The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-08-23
THE EVENING STORY
Her Real Need.

4
/ and wishing she were dead. Stevens,
| the bookkeeper, handed it to her and
went out with a $50 long, kidd" He
had been asked to call her Miss King,
suited himself. AS she opened her
! letter the. young fellow came back;
! his hard face softened a little as ne
addressed her:
Come on out and eat with me.
Gertie." But she shook her head, and
with shrug he was off.
She knew she could take no favors
from this man, and she also reflected
that the man who was writing her
was little better-and greatly older.
She had forbidden him to write or
to give her things.
She glanced down the letter, and
folded it almost guiltily into her bag,
put on her hat and slipped from the
hot office into the hotter street. Her
intention was to get a little supper
and rest a bit before she decided what
to do, decision that would have
been easier, but for the memory of a
thin, boyish face and haunting brown
eyes. She did not know where Boyd
was, and wondered wistfully what
lack he had found in her, why he
had dropped out of sight without a
word to her.
The girl mechanically turned to a
cheap eating place, but the noise and
smell of it sickened her, and she re-
traced her steps to clean little cafe,
where she would have to pay more
than she could afford. Something
made her reckless misery
about Boyd and the pink check in
that letter from John Spauld1ng
which check, of course, she would
send back, as she always had return
ed his checks.
She ordered food and when it came
ate it all, but hardly tasting it, for
an idea that had come to her, an
idea that had never touched her be-
F,r 70 civ he efT- q
and let this kindly older man marry
her, supply her real need-to be cared
for. Why was she working to keep
from starvation? What was there in
it? She drained her coffee cup and
then read the letter carefully through:
Dear Gertrude:
Fec the last time I am going 10
ask you to marry me and let me take
decent care of you. I've known you
since you were a little child and you
that. I know you have nothing
against me-twenty years between US
seems big to you now, but it will not
when you once see how happy I can
make you. Try mel
why won't you go to California
with me next week? The mountains
this summer and the south next win
ter. 1 am inclosing a check which I
want you to use. Pay your bills
this will reach you Saturday-give up
your work, and buy a ticket to Fun
son. Telegraph me and my sister
will meet you and We will be mar
ried right away. Be sensible and do
it. JOHN SPAULDING.''
She left the cafe and went to her
stuffy room, threw herself on the
bed face down. after the ancient man
ner of women in trouble, and fought
it out with herself fearless and half
numbed. She had never been taken
care of; she had never had a real
home. Boyd-she did not know that
he ever had really cared. Certainly
she, unasked, had not shown him her
heart--but she had thought that he
loved her. But for this her struggle
would have been short. To marry
meant she must forget him.
AS it was, it was midnight when she
arose, lit her lamp. bathed, and very
calmly went to bed. She slept far in
to the forenoon and walked in sort
of peace. The landlady-thin, anx-
ious, slatternly, but not unkind-
knocked and came in with towels.
The girl sat up and smiled at her.
and 1 will pay my rent. am going
away Monday morning. didn't
know till last night or I would have
warned you sooner"
The woman looked at her curiously.
Coin to git married 2" she guessed.
The girl nodded. We'll, liked the
looks of the young feller-s'pos it's
that one with the brown eyes that
come to see you last winter. Amt
seen him lately-he been away?"
Again Gertrude nodded, her heart
swelling. Somehow she could not say
that 1t was not Boyd, that sort or
reluctant esteem was the nearest she
was coming to love. Suddenly she
knew she was wicked to do what she
intended, but her mouth set and her
eyes hardened After a little talk she
got rid of the woman and began to
pick up her things.
Her belongings were few, but al
ways well kept and orderly, and it
did not take long to get them into her
trunk. A few notes from Boyd, q
keepsake or two from him, she slipped
into her handbag. She would burn
them some day, or drop them into the
lake before she was married. She
mentally burned the bridges behind
her, promising herself that at least
she would be faithful wife to John
Spaulding. He should not regret
marrying her. AS she dressed to go
out for dinner she stood before the
dingy old mirror and saw how pretty
she was with a half distaste for her
beauty, the gray-eyed. fair-haired
to be a second wife" and If the first
wife had given this big, gray-haired
man a real love.
Along in the blazing heat of the
in again, finished each detail of
packing, and had looked up the trains
to F'unson, she sat listlessly on the
edge of the narrow little bed and tried
to. think There would be a train at
seven that would get her to the town
at nine the next morning. She could
telegraph from the station.
Finally, she remembered that she
had less than two dollars in cash,
and that it was Sunday. and 1T would
be hard to cash John SpauIding's
check. She went downstairs, found
that the 1and1ady could not help her.
but would re-endorse the paper so
that a druggist of her acquaintance
would take it, and went out on her
ouest She was unsuccessful. 1t
seemed an omen to her, and all at
once her spirits rose a little. With