The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-14
THE EVENING STORY
Conventions-And Tommy.
(By Molly MONASTERY


Too true was the fact that Edna
had cast a fieeting glance straight
into Tommy's eyes, but glances IN ne
way satisfied Tommy. He wanted tC
know the girl, and had longed to tall
to her during two months of summer
at the seashore. In the end he hac
come to the conclusion that no frag.
ment from the feminine world would
fit into the yawning cavity in his LIE
as would Edna Fenton.
Tommy Dean might hang conven'
lions as often as he liked, yet they
still stood like a great blank wal
between himself and the girl he long
ed to know. In the beginning, when
his eyes had first been gladdened by
a sight of Edna, Tommy had thought
! nothing easier than to secure an in
PRODUCTION to her. AS days, then
/ weeks, wore on he realized that the
apparently simple task had turned into
/ the impossible. No mutual friend ap-
| peared, nor did a tidal wave fling her
| into his arms in the briny deep.
| 1.-The most disgusting part of it is, "
/ muttered Tommy, "that she has the
same hungry look in her eyes that my
own have been sporting" Tommy
Dean always resorted to slang when
sentiment threatened him. ''She
would give her last dollar for an in
PRODUCTION to me- He smiled, but
not with conceit.
And the girl who had looked out at
/ Tommy from beneath the brim of her
wide black hat with it's shower of
maiden-hair ferns smiled wistfully.
! ''Why can I not know him?" she
questioned herself, and dug her green
parasol petulantly into the sand. In
less than week Edna would be back
at the college and the thought sent a
wave of disappointment over her. He
is the only man have wanted to know
in years. she reflected.
AS Edna passed the moving picture
house a moment later one of the titles
caught her eye. She smiled, and in
the smile lurked a sudden inspiration.
"Why not?" the spirit of escapade
tempted. g''You will be leaving the day
after tomorrow"
80 I will agreed Edna. "And.
besides, it will only be in the nature
of slight clew." Thus soothing her
! toward the hotel.
Two days later Tommy Dean came
down to his late breakfast. Most of
the guests had finished and the dining
room was almost empty. He had new
er, during his two months stay at the
hotel, happened in for breakfast when
Edna Fenton was there.
But something told Tommy, even
before he opened the note that lay
beneath his serviette, that the girl had
been recently in the room.
Somehow the day seemed suddenly
darker. Tommy hesitated before read
descended to this method of Irritation?
If so, he knew that she would no
longer retain her place in his life. He
opened the note and read:
"Please go to the Cinema Palace
this afternoon at 8 o'clock"
Tommy crumpled the note in his
clinched fist That his idol had fallen
from her pedestal hurt him more than
he cared to admit He knew the note
to be from her because he had not
so much as looked at another girl dur
ing the entire summer.
When he went down for his swim
Ia%N c@1k -
footsteps. Somehow he disliked the
idea of watching the girl, now that her
note had drawn a barrier between
them.
However, as he scanned the femi-
nine bathers and saw not the one
whom he sought, Tommy felt both re-
lief and disappointment. Yet the roll
ing surf had lost its charm and the
white sand its satisfying wormth be-
cause Edna Fenton had chosen to abb
sent herself from the beach. Tommy
sigher and felt as If the world had
given an extra turn on its axis for his
benefit.
He tried to laugh mockingly at
himself and the ideals he had been
indulging in. but it hurts he told
himself, cit hurts horribly"
When the girl did not come in for
lunch, vague fear took Tommy in
its grasp. Had she gone? And was
her note only a prank?
Three o'clock found him in the
Cinema Palace. Even though Edna
Fenton had smashed the PEDESTAL
upon which he had placed her Tom
my waited with strained emotion for
the moment when he should hear
her voice speaking to him. He had
held so many imaginary conversations
with her that it was hard to ralize the
nearness of reality.
When three-thirty struck from the
village clock Tommy began to doubt
if the girl would come. He was pay
ing scarcely any attention to the
pictures, so intent was he with each
feminine person coming in. He
longed for Edna Fenton, yet hoped
she would not come. In the latter |
case, Tommy knew that his ideal
would remain and that he would con-
tinue his worship.
A slightly Augmented interest among |
the audience heralded the coming of |
good picture on the screen.
Tommy waited with only drawing |
of interest. He had not noticed that
the picture was Commencement Exer- |
cises at Vassar."
All he saw was a bevy of girls GID |
ing about the lawn with a huge and !
picturesque daisy chain which lay
cross the shoulders of each He scam
ned the faces as a man in love will !
scan faces when he seeks one in par
ticular.
suddenly he saw her-the girl he
had been waiting for. But not in the
flesh. Edna Fenton was there with /
the Vassar girls. and she was leading
that great daisy chain
Tommy sat back. and feeling OF
warmth stole steathily over him and
turned the world into smiles and