The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-04
EVENING STORY
Wanderlust.
by JANE OSBORN.

i
| Copyright, 1915 by Mcclure Newspaper
| Syndicate.)
It was one OF the first warm days OF
spring and. because Mrs Buttersby
| had opened one OF her dining room
windows, a scent of spring freshness
morning sunshine on the blades OF
fresh young grass and breezes that
| blew fresh from bright blue sky
mingled with the aroma of coffee,
buckwheat cakes and fried sausages
But instead of having benedlctory
effect on the thirteen boarders-th1s
first breath of spring-it seemed to
cast them into a gloom that was even
I deeper than usual. 1t is OFTEN that
way with those first whiffs of spring.
We wait for weeks and months OF
winter expecting that the blue skies
and sunshine and freshness OF spring
| will fill our hearts with good Will ana
content, forgetting that with tnat
spring freshness and with those piue
skies come queer, unaccountabie.
quixotic longings that make some OF
us gently melancholic and others
downright ill-natured.
Hortense Perry was of the gently
| melancholic sort, while Matthew
watts who sat behind an outstretched
newspaper directly opposite her at
breakfast, YVES one of those whose
spring fever took the form OF extreme
| irritability. Primarily this was pc
cause it seemed to rouse in mis- nearl
feelings of tenderness that ne was
| loath 10 own. He found himself re-
peating to himself snatches OF poetry
| that he had read in his boyhood ana
that had managed to survive, tuckeu
away somewhere in tn; receSses or MS
mind; and then there were oiscon-
ccrting entirely maudlin--So Matthew
Watts observation-disclosures about the
centler half of mankind-not woman
kind in general, but Hortense Perry
il. particular He could sit across
from her for an entire winter-ln
fact he had done so-without ever
going any farther than thinking that
she was a mice girl" and hoping IN
a passive sort of way that she would
remain Opposite him, simply because
her presence saved that seat from be-
ing occupied by any one with
less even disposition-and then let
come one of those first balmy days
of spring and he was tormented with
all sorts of schoolboy thoughts OF her.
II his eyes fell on the graceful curve
of her light kaif as 1t was arranged
down her ears and cheeks he was
filled with a silly desire to see the
dainty ears that only showed the
merest coral edge from under the
waves of hair. and when she put her
little hand out to reach the bread
rlate he was filled with a really calf
ish desire to clasp his own hand over
it and feel the softness of it moulded
into the hollow of his own. 1t was
because CT these unaccountable long
ings that the eminently sensible Mat
thew was irritable. The only way 10
combat the spring frenzy was to in
dulge in his iii nature, even to the
point of keeping his paper spread be-
fore his face at breakfast.
But the paper only barred his vi
sion 1t did not render him deaf. and
he was not oblivious to the occasional
SiO obs that eScaned from HOrtenSe'S
lips One of the other boarders asked
her why she sighed and Matthew
heard her sign again and say That she
was tired of living in Peace street
Mrs. Buttersby's boarding house was
in Peace street. She said she longed
to get away. to travel, to be nomad;
in fact, she thought she was part
gypsy. which was hardly consistent
with her blonde hair and her round
blue eyes, Matthew thought.
Then he heard one of the boarders
remark that that was wanderlust,"
and Hortense sighed again and re-
proved the boarder for using Ger
man word. After that Matthew con-
ceived a dislike for residence in Peace
street. Still, he had lived there for
several years and he knew that when
the attack of spring fever had passed
he would be we'll content with life at
Mrs. Buttersby's-at least as well con-
tent as he would be with life in any
boarding house.
Meantime, after dinner that night
Hortense went to her room with the
eagerness of one who had some pleas
urable plans to make. First she
picked out the bottom of a dime bank
by the aid of nail file and a fine hair
pin. Then she counted the dimes.
The amount was three dollars and
half. Then she laid aside from that
and her weeks wages enough to pay a
weeks rent to Mrs. Buttersby and then
e.
few other necessities and a minimum
for incidentals. She had nine dollars
and half left. This she put in a
special purse in her handbag, and then
she set about taking an inventory of
her wardrobe. That evening she
pressed some dainty accessories of
dress and generally refurbished her
small but we'll selected wardrobe. She
darned minute holes in the toes of
several pairs of cherished silk stock
ings. The next day when she left the
boarding house for her days work in
the office she had a small travelling
bag with her, and she told Mrs. But
sersby that she was going away to be
gone three days 1t had seemed to
adequate for the excursion she had in
mind.
That night. instead of boarding the
car that would take her to Peace
street, Hortense hailed a passing mes
senger boy and asked him to carry her
bag to the Morton house, where she
had reason to believe she could man
age to sleep in the smallest of small
rooms and get breakfast for the price
of three dollars a iday. Dinner she
would manage to do without by con-
Stunning crackers and cheese and may
be ham sandwich from the deli
catessen shop. She had telephonedf
from the office to have the room re-
served. and it was with infinite COM
fort and satisfaction that she wend- |
ed her way thru the crowd, follow !
ing the messenger boy with her bag |
Different indeed was this way of going
home in the usual neck-to-neck strug-
gle with traffic on the Peace street |
cars. 1t was as il Peace street were !
a thousand miles away, Hortense