The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-02
EVENING STORY
The Nickel Lady.
BY IZOLA FORESTER.

udy Sne appeared IN Ine square anu
passed out nickels to those youngsters
who were lucky enough to please her.
Stubs and Mariska saw her first.
Peaceably enough they were offering
advice to the old man who cleaned out
the dry leaves from the fountain. 1t
was the sure mark of summer time
when they started up the fountain,
and the children regarded 1t as the
signal for celebration. Mariska was
like a wind-blown leaf herself. skinny.
brown, light-footed, twirling and
dancing in her wisp of made-over
coat, with a red crocheted Tam"
dangling over one ear.
IT you'll Just stand still for
minute I'll give you a nickel" the
girl called 20 her, as she stood with a
little pad and pencil by the edge of the
circular walk around the, fountain.
And Marsha took up the offer in
stantly, standing like some little stat
uette on the rim of cement, with a
huge urn of blooming tulips, lifting
behind her.
stubs eyed the proceedings with
alert suspicion. but as he managed to
edge about and get a look at the
sketch the girl was making of
Mariska, he approved, and from that
first day he had championed the cause
of the Nickel Lady" as they all
named her.
One evening he met her on Second
avenue in the rain. There are degrees
of social status about Stuyvesant
square that are quite as peculiar and
as rigidly drawn as those around
Washington square. Along its far
western and northern boundaries 1t is
exclusive and undemonstrative. but
the park itself on either side Is a
flowerbed of youngsters on summer
days. And they had their favorites be-
sides the Nickel Lady" foremost of
all the White Doctor"
He was young and always dressed
in white. and when his ambulance
would swing across Second avenue he
never failed to wave in answer to
Stubs's greeting and the rest of the
bunch" They did not know his
name, only that twice when there had
been accidents in the neikhborhood he
had been on the job as Stubs said,
and had saved the liver of two of their
playmates.
Therefore Stubs honored him and
when the nickel Lady, hesitated
laughingly as the rain beat down upon
her, and before he would stop her. had
slipped across the street under the
very wheels of the huge gray mail car,
the first thing he thought of was the
White Doctor" He stuck by her
when the crowd gathered, and 1t was
he, too, who got Bandy Moran and
Chich to carry her to the sidewalk
where she lay still and white until
Stubs led the way into the tailor
shop, where he also had a drag" as
he expressed 1t, with Odiosky, the
little calm-eyed owner
When the ambulance swung around
the corner and the. white Doctor"
jumped down, Stubs explained the
situation to him briefly.
I'm her best friend around here"
he said loftily. rs she hurt much,
Skillfully Rex Fuller knelt beside
the slender figure. making his exam
ination. Stubs almost held his breath
until he looked up with a little smile
and nodded cheerfully.
Just shaken up and suffering from
shock. old man." he told him.
Whats her name and where does
she hve?"
Stubs scratched his head doubtfulIy
He didn't know. Neither did Marsha,
nor Banty. nor any of the bunch"
hanging around mournfully. She was
just the Nickel Lady" So they took
her up TO the hospital, and Stubs
made his arrangement with the doctor
to visit her as her nearest friend"
That night when she lay conscious
for the first time. Rex waited until the
nurse had gone down the ward. before
he asked her the necessary questions
to fill in her card. Not a word about
Stubs and all he had told him of her,
of the nickels she gave away, and the
sketches she made of the squares
youngsters.
Her name was Phyllis Truax, she
told him. She lived on the west side
of the square, just around the corner
of Sixteenth street. Alone in New
York and unmarried, an artist by pro-
fession. That was all. only when
Stubs came to visit, she sent him after
stationery so she could write few
letters. and he noted they all required
out of town postage.
You and me've got to stand by her.
Doc" he told Rex out in the corridor,
and Rex agreed to do his part
Three weeks she stayed there, the
| first rest since she had come to the
city, and every day up in the beautiful
| roof Solarium Rex sat with her, ac-
cording to his promise to Stubs. But
| the day before she left she had anoth-
when he first met her. but she sat
with dropping lashes as he talked. and
| finally she said something to him, and
after he had gone she smiled at Rex
somewhat anxiously.
I'm a perfect fraud, DOCTOR" she
said. You won't care for me a bit
a ny more, or Stubs or Mariska or any
! body. I'm not Just a stray artist
stranded in New York. I'm a regular
person with a home and family and
| plenty of money, and I've just refused
/ half a million more. I'm afraid I'm
! spoiled for that sort of thing. You've
been SO wonderful to me up here.
think I'll be a nurse"
You will not" he told her sternly.
In the first place you're not strong
enough TO train. and in the second !
/ promised Stubs to look after YOU II
! you had not known that 1 would. why
/ did you send away the half million
! chap"
Stubs was on his way to visit her,
with two large straggly red carnations