The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-30
EVENING STORY
Cinderella's Diary.
BY HILDA MORRIS.

sitting opposite her in the street car.
noticed her closed eyes and general |
air of fatigue. She was Is or 10 /
years old, ne decided. or perhaps 20. |
She had a lovely oval face framed |
with waves of bright hair. and she i
looked like a lady in spite of her
rather shabby, inexpensive clothes |
John did not realize that he was |
staring at the girl until she opened |
her eyes. She opened them suddenly, |
if she-had felt his gaze thru her
closed lids. And she looked directly |
at him. 1t was a very impersonal
look, casual and a little questioning,
perhaps. yet it did a very curious
thing to John Arnold. 1t made him
feel very young, or very happy, or
analyze the feeling exactly, but at
least it was different from anything
he had ever experienced before. Per-
haps it was because the girls eyes
were so luminous a gray, and so deep
ly fringed with black. They were
very unusual eyes. They closed again,
however, almost at once. II was as
tho she had given him a glimpse of
something too precious to be wasted. \
The car jolted on and the girl still sat
with her curling lashes resting on her
pale cheek. She was evidently very
tired.
"A school girl, perhaps. or else she
is taking a course in business col
lege,' John decided, noting her pile of
books. They work hard, too, those
girls. She looks as if she needed
country air and good long rest
The car emptied itself, street by
street, until there were few people left
besides John and the girl of the curl
ing lashes. As matter of fact ) otin
had passed his street, but for some
reason he had forgotten to get off.
The tired-lQoking girl still sat with
n Rrrf Mt -
she reused herself with start and got
off hurriedly at a noisy street lined
with high apartments. John could see
her Fastening along in the chill dusk,
the collar of her thin coat held high
about her throat.
1t was not until they had gone on
some distance that he noticed the
book. 1t lay directly at his feet, a
cloth covered Record" such as peo-
pie use in offices 1t was one of those
books the girl had carried. John had
particularly noticed it's business-like
appearance He picked it up curious
ly, and opened. to the front page. A
school notebook, no doubts or office
accounts. Perhaps it might contain
the girls address, so that he could re-
turn it.
The first page. however. dispelled
| this theory. Across it was printed, in
a careful hand,
Dorothy May Douglas. Her Diary
OF course, John Arnold should not
have read the diary, yet its neat pages
looked SO alluring. and, after all, he
thought. it might contain the address
She would want it returned; people
do not like to lose such precious
things as diaries. So that evening
after dinner John settled down in his
comfortable bachelor living-room and
guiltily scanned the pages of the little
| book. 1a
| = .Monday-A hard day at the office.
Miss Coleman is SO difficult to please.
When I get to be head of an office
force L shall try to make them like
me. I'll be nice to girls that have
headaches, and I'll never, never, speak
SO sharply that make them want to
cry. Oh, well, I hope I'll never be
| head Of an office. I'd rather have a
cottage with white muslin curtains
and red geraniums in the window and
| keep a cat
."aTuesday-stupld day at the office.
| But I saw the loveliest silk dress in
store window as I was coming home
1t was just exactly what would
choose, blue with gold embroidery. If
I were Cinderella I'd write to my fairy
god-mother and tell her to bring me
a dress just like that for the ball.
Perhaps am a sort of Cinderella, but
there isn't any fairy god-mother or
any prince.
''Wednesday-it was dreadfully cold
in the Office today. Miss Coleman
| likes the cold. And now there isn't
/
either. I wish I were Cinderella. at
least she had a fire to sit by
! In spite of the warnings Of his con-
science as a gentleman, John SKINNED
/ other pages. all pathetic with sordid
details of work, wistful with girlish
longings
I'm invited to a party" read the
very last page of all. "A really truly
party. 1t isn't a ball like Cinderella's,
and no prince has invited me. but it
will be very grand affair. It's at
Mrs. Cotton Curtis's house, a dance
she Is giving for her daughter. I
don't know why she invited me. She
and mother were school friends, but
| there are such miles between us now,
miles of different circumstances, 1
mean! I've never met the daughter,
but I'm sure she wouldn't care for
me. I'm not one of the well dressed
/ expensive looking girls whom she as
sociates with And / haven't any
thing to wear. Girls can't go to par
ties in blue serge skirts and shirt
/ waists. Whatever shall do ?"
/ John Arnold closed the book with a
| little sigh Why should a girl like
that eager, and young and charming,
have to work and long for the SHIN
merry things that other girls had. all
the pink and frivolous things that are
, the trailing clouds of girlhood! This
| girl in particular
Quite suddenly Johns eyes fell on
an envelope which had dropped from
! the little book.
Miss Dorothy Day Douglas. 634
| Pleasant Avenue
| Cinderella's address. John looked
at it, and abruptly the vague plan
which had been forming In his mind
became a firm resolve. He would be
the fairy godmother himself
1t happened that Mrs. Cotton Curtis
Was Johns aunt, and after much de-
| liberation he decided to take her into
his confidence. Mrs. Curtis was a lady
with a love for whatever was unusual
and romantic, so she delightfully."- ''cut"
an appointment with her own modiste
to spend the next morning shopping
with her nephew. Her ideas were as
lavish as the most exacting fairy god
mother could have desired. She
! bought filmy lingerie, silk hose, gold
Z Lii, hi ho .cnl,