The Topeka state journal., 1919-05-23
EVENING STORY
Out of the Darkness.
BY DORA H. NOLAN.

tween curling blue waters and weather.
beaten boardwalk. A soft lap-lapping
of tiny waves. The shrieks OF circling-
seagulls. The distant chug-chug of
engines as an Eagle boat, closely fol-
| lowed by a submarine, emerged from
the nearby harbor. 1t was the first
| day of spring, the equinox, but there
was nothing to indicate the wild up
| heaval Of nature that had preceded
| and made this miracle of a day possi-
BILE but some scattered debris of the
deep. long curls of brown seaweed,
queer shells and creatures strewn over
! the sand.
A blind man reclined on a steamer
chair on the broad veranda of one of
the many cottages which lined the
| boardwalk. He listened intently and
from the sounds he heard tried to re-
construct the scene. 1t was more than
two years since he had seen it. this
! beautiful spot where all his boyhood
and college vacations had been spent.
Perhaps that was why he had chosen
! it for what he called his ''reconstruc-
ton period" and withdrawn here at
time when he knew it would be prac-
| tically deserted, with only his old
nurse and housekeeper, Aunty Kate, to
look out for him.
Not one bit of shrinking only un-
daunted courage, entered into this
/ mans acceptance of the result of the
! supreme sacrifice he had offered his
country and humanity-only a desire
! TO be alone for awhile, to think things
| out, TO formulate some philosophy of
| life to replace the ambitions which
now must be relinquished forever.
Footsteps sounded on the board
walk Aunty Kate. looking out of her
Kitchen window. saw two women ap-
/ preaching, one elderly. with a fretfuI
! face, the other young, piquant and
/ Sarbed in the uniform of nurse. The
/ blind man heard two voices, one young
| and fresh:
! come out here yeSterday-just a mass
of tumbled waters, raging against the
gale, the huge waves breaking right
over this walk"
! A queruious voice answered: Il
never go out in a storm if can help
| When the two women were out of
| earshot of the man, the younger re-
marked: That Major Angre. He's
very famous surgeon-or. rather,
was. He's blind now"
The querulous woman. reused for
| the moment out of her absorption in
imaginary ills, asked: How did it
happen? In this war;" The nurse
nodded.
We'll, it only goes to prove what
my father and his father before him
always said. that this country would
go to rack and ruin when the Repub-
| lican party went out of power"
| When the two women had passed
from sight Aunty Kate emerged from
her kitchen: Those must be the peo-
! pie who are staying in that little cot
| tage back on the creek" she said,
where I've seen the light, nights. The
girl is a nurse and the older woman
her patient. evidently. Don't envy her
the job. She looks like fussy old
thing"
That night at 10 o'clock lights shone
in two places in the little beach COL
I Cir MI IN ho
vanished. In their living room Aunty
Kate was reading aloud to her charge
| stumbling thru the long words of
medical magazine. She stopped alb
ruptiy with The electric lights are
| out"
Then it's up to you to rustic out
the lantern and candles. 1t wouldn't
matter to me-" the blind man added
reflectively, IF they stayed out for
ever" To himself he said: NO
amount of light will ever enable my
dear old nurse to negotiate those
words. It's going 10 be necessary to
find some one who can soon. tho, if
want to keep abreast of things"
- the little house by the creek the
young nurse, with the aid of a flash
| light, was searching for possible can
dies, while her charge sat perfectly
still, only her tongue wagging on in
it's usual complaining way, when a
| knock sounded on the door. The nurse
opened, IN the nlQSL OF neT patient
protests that it wasn't safe to do so,
and disclosed Major Angre holding a
| lantern and accompanied by his
| housekeeper.
"It occurred to us" he said, that
as our lights are out yours most be
also. Aunty Kate decided that as none
| appeared in your window you must be
! without any way of making one, so
we took the liberty of bringing you
! some candles"
Mrs. Bently hustled forward and in
vited them in, introducing the nurse
as Miss Forbes. doing most of the
talking and monopolizing everybodys
attention as only a selfish person can.
So that, on the way home, when the
/ blind man remarked, THAT woman is
a pest" Aunty Kate knew very well
whom he meant, and heartily agreed.
Neither spoke of Miss Forbes, per-
haps because both were thinking
about her. In Aunt katy's mind was
pected that Mrs. Bently's continual
recital of imaginary ills must ever
lasting bore anyone doomed constant
ly to listen. Her own evenings, spent
in struggling with those technical
Il terms, so futilely, were daily becoming
more of a bugbear. So. at the first
opportunity she proposed to the nurse
to bring Mrs. Bently over some eve
ming.
Mrs Bently jumped at the chance
for fresh audience, but was some
what chagrined when she found 1t
limited to the housekeeper. For thru
that good woman's Vaccinations,
somewhat abetted by the young nurse.
the latter took up the task of reading
to the blind man. The technical
terms held no dread for Miss Forbes
and the subject matter of the articles
i deeply interested her. Frequently she
would pause and ask some intelligent
question; then would ensue a discus
sion. Meanwhile Aunty Kate was
sympathetic in a good cause and pre-
tended to be deeply interested in the
Bently family history.
So things went along. Major Angre
looking forward more and more to
the evenings visit, and the nurse only
enduring her days because OF it. But
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