The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-25
EVENING STORY
The Man and the Miracle.
(By Allison Burr.)

glance.
Yes, Aunt Lucy answered Nell.
without enthusiasm.
Wen be going back to town week
after next, and 1 wanted to have them
so you could meet Mrs. Kirk informal
ly here
Dear Aunt Lucy, I wish I could
make you see how impossible 1t is for
me to like Wilbur Kirk in the way you
want me to like him.
And l wish l could make you see
that he is far superior to any young
man who has paid you marked atten-
ton since you came out last fall
But, Auntie, even if 1 saw all the
superiority that you seem to see in
him, it would make no difference. 1t
will be something more human than
such superiority that will win my
heart"
Il suppose you've got some roman
tic notions about 'cavemen' or some
such nonsense
mot at all, auntie. I like men who
are modern and well groomed, but
who make no special parade either of
their mental, moral or physical super
iority, and that lets out Wilbur and the
cavemen, too" Ners brown eyes
frightened mischievously. And some
day I'll present you a nice nephew
built along those lines. So don't you
worry
Mrs. Ames shook her well-waved
and tightly-netted gray head as Nell,
daintily pretty in a white gown and
floppy, rose-wreathed hat, started
down the boardwalk toward the post
office with a handful of letters to mail
As Nell came out of the little frame
postoffice she caught the tinkling
sound of Hawaiian stringed instru-
ments playing a lifting melody that
was soothing to her restless mood.
Following the sound, she went down
the boardwalk and found that the
musicians were stationed in the CEN
ter of a large refreshment pavilion
which she often patronized.
So many other people had been at
tracted by the music that nearly all
the tables in the place were filed, but
the busting manager found Nell
small table over near a corner of the
pavilion where she had a glimpse of
the water front. With the menu card
in her hand she sat for a moment
dreamily listening to the music and
watching the frothy little white ca s
follow one after another to the waters
edge. She was thinking that some
where there was just such a man as
she had pictured to her aunt. and she
was wondering when and where she
should meet that man. She had quite
forgotten about ordering anything
until she became conscious that a man
had paused eXpectantly beside her
table.
Without looking up she gave a care
less glance at the menu card, and
asked: do you still serve that deli
cious peach miracle? %
Il beg your pardon" said a mans
full-toned voice. and, looking up, she
saw, not a waiter as she had expected
but a much-tanned young gentleman
in a blue serge suit that covered a
we'll proportioned figure six feet in
height. 1t was Nelrs turn to beg par
J n Oh, 4
very pretty embarrassment.
This seems to be the only seat
| left said the young man, indicating
the vacant chair at Nells small table
Have you any objection to my &C.
cupying it?"
Not at ALL said Nell, and she be-
gan StudiOusly to scan the menu card.
The hurryfng walters passed easily
back and forth among the crowded
| tables, but one of them with tray of
ices held flat in his upturned hand
| looked over his shoulder to catch an
| order called out by an impatient
patron just as he rounded corner,
and the next instant his tray struck the
| shoulders of the waiter who was lean
ing forward to take Nelfs order. A
ball of well-froZen pink ice cream
| tumbled from the tray and went roll
| ing across the table straight for NelPs
| lap. When it was on the very edge of
| the table and Nell and the waiter were
watching it in wide-eyed help1essness
the surnburned hand of the tall young
man opposite shot across the table
and grabbed it so firmly that it be-
came a flattened mass of pink mushi-
mess. While the penitent walters re-
placed the cloth and provided a
fingerbowl Nell and the young man
laid aside reserve and laughed lightly
about the awkward incident.
"A moment ago asked you
whether you served miracle" said
Nell, but you've made it very evident
now that you can even stop a miracle
already in progress"
! rs that pink stuff peach mira Gle p -
he asked
| Il can't say; it's my first experience
| with miracles, and 1 had no idea I
could get on with them so we'll" He
was saying to himself that Nell herself
was a member of the miracle tribe and
his eyes gave out so much of his
thoughts that Nell was glad the waiter
reappeared then to finish taking her
interrupted order.
She decided afterward that silence
! would be more embarrassing than
conversation, so, as they ate their
ices. they chatted and enjoyed the
music together.
THAT music certainly strikes my
ear pleasantly" said the young man.
for I've been four months in a
mining camp where metallic graphic
phone grinding out ragtime was the
only thing that even pretended to be
music"
Immediately Nell attributed the sum
burn to the outdoor life of a mining
engineer and drew a pleasing mental
picture of the young man opposite in
corduroy and puttees- And as other
women have done, she had jumped to
. the right conclusion.
..Of course one would miss much in
such a life she said, yet it must be
| heavenly to miss many of the compli-
cations of a more formal life-I mean
the things that are little
You're right about thati' His eyes
flashed responsibility. My aunt, who