Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-05-08
THE EVENING STORY.
Outside the Shop Window.
Copyright. 1918, by W. Werner,

Milbry Wilson had STAYED downtown
the whole afternoon, She had gone to
look at some moving pictures and had
bought a few things at the ten-cent
store. Taken all in all she had spent
very little, but she had only little to
spend. SO far she had kept within the
limits of the poorer shopping district,
but she had come out into the
street. where all the best shops were
1t was the shortest way home
The lights We're on. for the day was
closing early. and the long street daz-
Zled and bewildered with its efrulgence
Overhead signs quivered and crawled
and squirmed. Windows We're pools of
golden enchantment set to drown the
senses of the young and heautv-loving
Milhry was young. For while she
walked, no more than CHANGING at the
marvels on either hand Then she
paused.
The window was one Of the brightest
and Gayest loftily smiling wan ladies'
IN shlnmerinE gowns OF satin and lace
and crystal stood on pa ra de. \ chair or
Two lent character to the scene. and Il
great mass of chrySanthemums on an
lnlaid table. against "A drapery of tan
estry. finished il OFF decoratively. To
Milhry. who came from four rooms
ana one OF them dark-the sight was of
1ncomparab BILE magniflcence More than
that. IT opened to her Imagination a
new world. which made her own mis-
erably dreary, shabby and undesirable.
limousine drew up to the curb and
Two women stepped out. As they en-
tered the store they passed so close to
Miibry that she could smell their per-
fume and see the color of the Jewels
at the younger woman's throat 1t came
| 10 her that she must forever he on the
wrong side of The window 1t wasn't
| fair She thought that she would have
been twice as pretty in the same fur
ana SapphlreS as that other girl. And
| she had just as much right to be pretty
| in them. What had that other girl ever
| done to deserve them? No more than
! she herself had done. Only somewhere
| somebody who was interested in the
girl had made a lot of money. She had
never had anybody to make a lot of
money for her. Larry couldn't. He was
| only a trainman now, though to be sure
| he expected to he a conductor some
day. They had to be very. very eco
nomical on his wages. especially when
rent and food were so high.
| 1t came to her that perhaps she
might have done better than marry
| Larry. There We're other men she
| might have had-men who worked in
| the store with her. They had called
her the prettiest saleswoman in the
shop and all the other girls had been
jealous of her. She had earned good
wages and had a good time. She used
| to dream that some time a millionaire
| or foreign nobleman would wander
| casually into the little shop. see her,
| fall in love with her and raightway
wed her But no millionaire or prince
| had come-only Larry Wilson, with
coal CRIME about his clear. blue eyes.
He had fallen in love with her and she
! had let him take her away because she
| felt that she had loved Inn
| Yet had she loved him so much after
! all? Was he worth all the gay posi-
bilities of life which she had given
| up for him? She wondered as she stood
| there staring at the brunette wax lady
! in coral pink whom she had once
| thought she might resemble if the
prince came counting If she had waited