The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-23
THE EVENING STORY
Playing Lady.
(By Dorothy Douglas.

| Mary Ellen SAT upon Inc Knoll al
the foot of her fathers tiny garden
and gazed wistfully at the big house
at the top of the hill. Silent and
| deserted it stood month after month
| in lonely beauty. 1t was beautiful,
both within and without-Mary Ellen
knew that because her parents were
the caretakers and on one neyer-to-
| be-forgotten occasion she had spent
a long day roaming about the stately
| interior.
| With Mary's home coming from
| boarding school had come the wild
| flowers and the scent of spring. She
fell to wondering, with her rounded
chin buried in the palm of her hand,
| how any one could keep away so
| long from the beautiful home on the
| hill.
! Mary Ellen was a child of fancy
and out in the wiids of the country
her dreams held full sway. She was
beautiful, and her hair still hung in
| a great copper mass confined only by
a bow of orange ribbon; her eyes were
wide and heavy lidded and her lips
We're usually curved in a peculiarly
| wistfuI smile.
| "Why can I not dwell in the big
house," she questioned herself.
would be as quiet as mouse and
| love everything in it,
For long moment Mary Ellen
pondered.
A flush stole into her cheeks and
her eyes became great stars. In the
recess of her fancy-hlled brain a
thought, prompted by her love of the
beautiful, grew into mammoth pro-
portion.
why should I not?" she whispered
to the wilderness. mo one would
ever know and 1 can slip away every
day for a few hours"
No sooner was her thought COM
plete than Mary Ellen was off
n 1cyt7 he a
deer. Her light football seemed
scarcely to disturb the messy grass
and when she finished her swift run
she stood beneath the balcony win
The rich clusters of honeysuckle
seemed to reach down in all their fra
GRANGE and draw her up into their
close embrace.
Poor, lonely, dear house." she
whispered into the vines and scram-
footing was firm and when she
reached the low window she made
her entrance head-first through the
easement.
"Oh-h," gasped Mary Ellen out of
pure joy, how thankful I am that
papa forgets to lock windows" She
drew a long breath of contentment
while her eyes fingered on the luxuri-
ously furnished drawing room which
she had entered. Very lightly she
tr1pped across the VelVely Carpets anu
peered into the halls.
st won't dare have a fire in any of
the CRATES sighed Mary Ellen, be
cause papa would see the smoke"
She went up the wide oak stairway
and stood for a moment wondering
which of the many boudoirs she
would visit first.
Mary Ellen sighed ecstatically and
clasped her hand in complete happi-
ness. Her beauty loving soul was
satisfied and her fanciful nature ex-
banded and found itself longing to |
express in some way the wonderful |
things in life.
Perhaps something within told |
Mary Eleln that with her stepping |
over the threshold of those many |
doors she was also stepping into |
world where her undeveloped dreams |
might find expression, contamination. |
She was retiring from the material |
of childhood to the reality
and wonderment of womanhood.
With little snatches of lifting
melody bubbling from her lips, she
ran lightly from room to room too
joyous and excited to remain station
airy for more than a second. Not for
a moment did she fear that entering
another's house might bring punish
ment in it's wake. The lonely old
to her and now she had come, as it
we're, into it's waiting arms. In the
7ividness of her imagination Mary
Ellen believed that the very walls
and ceilings were echoing her song.
she peered up the narrow stairway
hat led to the attic and soon found
herself in the tiny turret room that
a view that made even
Mary Ellen, child of nature that she
vas, draw a breath of admiration.
Great rolling hills stretched far
lway into the .mists of distance and
IN every side stately cedars were
yarrisoned with their bayonet tips I
cleaning in the fresh sunlight. A
POOL was dotted here and there. Fl;
Once again Mary Ellen felt that I
vague stirring within her. 81 want {
% sing and dance-and cry, all at the
view and turned from it to inspect the
pig cedar chest beneath the vista win 1
low.
Whoever leaves this house for so
ong at a time" thought Mary, has
/ most unsuspicious mind. Nothing
s locked
She knelt and drew a breath of de-
light as she opened the chest. 1t was
illed to the brim with exquisite cos
umes. Fabrics as dainty a cob 2
web were there and Mary Ellen han c
lied them all with caressing fingers. I
She glanced up quickly from her
lew found treasure then back again.
With a quick little gesture of freedom '
he flung off the print gown she wore :
nd delved into the chest for the gown
f sunset gold that she had seen.
Suddenly it seemed to Mary Ellen d
hat the attic room was occupied byt
mother. She did not know that she
ras even then arraVHd in the costume 1 h