The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-11-08
The Euening Story
The Black Cat.
(By Louise Oliver.)


way out of very embarrassing di-
| lemma.
Betty HOLSTER and he were to be
married within the month and he had
| just discovered that he was almost
| without a cent in the world. Donald,
his younger brother at college, had
got into trouble and there was no one
| else to help him. The check he had
mailed that afternoon had just about
cleaned him out. Unless some miracle
| happened, there was nothing left in
the stocking to pay for a wedding trip,
three new suits, bridal flowers and
| furniture for the bungalow they had
rented.
There was no way he could think
| of to postpone the wedding without
breaking Betty's heart. All of her ar
rangements were complete and he had
heard her say once that she would
rather die than change the date of her
wedding.
Yes. there was a possible way-just
a mere chance as slim as a spiders
thread Jim Barlow had dropped in
that day and advised him to invest in
Cascade Steel. Jack never played the
| market, but Jim did with more or less
luck, and when Jack had replied that
he couldn't afford it, Jim had offered
to lend him the wherewithal.
mo thanks, old fellow!" Jack had
replied. 81 may have to start mar.
ried life even with the board-but 1
might lose your money, and couldn't
ask Betty to start with handicap
like that"
Jim's offer now seemed to be the
only straw that could save him. He
had thought over every other possible
way, but there was none.
He took out his latchkey and I'M
locked the front door nearby
clock started to strike IL. AS he
turned the knob, something soft rub
bed against his legs. He opened the
door and the hall light revealed a jet
black cat that started to purr con-
tentedly as it turned for another rub
against his trousers.
Midnight and a black cati
Jack looked cautiously around. He
had come from a New England town
and was as full of superstitions as a
cautaloupe is of seeds. Surely this
was a lucky sign. He must keep the
cat! Nothing could be more hazard
Gus to luck than to turn it loose now.
But
His landIady hated cats. and. be-
sides, she was a relative of Betty.
Betty must never know about the cat
because the one thing they ever dis
agreed about was Jacks t'supersti-
tion,'1 as practical Betty put it.
But this lucky sign meant that he
was almost sure to win if he took up
Jim's offer of the morning. 1t had
to be done He picked up the cat and
held it under his coat he slipped
stealthily up to his room.
Y,
ing pale and hollow eyed, met Jack at
the front door on his way to work
She eyed the travelling bag he carried
curiously, but he explained hastily
that he was carrying papers to the
office.
He had been up since dawn trying
to devise methods of feeding and hid
ing his new pet. For two hours he
had looked out of the window in vain
for a milkman. The trunk, the cup
elected only dismal yowls of lonesome |
ness. There was nothing for it but to
carry his good luck fetish back and
forth with him to the office, where he
could feed it and keep an eye on it
through the day. Better the jeers of
the boys than the wrath of Betty and |
the risk of having the cat driven from
the house. Nothing on earth could
make him part with it now until the |
deal was over which was to replace |
his lost fortune.
A few days passed-days of more |
than one kind of anxiety for Jack. |
First there was Cascade Steel. which |
couldn't decide whether to go up or |
down. Then there was the cat, which |
at the office and miserable at the |
house nightly for fear of discovery. |
But, last of all, Betty had taken |
notion to droop.
but there was something indefinable |
about her he could not understand. |
She protested that she was well-yet |
she was pale and distracted and her |
thoughts seemed to be miles away. |
She started at every sound and flew |
to the door every time she heard |
an unusual noise.
Jack was worried. Their wedding |
day was approaching and Betty got /
worse instead of better.
One thing, however-Cascade Steel |
was doing well and in a couple Ct
days he hoped to clear all he had io st
and pay back Jim's loan.
hen the cat could go whittier it
would. In the meantime he watched |
it with renewed vigilance.
But the cat got away! One night
Jack woke up with a feeling of dis
aster His first thought was for
pussy. Sure enough its bed in the |
open wardrobe drawer was empty. A
thorough search of the room proved |
futile and the transom solved the /
riddle.
He slipped into few clothes and
peered cautiously out into the hall,
then felt his way slowly downstairs.
The parlor, by the light of a match,
was catless. Then he started for the
dining room and stopped, hearing a
just enough for him to see Betty in
the middle of the floor hugging his
black cat and rubbing her cheeks
against its sleek head. He didn't even
know she was in the house.
"Oh, Niggy, dear. I'm SO glad l
found you" she crooned. I've looked
for you for a week, ever since the
night I lost you over herel And it's
such bad luck to have a black cat
come to you and then lose. it, espe-
ciaIIy before your wedding. I just
pretty nearly decided not to marry
Jack at all until I found you. But
how you came to me here I don't
know
And Jack, tiptoeing exultantly back
to his room, decided that she never
1915, by the Nc
Clure Newspa per Syndicate.)
Automobile at a Bargain.