Evening star., 1915-01-10
THE DAILY STORY.
RAINY DAY IN JANUARY.
nc.lrrirl,t. 1913. by W. Werner J

NOiN rlslI. 1870 hE w. "eilSA-'
only that morning had the inspir-
ing thought of reversing herself IN
bed come to Helen Vance. Strictly
speaking. it was not a bed at all, but
:, narrow, hard, thin pillowed, made
quateIy covered cot. Its head was IN
The window and its foot in the door,
for the room was very smali-so small
that the combination bureau and
washstand the single chair and
neIen's small trunk each continually
appeared 10 be trying to shove the
other out OF its way. Helen had lam
.,hed for four days and she had looked
at the door until it seemed to her that
she must have worn it thin 1t was
8. shabby old door which had often
changed its complexion. Just now IL
was brown. but all the other colors 1t
,,ad been were discernible. She lonSed
to get auav f,om II. But that was
IS fmuoe.ibIc as keeping ones eyes
shut al the time. II ell had come
iT,sr,tiartou. she could turn round in
.,ed and look the other way.
For scne seven hours she had lain
facing the window. 1t was j small,
deep-b bowed window, for heleh
room was up under the roof and
above ~ unkempt back yard. But
if there had been blue sky one could
have seen it. However, today there
was no blue sky, for rank. gray
clouds covered it. and the rain came
s!anting down fast and furious as
il bent on rowning the whole city.
II Tained when it should have been
showing. and a rnid-January day seems
the poorest time of the whole year for
= deluge.
Helen was alone with the rain and
her own thoughts, and both were
equally dreary.
1t was two weeks since she had
come home from the Office ill. She
had never had the grip before and
night she had fully expected to be
well in the morning. But in the
morning she was so far from Well
that she had to creep to the door and
call the landIady, and beg her to tele-
phone for the doctor. 1t was not m
inediately that she felt better and
then had succeeded Il terrible ener-
vation. For two days now she had
heen striving to get out of bed. To-
day she had managed to get into a
ilimono and her bedroom slippers and
brush her hair But these efforts had
tired her considera bly,. She was con-
the rain and herself with passivity-
She had been seriously i'll for two
whole weeks and only four people
knew 1.-THE old man in whose office
phone message to come back as soon
she could. for she was seriously
mountaineering him by her absence:
the doctor. who saw her only one
grumbled about climbing SO many
stairs; the landlady, who would
charge her just so much whether she
ate or not, and the landlady'S maid,
who had to have extra pay for bring
ing her up an occasional cup of tea
and piece of toast.
SO long as she was well Helen had
enjoyed the city despite a constant
feeling of loneliness. She had been
brought up in the country. and when,
after a correspondence course in ste
biography, she had obtained a position
were coming true. The show and gilt
ter OF the great town enchanted her.
There was magic for her in a theater
sign. shop window. 1t was all SO
novel, So delightful. and she was
young. She was full of confidence,
hope, ambition.
Yet even in the gay city her coun-
try training held good. Shop win
dows might speIlbind her, but not SO
the people who continuously surged
round her She was too timid, too
reserved, to make acquaintance. The
girls. the men whom she might have
known she did not care to know. She
kept to herself. her work and her own
small diversions.
Helen did not earn much and there
was great expense. Her little room
under the caves, her board and car
1are took great part of her wages.
Each week she saved little, for the
old grandmother who had brought her
UP and was now only a memory had
taught her to prepare for rainy day
That rainy day had now arrived,
and as Helen lay watching the cease
less gray downpour she remembered
that only other time in her life when
she had been seriously i'll. She had