The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-17
TIE EVENING STORY
Miss Anne.
{By A. Maria Crawford

| <By A. Maria Crawford.)
| well, Tom MARSHALL" explained
| Darlington Humes, meeting the new
arrival on the hotel veranda. tits
| good to see you in these old mountains
again. 1t must have been ten years
| since you were here. Jolly crowd OF
ours in those days!"
YES" said the big fellow, reminis-
Gently looking for familiar places
about the hotel, land 1 have never
| forgotten any one of you"
1.-TWO or three of our oldtime friends
are here wit htheir families. Funny,
| isn't it, that the very men who court
ed their sweethearts on the banks of
| now in the same places teaching their
| sons to fish? But they're angling with
different bait these days and looking
| for different CATCH" he laughed. by
| the way, old man, Anne Trayner is
| here, and as pretty as ever"
| "Anne Trayner did you say?" His
voice broke a little. He seemed to
master himself with an effort "Who
whom did she marry"
ANNE? She wouldn't have one of
us. Half the men know have been
in love with her. For a long time I
| thought she was ambitious to go into
opera. Her voice is wonderful, but so
far she has never attempted to shine
behind the footlights-" He surveyed
the corduroy-clad figure before him
reflectively. Gossip had maintained
that this same splendid specimen of
manhood had Tilted the much adored
Anne. Ever care for her yourself? %
he asked easily.
"Is she stopping at this hotel?''
questioned Marshall evasively in re-
| turn.
| mo: oh, no. Darlington Humes
held out his d,d hand cordially See you
debutante this afternoon
So Anne Trayner was in the noun
tains! He wondered how she would
greet him. how she would bridge the
years that spanned their river of
youth. Ten years was a long time to
| remember, and yet every girlish
charm Anne had possessed was stamp
left her for Polly Nelson and her mil
lions. He had felt an imperative need
for money and, boylike, without count
ing the cost, he had married the little
heiress, keeping his fathers honor in
| violate before his business associates,
but sacrificing his own youth and hap
piness in the effort. Marshall had
aged suddenly, but he was not a cad,
and his little wife had lived and died
believing that her husbands heart was
hers, and that business cares had
touched his brown hair with gray and
set the sad lines about his mouth that
no gayety could quite take away.
| Interested groups of women watch
ed him leave the hotel, saw him
pause and then take the road that led
past a number of picturesque bunga-
tain. He walked rapidly until he
came in view of a little gray stone
| cottage perched like gentle brood
valley below. The spot had been his
trysting place back in those years
when youth and love made his heart
beat high. The two had planned just
such a mountain home. Scarlet
trumpet blooms on the porch vines
| swayed like ringing bells in the breeze.
ferns lined the gravel walks and
sweet, old fashioned primroses grew
Can you tell me who lives in tina.
little stone house" Marshall asked a
small boy who came swinging down
the road.
"Can't you tell without asking ?
Why, that house just looks like Miss
Anne. Everybody says SO. My Aunt
Kitty told mother that half the men
els she pretty2"
Yes, she looks like an angel Her
best beau came yesterday. Mother
thinks they'll get married. Won't
bad about it? Why, honest to good
ness confided the small gossip,
they're all crazy about her. My
brother Bob thinks she is the love1iest
woman in the world. 1 heard him tell
her SO last night.
Marshall sat down on a big bowlder
and lighted fresh cigar.
''Who is the man she is going to
marry"
He writes songs for her to sing,
and she can sing, too. You'll hear her
| soon. She always sings about this
time of day. I'm going for the mail.
If you wait here, I'll see you again
| when ] come back"
Far over the valley the setting sun
burned crimson, tinting the windows in
the little stone house the color of the
| trumpet blooms that rioted over the
porch. A trim little maid appeared,
and through the open door Marshall
/ saw a blazing three-foot log in the old
fireplace. 1t was a picture that his
youth ,conjured UP, and his fancy had
caught and chung to it until the scene
| had grown to lie his destined goal
| elusive as a dream, yet always Turing
him on The twilight deepened, and
the evening star, radiant as the far
famed beacon of Judea, shone over
the quiet valley. Lost in dreams, Mar
shall sat there, and presently. out into
the peaceful stiffness, came Anne q