the shaft.
This is what Nancy, whose Frustrated
nerves had prevented her from stir
ring from her comfortable lounge,
heard:
are all on edge. She is having the
prostration and this has got to stop.
Y.u see we can't move because she
can't stand the shock"
what about my ArchibOld? p came
a shrill question through the shaft.
HE is so detected that if he doesn't
have that amusement he never will
pick up. We would pack up and go to
some resort only he can't be moved"
But, Mrs. White, do you under
stand that that awful machine is
wracking my Nancy's nerves? Ever
since she was in that automobile
shake up her nerves have been all
gone"
"But just think of my Archibald.
His flying machine that he had spent
six months over fell down the first
f,-iyN I,n h1~Al 17ic loo 6T7Sf
know about that?''
"Oh," said Mrs. Black, almost for
getting her Nancy's nerves and then
remembering them. Yes, but that
mo, but now his leg is getting bet
ter he is SO detected went on Mrs.
White. HE spent so much on that
machine of his, and to go and have it
said to keep him cheerful, and the
pianola is all that seems to. He is
possionately fond of music"
What, that awful ragtime?" quer-
led Mrs. Black.
Nancy could stand no more Of this
n ighborly discussion. and in spite of
the enticing comfort of her lounge
she hurried to her room. slipped a
polo coat over the dainty pink ruffies
of her negligee, pulled a tam O. shan
ter over her curls, gathered a few pill
lows and a steamer rug under her arm
and tripped out of the front door In
her dainty bronze slippers.
The elevator boy carried her, as
usual to the roof, and then stretched
her steamer chair behind her accus-
toned chimney, expressed the hope
that she wouldn't be "blowed away,
and withdrew.
Nancy adjusted herself comfortably
in her chair and began to read. Then
she was aware of something huttering
in front of her and, looking down, saw
a small magazine that had paused a
few feet away from her. '"The Flying
Machine Record" it said, and then it
occurred to Nancy that probably a
certain much-banketed individual
occupying a steamer chair behind an
other chimney, was the very Archi-
bald whose sad story she had come
upstairs to avoid, that this Flying Ma
chine Record" was his property, that
it had blown away from him and that
he, being crippled, would not be able
to get it.
freak she thought, and the maya
zine continued to Autter about as X
about to follow its owners example
and attempt fight. Nancy hated to
disturb herself, but duty prompted her
to get up and anchor the magazine
with one of her slippered feet. AS she
did so she saw the name of Archibald
White scrawled across the cover
'T say" came a deep voice not far
away, ''do you mind handing that to
me? I'm broken-legged, you know, and
my mother takes my crutcheS away |
after she gets me up here for fear I
will try to walk alone. It's frightful |
to be babied so. Thanks. awfully."
Nancy somehow felt resentment that |
this same broken-legged Archibald did |
not seem to recognize her own invaded !