Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-01-22
LEONE AND OMELET
BY JUNE 6AHAN.

Leone yawned and wandered once
nor around the big studio. where
there was a fascinating clutter OF a
els and paint tubes, sheaves of brushes
in ancient pottery jars. portfolios
splitting their contents in dusty cor
ners, cabinets OF curios from every
corner OF the world, and the melan-
choly assemblage of Jim's unsold pic.
lures.
The room was rapidly growing dark,
and LEONE lighted a lamp and sat
down at the table to write a few caus-
tic lines to her most forgetful brother.
THERE" she murmured. rs her lit
tie hand folded the paper. You won't
forget that lecture very soon. Master
JIM"
A moment later she had extin-
guished the lamp and was cropping to-
ward the door. It resisted all her eff.
forts to open 1t. The knob simply re-
fused to turn. She pounded or the
door in the vain hope Of attracting the
attention Of some other tenant OF the
building. She remembered with a
tremor Of fear that Jim had said the
other tenant Of the top floor had gone
abroad. that there was no telephone in
the studio.
There was no fire escape and the
great windows In the slant Of the roof
did not offer hope of escape. There
was no possibility Of Jim missing her
for hours and he would only seek the
studio after he had been home and had
been reminded Of the dinner engage
ment- This was the second time he
had forgotten her. II would be the
last.
He won't have another opportun-
ity." half sobbed Leone as she leaned
drearily against the window that
looked out on the fiat roof of the build
ing next door. Ii was an older build
ing and Leone knew 1t as a place
pigeon-holed with the tiny studios Of
im%pecunious painters and art students.
Jim had started there. but had moved
into the more %pretentious building next
door when 1t was. opened.
Il believe | could get down there"
The daring thought anne to Leone as
she looked down at the roof below. It
was a drop of twelve feet. but Leone
Colson was like a cat on her feet and
quite fearless.
She pushed the window wide open,
selected a sofa pillow from the heap
on the couch. tossed il to the roof be-
low. gathered her trim skirts about her
little feet. sat on the sill, slipped to
the wide coping below, and from there
jumped toward the light patch that
represented the pillow.
The moon peered over the roof Of
the taller building and saw Leone
struggle to her feet. She was gasping
for breath and she felt bruised and
beaten as she picked up her scattered
belongings-stole and muff and hand
bag, and as many of her amber hat
pins as the moonlight revealed.
Silly IDIOT" muttered Leone. limp
ing toward a skylight which showed a
yellow patch of light. How do I know
whether anyone will let me into the
building? My story sounds incredible
-but-ah!" She peered down into
the room beneath.
II was a small room and meanly fur
nished with the barest necessities. A
convertible couch bed, a table, a few
chairs, bookcases, and some painting
paraphernalia.l The c%anvasses were
turned face to the wall.
-. co-,t 80 $1,000 --frn
of ~countenance, was cooking some
thing over a small gas stove. Present
ly he came and laid a table for one
person. 1t was a meager meal when 1t
was set forth-a pot of coffee, a half
loaf of rather ~dry-looking bread, and a
most appetizing omelet hot from the
pan.
At that moment, when the young
man was about 10 sit down to the
meal-and somehow Leone knew that
he was hungry for it-she arose with
the intention OF finding some stairway
that would lead into the building. The
sight Of the appetizing meal had made
her hungry.
AS she turned away her heavy gold
mesh bag slipped from her careless
grasp, struck the glass skylight and
disappeared from her startled sight.
From below came the sound OF a
crashing of china and a surprised
shout Two minutes later a door burst
open and the gaunt young man, ex-
cited and wrathful. appeared on the
roof.
Leone hurried toward him.
II am so sorry" che tried to ex-
plain: but I was trying to find the
way down and ! dropped my bag
and"
You spoiled a perfectly good ONE
Lett" he interrupted tragically. Worse
luck, too-the last egg I had" Then,
with a closer look at her, his tone
changed to one Of establishment.
What under the sun are you doing up
here?"
Leone held her head haughtily. She
was hungry and she was near to tears.
Her ankle hurt-she believed that she
had sprained 1t. and he was 30 very
angry.
As for the man, he stared back at
her with increasing surprise. One
does not expect to find on the roof of q
studio building at eight p. m. a beau