The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-16
EVENING STORY

(By Louise OliverO

(By Louise Oliver.)
Mr. Badger came putting up the
street with as much effort and COM,
motion as the 5:33 accommodation
which he had just left smoking its way
noisily to the next suburb.
There were three reasons for this
first. that Mr. Badger was gaining in
weight; next, that Maple lane diverged
25 degrees from the level, and third,
that the evening was warm with the
sapping, clogging heat of the first hot
days of the season.
On both sides of the street very
comfortable looking frame houses,
much terraced, had the appearance of
two rows of soldiers marching side
ways up very steep steps. OF course,
in summer this illusion was softened
considerably by the trees from which
the street derived its name. With all
of its steepness and sameness, Maple
lane had long been the harbor Oh
caste in the little borough OF Glen
port, which was neither glen nor a
port, by the way, and Mr.. Badger
probably endured the climb to his
own pretentious domicile at the top
because of the feeling of pride he felt
in having these first citizens call to
him Familiarity that the weather was
or wasn't-all that it should be, or
what did he think of the war now"
and so on. Mr.. Badger agreed with
Caesar that it were better to be first
man in village that second man in
Rome.
About the sixth house up on the
right side of the street was house of
indiScriminate brown, wide porcheS, a
turreted effect on one side and a
n &c soft iV1e
of trees, it looked imposing, but in
the nakedness of winter one could
have seen from quite a distance that
it needed paint, that the water con-
ductors were warped, that the timing
was hanging here and there from the
caves, and that the steps were in
drunken disorder. The Cupid in the
fountain lacked a wing, and attempts
at filing the much-chipped edge of
the stone basin with cement had long
since been abandoned.
Toward this house Charles Badger,
plutocrat, now turned the tail of his
eye, as he had every night, summer,
winter and easonS in between, for a
number of years. Sometimes it was
only the flutter of a curtain, some
times the opening of the front door to
get the evening paper, in the spring
it was the hyacinth and tulip beds that
needed attention, but always when the
5:33 train came in there was evidence
that Rosalind Murray was somewhere
on the premises.
To go back a bit into the archives
of Glenport: The Badgers and the
Murrays had at one time divided the
honors of overload. And in those days
before Sylvester Murray had lost his
fortune in the failure of the First Ma
tional, the scion of one house was be-
trothed to the daughter of the other.
But when the Murray fortune was
swept away, Althea Badger, Charles
mother, had taken her darling aside
and showed him his duty, not to the
girl he was to marry, but to her. So
he had allowed Rosalind to withdraw
from the contract when she also had
insisted.
Years had rolled along and brought
vacancies in both families In fact
there was no one left at the Badgers
but Charles and none left at the Muir
rays but ROSalind. How she got along
it was hard to say, but she had stead
tasty refused to give up the house or
even part of it.
This evening Charles looked as usual
when he was directly across from the
gate. The tulip beds were gorgeous
in their reds and yellows, the hya-
cinths in their puppies and pinks. And
from the shrubbery beside the house
came the dangerous perfume of lilacS.
A bird perched on Cupid's good wing
in the fountain suddenly let out a vol
| ley of joyous notes.
Charles paused to hear and to have
a better view. Then he looked keen
| ly around for Rosalind. He didn't see
her. 1t was curious.
He turned again and went on, dis
appointed. 1t was unusual. He had
| learned to 1ook-for her and to count
upon his evening greeting.
Again came the birds call, and at
the same instant a whiff of lilac made
its way to Charles nostrils. He was
| feeling very curious and, withall, lone
/ ly. He stopped again.
Still no sign of RoSalind.
Then he did an unusual thing, for
somehow or other he seemed to have
lost the power of will. His feet
seemed to carry him forward without
the least volition on his part. He
stepped off the pavement, crossed the
street, and found himself opening the
rusty iron gate and mounting the
variously inclined steps to the house
| he had not visited for years.
| The next instant he was ringing the
bell and trying in vain to think of
what excuse he should give when
Rosalind opened the door.
| But he need not have worried, for
Rosalind didn't open the door. A
stranger answered the bell, an older
woman with sharp features, black
dress and a Bingham apron.
| rs Miss Murray at homer" in
| quired Charles, startled.
| MISS uOSSl ilNC iiCiO oIiS
more" answered the woman. 'She
moved out today"
| 'Oh. yes, l see," stammered Charles
| turning to go. Il beg your pardon"
Then. "She didn't say where she was
going, did she ?'
| mo. She's going to be nurse, L
believe, but 1 don't know more than
that. I've bought some of her things
I'm going to conduct fashlonable
| boarding house here, and l hope you
won't mind mentioning it to your
friends"
NO, indeed, I'll be sure to remem-
her" murmured Charles, not knowing
what he was saying.
Thru his brain were pounding the
words. Fifteen years and you've lost
her. fifteen years and you've lost her.
| Fool FOOL"
! He reached the iron street gate at