The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-23
The Euening Story
The Red Chimney.
(By Keith Kenyon

In the full flush of summertime
foliage You could not see it from Bur-
tons camp, but when the September
winds began to send the leaves dane
ing it stood out plainly, one red Chin
ney far up the valley of Little Creek.
Burton had rather looked upon it
in the light of friendly neighborliness
the two or three years he had sought
the camp for its peace and seclusion
from the outer world. He was nine
miles from the nearest railway. No
trolley ever sang over nearby rails,
not even stray automobile horn
broke the sweet silence of his hiding
place 1t was an ideal spot for rest
and study.
The house of the red chimney had
been untenanted for many years, he
had been told at the local country
store. 1t had been an old tavern once,
over a hundred years ago. Once he
rode over in pure curiosity to take q
look at it and found a gray old house,
its shingles and clapboards falling
away, but the heavy hand-hewn oak
beams all sturdy and strong. Roses
and lilacs grew thicIl1y about its door
steps, and in the tall uncut grass he
found struggling remains of phlox and
tiger lilies.
1t was the only other house in the
valley besides his own rough lodge,
and he had not resented sharing the
solitude until the morning when
smoke rose leisur-ly into the air
from the red chimney. .-.-.
Burton watched itswith unbeIievinG
eyes. 1t must be a shred of morning
mist, he thought; yet no mist ever
thin curling feather of white. He
tried to settle down to his work, but
could not. The spell of the valley
was broken. Another had entered
Paradise. He waited until afternoon
and then whistled his horse up from
the lower meadow, where it grazed,
and saddled it grimly. If any tramps
or loiterers had taken up their abode
there he made up his mind to Gust
them with short shrift. 7
1t was a gallop of three miles
around the bend in the river road. As
he drew near he caught a flutter of
white from a clothesline in the yard.
So the occupant was evidently fem
inine which deprived him of some of
the JOY of retaliation. Still he looked
decidedly stern and aggressive as
he mounted the three wide stone
steps and knocked on the front door.
There was no answer, and after the
second knock the very prettiest face
he had ever looked upon appeared at
the window beside him. Framed in
honeysuckle vines, with lilac bushes
crowded up to the very top 1T was,
and the face was smiling at him pro-
pitiatingly.
Tn awfully sorry, but we haven't
found the key to the front door yet
Won't you come around the side
way?"
He strobe through the grass doubt
fully. On the side porch, in an old
splint-bottom rocker. he found another
tenant, little older than the first,
but very nearly as distractingly
pretty, and this one was pairing po-
tatoes.
H. aI,
lily. Are you one of our neigh
bors?"
Il rather think I am your only
neighbor in the valley" answered
Burton gravely;: Il have lived here
ton is my name.
ours is Colby. 1 am Beatrice
Colby. This is my sister, Nam
Nan smiled at him and handed out
another chair. Before he knew 1t,
Burton was thawini; and telling them
all about the valley and of his coming
to it when his own health had broken
down back in New York. He had OBJ
tanned tenting rights first from the
had rented from the same person.
NO Nan told him quite frankly,
1--WE just drove over and stayed here"
Squatter rights evidently, thought
Burton, and he made up his mind to
speak to old Newton about it. Yet
the days passed and he permitted the
interlopers to remain undiSturbed- 1t
was rather pleasant to see smoke
coming from the red chimney. At
night far across the valley he used to
ina CINE he could see a light shining.
Every other day he rode over to be
sure his neighbors were getting along
we'll Nan, he found out, was the
hOusekeeper. Beatrice was the pro-
wider for the family. They confided
to him that she collected antiques for
a New York dealer, and that they
jaunted around to all kinds of out of
the way places.
1t was at the end of the fourth weeR
that Burton, looking at himself in the
glass hung on his tent pole. told him
self that he was il love. The face of
Nan as he had first seen it at the
window haunted him. He was miser-
able. The valley peace was broken He
looked over at the red chimney and
accused it in his mind. Then he look
ed again and saw something that
made him hold his breath. Up from
the red chimney came masses of sui
phurous smoke that stained the deep
blue of the morning sky.
When dronr1aH frayra n n re-