The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-02
EVENING STORY

(By Schuyler Terribly

leF WOnOerlngly
Il didn't know you felt that way
about it, she said finally. Il thought
you likeu it here
Dora sat up. her black eyes gleam-
ing resentfully.
Like it," she burst forths Il hate
every minute of every day here in
New York.
Mary smil4d grimly.
Why did you come, them she
asked.
Because L didn't know any bet
ter" A hint of tears bordered the
others girls eyes. II only wish
that l could go back again.
Why don't you?"
Il can't.
Why"
For long two minutes Dora was
silent. She seemed to have forgotten
the shabby room with its meager fur
nishings Her eyes looked off into the
distance, visIoning something of which
her companion was not a part.
Il never told you why l came here,
did -" she asked finally.
No. except that you wanted to go
on the STAGE
You know about Jim, don't you?''
"A little.''
We'll, 1 was engaged to marry him
once" Dora continued. He is only a
farmer-a big rube, we'd call him
here-but he was about the only fell
low I'd ever known, and we grew up
together"
Did he have, any money!"
He wasn't any millionaire, but ne
owned a big farm and could have
given me a good home. When my
mother died he wanted me to marry
him and settle down, but ma had some
life insurance, and 1 thought I'd take
that and see New York.
How much?''
Five hundred dollars. Jim said
that l ought to put it away SO I'd be
independent. and 1 had almost agreed
with him when show GALE to Glen
| dale and l went to see it. The COM
pany held a reception afterward, and
one of the actresses told me that 1
could make good on the stage. 1 be-
lieved her, and in spite of all that Jim
could do 1 decided to come to New
York and get a job
You didn't need a job with all that
money in your purse
| Dora smiled wryly.
| Il didn't have it long" she ex-
planned. II hired a room in a board
| ing house up on Sixth avenue and
| then went around the stores to do
some shopping. 1 bought a couple of
boarding house the money was gone.
| "Where'd it go TOP"
"Pickpockets, l guess"
| "Humph!''
After that 1 went around to the
| theaters until 1 got taken on in this
chorus. I've been here for six weeks
now, and I'm sick and tired of the
whole thing"
| IL don't wonder. If you'd only come
out Sviths me once in a while and pick
up a stage Johnny, you wouldn't find
| things So SLOW"
Dora shook her head stubbornly.
| THAT kind of stuff doesn't appeal
to me-" she answered. II m not used TO
It. want the west, Mary; it's the
only thing that counts"
For a moment the other girl eyed
her wonderingly.
And you're still in love with the
rube ?" she asked.
| Yes"
why don't you write and ask
him to come and get you?"
| He wouldn't do it. He's stubborn,
and he told me that if l once came
! here he was thru"
"Oh,I see!" Mary Myers, wise in the
ways of the world, smiled grimly. She
was really fond of her strange little
| roommate, and she had noted with
concern the paling cheeks and the
1usterless eyes. She had guessed of
the love affair at home and its tragic
ending. Such tales were by no means
new to her.
well. you go to bed. honey" she
will come out all right"
After Dora's deep breathing had
signified forgetfulness of the hall bed
room and everything connected with
scratchy pen from the center table
and addressed a letter to Mr.. Jim
Black, Glendale, Colo.
A week passed. and the strange
Mary developed the habit of going
| home directly after the evenings per-
Torrance. She encouraged Dora to
talk of Glendale, and of Jim, and she
of mountains and hills where the air
was clean and the sunsets worth
while.
''If Jim would only come to me-"
Dora said one evening, I'D tell him
how homesick 1 am.
1t was after midnight, and the two
girls had just come home from the
"show." The open window brought
to the room myriad sounds of the
city; the honking of an auto horn,
! the rattle of the elevated trains, the
dim pounding of many feet on the
hard pavement below. Suddenly the
doorbell rang shrilly. Dora leaped to
her feet.
Some ones forgotten his key
again." she exclaimed irritably "Oh,
how l hate this place"
From the lower hall they could hear
the sound of voices. Then footsteps
assembled the stairs and a knock
sounded on their door.
Come in,' Mary called.
The door opened and the landlady
stood before them.
There's a man down stairs wants
TO see Mary" she announced. IT'S a
fine time to have visitors, I must say,
waking the house up at this ungainly
hour"
That's all right, Mrs. Murphy, I'll
go right down. Mary shot look at
Dora. Zone of the Johnnies wanting
me to go to a party, 1 guess" she ex-
planned.
But at the foot of the stairs she
met a man she had never seen. He
lowered over her, and in his eyes was
an anxious light
/ l,a