The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-25
Eoening Story
The Silver Yataghan
BY LILY WANDEL.

/
her typewriter and letters. but she was
not thinking of work. Tomorrow was
| a holiday, and in the evening there
was to be a fancy dress ball. Phil,
| her brother, in a rare burst of broth
erly interest, had promised to take
her to the festivity You're getting
to be regular little mouse, and I'm
! going to take you out among people,,
| he had said patronizingly. Now,
don't worry and be bashful; I'll scare
up a few fellows to dance with you,
| but of course you can't expect to be
| the belle of the evening and all that
sort of thing. Get yourself a costume
something that suits you; be a
| Quakeress or schoolmarm."
She had nodded and thanked him,
but inwardly resolved to throw OFF
her little mouse cloak and be some
| body else just for one evening. I'm
| sick and tired of being the sedate
private secretary; I'm just as funlov-
| ing and jolly as any other girl if I'd
have it, too. A masquerade ball is
| just the thingi" And then and there
| she decided to go as a Turkish vanlp!
! At home in a locked bureau drawer
| lay the costume quite handy-yellow
silk trousers, crimson bolero Jacket
and white batiste chemise. red turban
and floating, filmy veil, even turned
up Turkish slippers and a wonderful
black and red sash. 1t was a perfect
| outfit; she really would look like a
| Turkish woman, but she wanted to be
| a vamp! Something was needed, a
little touch-she DID not know what
| So she continued to bite the unoffend-
| ing pencil and stare with wrinkled
forehead at the high bookcases,
antique shields and swords that deco
rated the somber walls. Right above
her little typewriter table hung
queer looking thing, a dagger or knife,
thought Alcina idly. Very black and
furnished, an odd handle, too the
| usual crossbar missing and the blade
more than a foot long. fixed in a
graceful curve. On the handle some
| thing was engraved, curious charac-
ters-she rose to see it better.why-
| that must be a Turkish inscription
| Oh, now she knew, the dagger was a
Turkish yataghani Suppose it were
polished and cleaning, stuck in her
sash; then she would look like a vanp
| "a real Turkish Vamp!
That was the touch that her COS
| tune needed. The only trouble was
would Mrs Mawson lend it to her for
1.-The ball? She doubted 1t, for the old
lady had recently refused to lend her
| a book from the well-stocked library
! There was another way. Mrs. Nav
son never entered the gloomy room,
Alcina always went to her employers
|
or instruction. If she took the yata-
1 CHAN home with her tonight and re-
| turned it the day after tomorrow no
one would know the difference.
| When o'clock came, Alcina, a bit
| conscience : stricken, took down the
dagger, and wrapping it quickly in
piece OF newspaper, stucq it in her
muff, and without looking right or left
| hurried from the house
4 4At home, in the privacy of her
I r nT hn rrTt1 ,A1,-
| behold, the black melted away and
| beautiful, cleaning silver came to
view! Her eyes sparkled with delight
as she saw herself in her pretty Turk
ish suit with silver yataghan stuck
| in her sash 1t was bound to attract
the attention of everybody
! When they left for the dance a
long cloak covered her up completely
| so that not even Phil had an inkling
| of her costume. He was not. even
know her in any kind of dress
| She fingered in the dressing room
| and then. conscious that she looked
| very pretty and attractive, took the
plunge into the ballroom just in time
| to see Phil benevolently tuck the
| hand of a demure little shepherdess
| under his arm and patter off with her
| under the impression he was doing his
| duty to Alcina.
Alcina was surrounded at once.
! L.
/ Knights and cloFns, sailors and Ro-
man soldiers, all were highly inter-
ested in the Turkish vamp with the
glittering silver yataghan. Alcina had
not known that any one could have
| such a glorious time. BY and by she.
realized that she had danced three
| times in succession with certain fas-
! cinating toreador, and decided it was
| time to change, but he persuaded her
! to sit out a. dance. Laughing they
/ l.
THAT silver yataghan, it attracted
me at once when you entered the
room; where on earth did you find
anything so wonderful?" he asked.
Alcina flushed under her veil. at
loss for an answer, when a rather
merry Pilgrim strutted up and pulled
her off for fox-trot. She gave a
little sigh of relief; the toreador was
lovely but the questioning about the
yataghan was embarrassing. She no.
ticed with delight that it was near IL.
almost time to. unmask. She quite
longed to see the Spaniard's face And
then the joy of Pills amazement
when he saw who the Turkish vamp
wasi
The fox-trot over, A1cina put her
! hand to her sash--it felt a trifle loose.
The yataghan must have slipped lit
tle-where was it? 1t was gone-she
had lost it, Then began a frantic
search, but it was not to be found.
| ~Sli iOhCAis enc ducSllOn6Q many
OF the dancers, and then, as a last
resort, ran to the dressing room and
asked the maid. No one had seen the
dagger. 1t had vanished. it seemed.
Tears of fright came to Alcina's dark
eyes, she sank to Chair in the cloak
room. miserable. utterly unhappy The
evening was over for her, she could
not return to the festivities. In
moment or two. enveloped in her long
lcloak, she was speeding home in a
taxi alone. A sorry end of the Won
derful evening"
| At breakfast Phil was not even con-
cerned about how she had reached
home alone He was still under the
impression that she had been the
Ishepherdess and somebody had in
| formed him that she had left with an
I escort Alcira did in Sh