The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-18
EVENING STORY
An Assisted Fate.
by ARTHUR wv. BEER.

He was in love with a charming girl |
of the neighborhood, but if she knew !
anything about the state of his feelings
it could not have been due to any sue |
cessful effort on the part of Erastus /
to make his heart throbbings mani |
fest.
He had a good position in the ada |
cent city, fine prospects, and all he
wanted to complete his cycle of hap !
piness was Drusie Clifford for his own |
little wife; but
Well. 1 have said that Erastus was
bashful. He was all of that. When it
came to dealings with their sex he was
nth power. And of course that rem
| dered the pathway of true love ex-
! tremely rugged for him.
| Nearly all our writers of fiction.
who it must be assumed have made
| thoro study of the game, unite in ham,
mering home the fact that girl wants
| her wooer to be bold and fearless, and
/ to introduce into his courtship some
of the rough and ready tactics of the
caveman- And whatever a far cry
may be, it certainly was one from the
| caveman to Erastus.
! g.. With the price of white paper so
| high, I shall rot spoil lot of it by
narrating the many expedients adopted
/ by Erastus to get his message across
by wireless, as it were, and which all
|
purpose. Rather shall I proceed at
| once to a denouement and reveal how
Fate kindly took a hand and smoothed
out things for our ultra-modest and
| retiring hero
Erastus had boarded the 6:1o one
| evening when he observed Drusie en-
| tering the car. Every seat seemed to
be filled but the one he occupied, and
she did exactly what he at once hoped
and feared she would do-came and
| sat down beside him.
But-perverSity of bashfulness!-
no sooner did he see her coming, and
without giving her a. chance to recog-
nize him. than he unfurled the even
ing paper and buried his face in its
inky folds. He happened to open the
news sheet at a double page spread ad
of women's intimate apparel And
doubtless the folk in the seat behind
must have marveled why he found
that page of alleged bargains so alb
sorbingly interesting, for he was
afraid to turn the page lest his pres
ence be detected by her whom he Sc
cretly adored.
/ When it seemed that hours must
have passed. however, and the tips of
his blushing ears in contact with the
sheitering newspaper threatened to
start {. conaagration, he felt that he
just had to have a peep at his fair
neighbor, whose propinquity both de-
lighted and alarmed him.
A
just the tail of his eye cleared the edge
OF the lingerie ad., and blest if he
didn't discover that the poor girl was
fast asleep! Yes, sir and madam, he
had noticed for some time a slight re-
taxation of her slim form against his
own, which had afforded him a thrifty
sensation and melted him to take tina
observation Poor. tired child. What
need for her to toll in an office when
he earned plenty for both?
hnr &C. J,
son who is endeavoring to sleep SIT
ting up. Drusie's pretty head swayed
uncertainty this way and that until
oh, rapture!-ft found its haven of
lest
The appreciative grins of the pas
sengers who observed the little COM
edy distressed Erastus considera bly,,
but the sweet of Drusie's
presence served to sustain him, and
before long he boldly stretched his
arm over the back of the seat, and
Erastus was reused by the conduc-
tors hoarse cry, End of the route :"
1t wakened Drusie, too, and never he
lore was there such scene of pretty
plight
There was no car back to the sta
ton which they had unwittingly
passed Tor half an hour or more, and
in that blissful little waiting station
Erastus had p chance to square him.
self How he did it he could never
: tell you.
Suffice it to say that he somehow
succeeded in ma king himself under
stood and that it wasn't many moons
thereafter till the merry wedding bells
got busy.
| Ore day after the return from the
honeymoon Erastus was passing thru
the little den which they had dubbed
the library when he noticed sheet
OF paper on the floor near Drusie' s
writing desk. Disorder of any kind
was repugnant to Erastus and in the
interest of neatness he plucked the
Grant sheet from the floor and re-
stored it to the desk. In doing so he
: noticed that it was page of a letter
: that dearest had addressed to a girl
friend.
He had no intention of reading it.
but some words which seemed to stand
out in bold relief assailed his eyes,
and the first thing you know he had
devoured the contents of that naughty
, page
Dear Chum," Drusie had written.
, You ask me how he managed to
Z propose after all have told you about
his dreadful bashfulness. Well, it was
; this way
OF course. you've guessed it, and
proba bly, long before this Dear little
Drusie went on to relate how she
boarded the car that fateful night, sat
down by Erastus and was so chagrined
by his obtuse action in hiding behind
that stupid old paper that she made
up her mind something desperate
must be done And really it seems
to have worked out very we'll
Erastus was at first a bit flustered
by this astounding revelation, but his
love for Drusie survived the shock to
| his sensibilities. After all, it only
went to prove that she, too, really
| loved him, a fact that his extreme
modesty had at times tempted him to
doubt AS time went on his bashfui-
ness gradually deserted him, and when
I met him the other day out trundling
his young son and heir. Erasrus Spak
I'd, he wore besides his usual habiIi-
/ ments an air of assurance amounting
st to arrogance, and fairly swag-
| gered in his gait