The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-08
EVENING STORY
Miss Nfariana's Family.
(Rv Hilda Norris

those blessed bits of green that offer
Fairgrounds for children, shade on not
days, the sunny benches on the crisp
cool afternoons that come in the late
September.
There were always plenty of people
in Shannon Square, for below II was
poorer section of the city, crowoeo
with children. The children sought
the park as ducks seek water, ana
older people foIlowcd-big sisters TO
look after the children, old men who
liked to sit and watch life go past
and sometimes young people who anX-
iously scanned the Help Wanted
columns in the papers.
Miss Mariana liked to open the
long white shutters at her front WIN
dow and watch the people in the
Square. She had no veranda. and the
little park was her. front yard. she |
loved it at all times of the year, but |
especially in the autumn, when the |
leaves piled up for children to play |
in and the branches. half unveiled, |
traced delicate patterns against the |
sky.
In truth Miss Mariana was some !
times, a little lonely and she found |
comfort in the people outside. She |
used to imagine things about them; |
make up romantic stories about their |
apparently sordid lives. Her own fife
had been so quiet, so remote from TO-
nance, that it thrilled her delicately
even to think of romantic things, such
as love affairs and travel and adven-
ture. Miss Mariana was only twenty
eight, but she had spent her life in a
quiet round of duties that was like a
still back-water in the city's busy life.
Her mother had been an invalid, re-
Quirfng constant care, and when she
died Mariana was thin and a bit faded,
with a spare figure and plain couture
that were far from girlish. Yet
| there was a look of innocent youth in
her eyes, shy, and bit wistful There
was no one to notice it, however, and
she continued to live alone in the old
| house. watching the people in the park
and filling her days with dreams
There was one young man in par
ticular who sat in the Square very
often. He brought a little boy with
| him-a fine, sturdy child of about 4.
who romped on the patch of lawn
with the other children. The. young
! man himself always seemed to be
busy. He would write steadily for
several hours at a time. only looking
| up now and then to call the child, or
| going after him if play became too
| rough. Sometimes the little boy would
come and climb up on the bench with
his father, smuggling a curly head
! against his shoulder. And the young
man would pat the child and go on
, working, now and then looking down
to smile at his little son. They SEEM
ed to be good pals.
|
what the young man might be doing.
Also. she wondered where the mother
was and why there was no one else
to care for the boy. She often hoped
| that the young father, who must be
a widower, would notice some of the
pretty girls who sat in the park 1t
was shame for such a pleasant man
to look SO lonely. But he never did
notice any of the girls. After all, he
looked quite like gentleman, and
they were not his kind of girls He
was probably an author; she had
heard that they were usually poor.
Il wonder that child doesn't get into
mischief" thought Miss Mariana. II
/ guess it's a good thing I'm sitting here
to watch him. His father is so wrap
ped up in that book. or whatever it is
hes writing
i And then as the young man looked
up, gazing abstractly, apparently to-
ward tho window where she sat
Mariana leaned forward eagerly to
| notice his fine, lean profile. Her eyes
were bright with an innocent inter-
est. It never occurred to her that he
might be looking at her-nobody had
ever cared much about looking at her,
even when she was very young. I'm
conscious of his gaze, she sat there,
rocking gently. between her long
white shutters. the very picture of
homely peace and quiet. After that
the authors eyes strayed often from
| MS as InO ne must seek lnSDira-
ton in the walls of a red-brick cot
tage or the long white shutters at its
windows.
The day after this the young man
did not come into the park at ALL
Mariana, having finished her simple
household tasks. took her place at. the
accustomed window, eager for a sight
of the life that moved about outside.
If she was eager for the sight of one
particular person she did not know
1
even the first throb of that emotion
called love. Love as she had read
about it was a thrilling thing that
came upon one suddenly usually in
some picturesque environment, and
she had never ina gined that it could
steal over any woman like a gentle
warming tide of happiness. However,
she was happy; there was a shine in
her eyes and a budding smile upon her
lips. Altho she did not know it, Mari
ana Winn was looking younger than
usual.
But as the afternoon went on the
smile faded little. She wanted to
see the little boy. She searched eager
ly among the throngs of children All.
there he wasf A stout. rosy-faced
young girl had him firmly by the
hand. She was leading him toward
the bench where the father usually
sat. Miss Mariana craned her head to
look at the young woman. Somehow
she had never supposed the little boy S
mother would look like that. He was
adorably brown-curled. blu. she wore
flaxen frizzes that looked suspiciously
artificial She was a bit untidy, too,
and her soiled white shoes were run
down at the heels. A long sigh of
disappointment escaped Miss Mariana
and some frail thing of the spirit
seemed borne away from her on its
faint breath. The shine had left her
eyes but she sat watching
Being comfortably established on
the bench, the blonde-haired young
woman drew out a novel and began
to read. The little boy danced away to
play, and the autumn afternoon shad-
ows heightened visibly. At last IT
grew very dark and chilly at Miss