The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-06
The Euening Story

(By lola Forester. J

(By lola FOrreSter.)
The first day that Charles Wilbour
Dorr decided he would try the roof
for fresh air, he found the adjoining
one already occupied, which ANNOYED
him.
He wanted the seclusion and quiz
etude for himself. He wanted to pace
back and forth over the pebbled and
tarred surface and feel that he trod
the mountain tops of high endeavor
! After nearly three months of en-
forced idleness along the Highway OF
Hopes, called Broadway by the nom
elect, he had a chance at a part in a
production that was really sure fire
1t gave him back his self-esteem and
confidence. It made him a unit in the
world of reality. The narrow con-
fines of a hall bedroom goaded his
very soul to desperation, and he felt
he must face the armament and the
stars if he was to learn his part prop
erly.
Yet he found another before him,
and she came every day and every
night to walk up and down the adj
joining roof.
There was a narrow brick parapet
between. with narrow chimneys. over
this he looked at her frowningly, but
she never paid any attention to him.
Sometimes a little Woolly white dog
came up with her. 1t grated on the
soul OF LOTT Wnen ne heard her coo
over it:
.'Muzzer's little woolly lamb"
Still she was young. He could tell
that. About nineteen. She might
outgrow woolly lambs in time. Usu-
ally she took her hair down and
spread it out over her shoulders. 1t
appeared to be very luxuriant and
wavy, rather chestnut in color, and
chair with a sun canopy fixed Up over
it where she sat during the after
moons. Sometimes her book would fall
from her hand and she would curl up
and sleep with the woolly dog beside
her
One day when she did not come up,
Dorr almost felt sense of loneliness.
She really seemed a very nice little
person who believed in minding her
own affairs. Perhaps she was an in
valid, he conjectured; yet seeing her
rOmp up and down with the wOolly
dog at times dispelled this notion.
She did not appear to notice him as
he paced back and forth studying his
part. After a week or two he wished
that she would. When one is twenty
eight and athletic and healthily nor
NAL, one reSentS being utterly ignored
by a likely person Of the opposite sex.
Dorr took many shower baths, at
tired himself in white trousers and
dark blue serge coats, looked at him
shaved daily. Yet he told himself he |
was only getting into trim for the re- |
hearsals. A man let's himself run
down in tone a bit when luck'S against |
him. Once, when the white fuzzy dog |
ran over to him and jumped up on |
the brick parapet, he even spoke to
it pleasantly.
Hello, there, Snookums," he said. |
She turned and looked at him i'll
sort of distant unintroduced way |
and called the dog back &c her.
And then, even in the days of his |
unconsciously ripening love, fate took |
mr. if
row of longing, so to speak, to find !
it's way to the heart of his desire.
1t was late in the afternoon. Dorr
stood as far from the brick parapet as
he could get, leaning over his own roof |
rim and thinking of the opening re- |
hearsal of the morrow. And sudden
ly there came a sharp cry of alarm (
that sent him speeding over the tarred !
roof to her. She was standing at the |
parapet, leaning over, looking down |
one of the chimney openings. Her !
face was colorless, her eyes wide with |
dread.
"zou-Zou's down there." she
gasped. Right down the chimney"
Just a moment, please" said Dorr |
efficiently. He looked down the par i
ticular chimney she designated. Zou-
bowls rose in smothered cadence from !
below.
Il can see him. He's stuck there
about seven feet down. Lucky he's
L.
for something to fish with. Only a
clothes pole suggested itself, but she
cried out against its use. 1t would I
only shove Zou-Zou farther down.
Something with sort of hook,
Dorr suggested.
you'll never get him out in time" T.
She looked up from the chimney open
ing miserably, putting back her hair
from her eyes. 1.-The cries are getting
feebler now He's suffocating." |,
mo, no, there's plenty of air, L
plenty" Dorr said hurriedly. Dogs
have more powers of resistance than 4
we have. He's perfectly safe. I think
I can put a loop in rope and sort Of
lasso him.
How can you 1asso anything out OF
a tight chimney" The rebuke was
too heartbreaking to be really bitter.
She started for the stairway.
Where are you going?" called
Dorr. {
I'm going to call the fire depart {
ment,' she threw back over her Shout
der as she disappeared.
Dorr shivered, and stared at the
with doubt. 1t did not seem {
as though the city of New York would !
stand for it's taxes being 1avished il
support of a department used to res
cue Zou-Zous in distress. Certainly ,
the cries were fainter. lie took last
Zou was getting resigned or exhausted
Buck up. old boy" he called down. !,
It's only a question of time"
The chimney seemed bit shaky.
He put both hands down inside, and {
pushed outward with all his force. .
One brick gave way, and he used it
as a hammer and prod against the
others. When the girl came back
she found him with the chimney in
ruins, and himself flat en- the roof,
angling with a crook-necked cane aft
er Zou-Zou.
II sent in the alarm" she said