The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-03
EVENING STORY
The Vagrant Heart.
BY INES MACDONALD.

complete history. of the Vagrant
Heart. and that history will contain
Ia succession of strange episodes sit
uated in various parts of the world.
However, it will be no swashbuckling
tale of shipwrecks, blood and valient
deeds, but just the simple narrative
of the almost-1oves OF Morgan Burke,
a man of adventurous spirit and yet
SO gentle of heart that in fhe wake of
his wanderings there eddied no tears
of bitterness, nor floated a single
heart carelessly cast forth as drift
wood by his hand. For if women
loved him, he had left them some
how content with a lesser love.
Still, no man of his like could have
followed the strange paths he had
trod and returned unscathed. Mem
DRY is a tricky thing-sometimes she
would draw him backward for five
minutes perhaps, or an hour or day
to Algiers, or Paris. or Petrograd
or Singapore. Also there was Manila
and Honolulu or Frisco. Sidney, too,
knew him--and Taluno! He might
have stayed on Taluno the island
beautiful, but-that is one Of the
| episodes.
Back IN his home city of Ackland
they hailed him as an adventurer.
His mother proudly exhibited him
and cunningly planned his marriage,
among his kind. Dutifully, tho some
what bored, he escorted her about
to be inspected and quizzed and
smiled upon, for there was an I'M
conscious bit of foreign air about him
that added to the mystery which the
| wind and sun of many lands had cast
in his eyes and blended in the tan of
his face.
Hence it was that on a certain night
not long after his return he accom-
panied his mother to the Ackland
School of Art to view the annual
fhara m wi q
a patron of the schooi-being pa
tron of something was hobby of hers
and Burke himself had contributed
largely to the museum from the fruits
OF his travels. Like an automaton he
shook the hands Of dozens OF very
much alike young women, and boys SO
evidently counting genius and flowing
ties-and then suddenly the hand he
found in his was not the stereotyped,
nervous hand, but warm, flexible
hand of substance. And as he straight
ened up from his rather low bow his
eyes took in her gown of golden brown
simplicity.
She herself was a living, breathing,
elastic thing Of gold, it seemed. Her
hair, almost black, with it's hint of
golden shadows-the ivory gold of her
skin-and her eyes, those oriental L
could-love-you eyes-all reminded him
of Taluno and-Ahmeenah. In an in
slant he had passed and forgotten the
girl Of the moment in memory of All
meenah. the girl of the past. There
she stood high up on the rock above
him, poised against the sky for her
dive into the deep pool below, her
dusky hair waving like banner in the
wind-then his heart turned sick at
the memory of her faulty step, his
mad rush that was too late to break
the fall of her lovely body that lay
broken and still on the rocks at his
a fjraA sic ha elf mt
of the noisy chattering throng that
filled the great room and sought the
lower corridor, where he sat on a stone
bench and smoked deliberately in vio-
lation1of all the rules.
Twenty minutes later he assembled
the steps again. At the landing as he
turned the corner of the stair he look
ed upward and there stood the girl of
living gold with her hand on the rail
poised in the act of descending. For
then descended slowly. and when they
met at the rail in the center OF the
flight-they smiled.
You are SO very young" he said,
as if having made a strange discovery.
She half turned to lean back against
her wide candid glance II am TWEEN
ty-two,' she said, pensive yet earnest.
His hand slip up and touched hers
where it lay on the rail, but she SEEM
ed not to notice. it.
'fThey are asking for you" she
added upstairs" And she gestured
with her head in the direction of the
noisy gallery.
Morgan Burke looked on this COM
posite woman and marveled. OF all
his almost-loves she seemed to be a
part. The gesture of her hand, the
supple twist of her body as she stood
there, the poise of her head. the
glance of her eyes and the curve of
her cheek-each was representative
of some one charm Of those others
of his past.
'I almost believe I could love you,"
he said as in a dream.
For one pulsing moment she bent
over him as he stood below her there
and caught hisuptufned face between
her warm young hands.
tensely.
But before he could touch her she
had fled back up the stairs.
Strangely enough there is always
some one to see such things. The
next morning the principal OF the art
school. who was a friend Of Burke's
mother. sent for the love1iest and
most talented member of that years
graduating class
II feel that 1 must speak to you.
Olive, for your own good" she said.
Things that are for ones own good
are almost always unpleasant, aren't
they?" said Olive Dale, with grave
little smile.
'It is about Morgan Burke, Olive"
continued the principal, kindly. He
is not for you, Olive. You must not
break your heart over him, my dear.
He has been courted by women all
over the world. and is spoiled young
man. Why, there was even a prin-
cess in Budapest. 1t was the talk of
Europe at the time wherever he
haan " a he he
most beautiful, the most cultured the
most exclusive women in the land,
were his for the taking. I do not want
you to know unhappiness. Olive: you
are so young and impressionab BILE
q a