The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-11
EVENING STORY
When Money Talks.
BY BERTHA R. M'DONALD.

beating of tiny hammers, and by the |
time she reached the hall table where |
the letters were always laid it was like
the pulsation Of a mighty engine.
Yes. there was a. letter. but the
writing was not> familiar. When she |
reached tho sacred precincts of her
room she read it and had just cast |
it aside with most contem a
at the door. When she called Come |
in" the maid brought another letter
which in her haste she had over |
looked. Again her hope beat high.
but this was a more bitter dtsappoint- |
ment than the first.
''Sickening-both OF them!" she
muttered. "Why must be made the |
target for such piffle?"
Angrily she thrusts them inside her
desk, closed it with bang and went
down to dinner. That evening. after
a brisk walk thru little park near
by, the keen October air having
soothed her ruffled spirits somewhat,
she donned a comfortable dressing
gown and wrote thus to her old friend.
Dear Mollykins-It rests me just
to, write that name. 1t carries me
back to the days when you were my
sympathetic mother confessor, and,
Mollykins, I've got to talk to you now,
derstand. I've worked SO hard this
past year to build up my class and
you've heard how I've succeeded even
beyond my widest dreams. But sue
cess isn't everything. Even here I
seem destined to be nauseated with
impossible suitors. I've just had two
of the most sickening proposals by
letter that any girl ever received
Possibly might have read one or the
other a second time had not been
my income to help support us. Peace
to the ashes of their unsolicited ador-
alton! 1 tell you, dear, I shall marry
for money. I've seen the folly of not
preparing for a rainy day. and it has
colored everything in the world for
me. When 1 put my head into the
matrimonial moose it will be when the
future Mr.. Bess CORTLAND is ready
to hand me a check book on a nice,
fat bank account. As it is. epistolary
serve to FRAGILE my disposition. Buck
cts of slush,' Billy would call them.
It is needless for me to tell you where
my hezrt lies and he has never
written me a line in all this long year.
thought, Of course. when our crash
came and father died that Billy would
be the first to come to me, and when
he left for Colorado without so much
as good-by I was broken-hearte
Now I've Joined the ranks OF those
who believe that money talks. l can
hear you call me flfnty of heart, but
so will you beP Molly. il ever you come
to feel the dull, sickening thud of the
fail from the lap of luxury to the cold,
stone floor OF poverty. I hope you
letters are such comforts.
lovingly,
That night the little music teacher
cried herself to sleep and the next
morning she. said to herself as she
surveyed the pale face which looked
at her with fFam her
mirror: ''"', fi'''i'if+- - '4''i'''
'ss'Don't you let me catch you weep
ing again oyer Billy Dempster. He
doesn't care fig about you and he
wouldn't weep over anybody"
By the time she reached the studio
she had fully made up her mind that
she hated Billy cordially and that if
he should ever see fit to write her a
letter she would return it to him I'M
opened. 1t was several days later that
q special delivery letter. bearing a
Colorado postmark, reached Miss
CORTLAND. and. after the messenger
had gone, she stood gazing at the en-
velope, scarcely able to believe her
eyes. while the waiting. pupil at the
piano wondered what was about. to-
be disclosed
''Billy's writing" gasped the teach
err "No-no-Tm getting foolish, of
course--it can't be-he doesn't know
my address, and yet /"
why don't you open it?' suggested
her pupil, and forgetting her late de-
termination to put Billy Dempster out
of her life forever. Ress tore open
his letter with fingers that trembled
as tho she might have the palsy.
Dear Bess," she read, "I wrote to
Molly De Voss two weeks ago for your
address and just got it today. How
are you, anyway? It seems a lifetime
since I saw you. What are you do
fT1cr nd Ir,x =
cagor Molly didn't answer a single
question asked, SO. shall wait anx-
iously to hear direct from you about
your work. your husband--if you have
one; in fact, tell me all about every
thing. AS ever, yours,
BILLY"
Miss Courtland's black eyes snanped
ard she crushed the letter in her
hand.
ITO write me a letter like that"
she easped, after waiting 4 whole
year to even ask for my addrsss.'
During the following week she
wrote six replies to Denpst a,'s letter
and tore each one to bits aimcst as
soon as it was finished. The seventh
she thought somewhat tart, but con-
Guiding it was better than he de-
served anyway, she finally sent it.
Dear BILLY lit ram: probably
need not tell YOU that your letter we >
surprise. When an old friend leaves
you at the time of a great crisis in
your life. without even a good-by and
for a whole year forgets that you ever
existed. letter from such a one is apt
to come as a surprise: don't yet think
so? Since you are alive and are good
enough to feel an interest in knowing
that L am too, I don't mind telling
you that I am teaching music here in
Chicago and like my work very much.
I have no husband in sight, and if I
ever acquire such possession, it will
be because his pockets are so well lin
ed with gold that it would be folly for
me to let him slip thru my fingers.
At present am very well and content
ed. Sincerely.
"BESS COURTLAND"
If Bess could have seen Dempsey
when he read this letter all idea that
he regarded her carelessly or, that he
was deceived as to her own feeling for