The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-10-03
EVENING STORY
The Lady of the Cards.
By FLORA A. MONTY.

i 3 FLOElA a NUM- L.
| A look of quickening interest bright |
ened the middIe-aged face of Andrew |
Graves as a long gray envelope slipped |
from the pile of letters thru which |
he was giancing.
He tore it open eagerly and drew !
] out a card on which was water-cclor
| sketch of woman's head. The faint /
est odor of apple blossoms chung to
the interesting trifie.
| Graves studied it intently. It was
the fifth he had received that week.
/ Beginning Monday morning, one had
/ arrived each day in the first pile of
mail brought to his desk. When the
first one came he had been but slight
~ concerned. The second made him
curious, and the third had aroused a
deep desire to learn their course. The
face appealed to him, rousing vaguely
some dormant and disconnected MEM
cries of his youth.
Opening drawer in his desk, he
took out the ones he had received
earlier in the week. Spreading the
cards in a row, he made them the OBJ
jects of his most attentive considera-
tion- The same face was sketched on
all, but each represented different
expression and pose. No word of any
kind accompanied them.
He settled back in his chair and sat
Al QOiCt tAAOo6Al 1OT SOlIiS llOiIlSntS
The perfume rising to him recalled the
early days of his boyhood, the happi-
est of which were spent il the old
orchard at springtime when the trees
: were laden with the fragrant pink and
white blossoms. And always the lady
of the cards seemed to be with him,
romping with the group of children
who were his companions.
His usually disciplined mind revolted
from its training many times thruout
the day, and the hour of closing found
: him porting over the mysterious pic
lures once again.
He finally glanced toward the win
| dow and the evidence of coming twi-
light swept away his dreams and re-
minded him of things to be done be-
fore he could keep a dinner engage
ment that night. He reluctantly arose.
replaced the cards in the envelopes
and laid them carefully away in the
: drawer. then hurriedly left the office.
Turnout the evening he had a sense
OF disappointment. 1t was as if he
had been very near a pleasant 6iscov-
cry and had been suddenly drawn
| back.
Before he left his hostess said: 81
had hoped to have you meet an artist
this evening, Mr.. Graves. She is an
unusually clever woman. At the last
moment she was detained"
Andrew Graves frowned.
Perhaps 1 am fortunate, Mrs. Bow
ers. Really, since my new home is in
process of building, I've been pestered
at all times of the day and night by
artists who want to do the decorations
for that American room of mine. I've
taken to refusing to see any of them.
s I'll look up my own" and he turned
abruptly away.
AS his car was speeding homeward
e there flashed into his mind an idea,
= preposterous. perhaps, but insistent.
o IF tho I'd in he on
t velopes with the artist who had failed
s to appear. He leaned forward, half
e yielding to an impulse to go back and
| demand her name from Mrs. Bowers.
s Then he decided to go on home, Sc
e cretly ashamed of himself for allow
s ing his head to be turned by a pretty
e picture.
e But the idea remained and kept
t. first place. in his thoughts. with the
t, result that Saturday morning found
e him at his desk a full hour earlier
t. than he had been for years. Impa-
tiently he ran over his letters. No
t gray envelope was there, He was
r chagrined. To have gone so far out
o Of his usual routine as to get down al
: that hour and then he fooled He
Y looked his mail over again, but with
e the same result.
= The morning was full of trouble for
= suited and Tommy the office boy,
a dropped his jaunty bearing whenever
he carried n card to his employer.
e The tenth caller had been turned
g. away despite the urgency of his er-
IL rand. Tommy once more entered the
# sanctum. Graves looked up angrily.
IS Didn't 1 tell you" he began, but
i suddenly stopped as his eyes noted
the gray envelope the boy carried.
r Where did you get that?" he de-
e manded.
= Lady outside, sir sent it in
# "a LADY, Send her in at once
e He opened the envelope the boy
. handed him. The same face was on
r the card it enclosed, but somehow the
n expression was almost triumphant.
= AS he studied it the caller entered,
and he started to his feet. He stared,
If but justifiably. for there was the lady
# of the cards, and the scent of apple
= blossoms was filling the room. She
o was tall and slender and wore a gown
: of silvery gray. There was a touch of
:, pink about it that matched the bloom
~ of her checks.
g You have come" he said simply.
= 81 felt that you must"
Then the advertisement was sue
= cessful?s A momentary CLEAN of
n rnirth sparkled in the brown eyes.
The advertisement? oh, the gray
envelopes-the cards! What do they
mean? But be seated, please. I am
rude" He was plainly bewildered.
u Il am an artist, Mr.. Graves. I have
70 attempted to see you before. but you
: were never at leisure. so I adopted the
e card method of getting you acquainted
q with my work. I hoped / might Sc
II cure an interview that way
It You are wonderfully clever he
said slowly, in undisguised admiration
You have gained your purpose.
shall be glad to give you commits
sion"
The lady in gray said nothing. but
her smile took him back to the days
of his boyhood.
e, II want some landsca pes. not in oil
but in your charming water colors.
want them to ernbody certain things
I And in a softened voice he described
his old home. the apple orchard and
| the spring by the roadside. II do not