The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-18
EUening Story
Two in a Toyshop.
BY JESSIE DOUGLAS.

dolls cradle she had just finished. She
/ laid down her hammer with a. sigh,
/ and looked about her. Above her on
! a wooden trestle stood a long row of
! tiny cradles. each one perfect. waiting
now for their coats Of blue paint.
Across the high wooden bench Laeta
caught the eyes OF the stranger look
ing at her wistfully.
! "A man in q toy shop Laeta told
herself disgustedly, brave work for a
man. She brushed back thick lock
OF red hair that would persist in fall
ing across her white forehead, and
slipped off the black snock that COW
cred her little Bingham dress.
"a white lily" the man thought as
he faced her.
But Laeta did not return the frank
question of his eyes. Instead she went
forth into the early dusk with her
wide gray eyes unseeing on the quaint
streets streets that ambled up hill and
curved leisurely down to the blue
water.
At her own gate the hollyhocks
nodded a rosy greeting, and Laeta
stopped to gather the fragrance of the
bed of old-fashioned pinks. She turned
when she heard an uneven step on the
wooden pavement OF the village street.
4 1t was the stranger, the man who had
| just come to work in the toy shop She
saw then that he was lame.
/
hoIlyhocks. whats keeping YOU.
child? Teas ready"
Over the tea table Laeta told them
of the day. how her design had been
praised, the one of the farmyard with
| all the painted wooden animals; how
| the new air brush was working-but
Laeta did not mention the stranger.
When tea was over and Laeta had
polished the last fluted glass and laid
3the shining knives and spoons in the
white closet in prin rows she touched
her mothers white hair with butter
fly kiss and closed the door softly be-
hind her.
s'she's not happy" her mother
thought but she said nothing to her
husband. who with glasses high on his
head, was reading, the evening paper
| Once outside the garden, Laeta hur-
ried down to the water front. She
walked on and on until she had passed
the last gray fisherman's hut and
climbed far out on the colored, Jagged
rocks that lined the shores
| Here she sat down with her face to-
ward the far horizon, where the water
met the blurred line of sky. A white
sail shimmered for moment IN her
vision before it dipped beyond her
sight.
| ". At want to live-to be freei Am
| 1 going to be like old Miss Henry and
little Miss Leila, living alone in
white house in a twisty little street
! forcver?"
Then she heard voices behind her
and involuntarily she listened. isn't
it the most picturesque place; the
natives are so quaint. Why, they've
lived always in these funny little
houses Their voices trailed off
| Laeta turned to see the summer
people, the girls in sheerest white
! balancing precariously on high white
| heels over the shelving rocks.
| She looked down at her worn shah
! by shoes and faded Bingham dress and
! felt a momentary sense of loss But
/ there was no mark of her battle. no
sign of the longing in her face when
/ she returned an hour later.
The next day found her at work as
usual in the toy shop, painting three
| white daisies and one pink hoiIyhock
on the headpiece of the wooden dolls
| cradle.
| On a very high stool with a black
smock covering the slim whiteness of
her, and lock of red hair that would
\ fall across her eyes she did not know
what a picture she made and how the
stranger looked at her more often
than at the tiny sailboat he was rig
ging.
But Laeta never even thought of
him until closing time. and then his
crutch startled her as it fell. She
| picked it up and handed 1t to him,
ing braVely to his questions. He was
not like other men. she decided, more
like a. women-simple and kind.
Other men frightened her, fright
ened her so much she could never
answer them-but this NATIVITY
she could pity him.
She said good night across the
| hollyhocks and watched him stumble
| off. Somehow his crutch did not seem
| to suit him. Yet when Laeta asked
cS1F ifaIl II =
I like him2 she knew the answer was
| mo-, for she loved bravery and
| strength and a man who dared every
! thing-not a lame stranger with a
| thin. gaunt face.
! The days went on. long days in the
toy shop while Laeta painted inevita-
BILE daisies and glued together small
partitions and hammered tiny nails
| into position. 1t wa~ the most natural
| thing in the world to walk down the
| crooked street, to see the stranger
smiling across the hollyhocks when
tea was over and a crescent of silver
| showed over the dark trees.
Now they sat on the white steps
| and talked Mr.. Jarvis never said
very much, but he understood, Laeta
| knew that Sometimes she told him
her dreams and hopes and more often
| they watched the white shadows steal
/ across the garden while the firefIies
| lit tiny torches against the night.
! There was a long silence, and then
Laeta felt her hand was caught tightly
'Laeta, love you!'
/ mo-" Laeta answered grave1y
| This isn't love. 1t can't be. OF
course We are friends. only friends.
| BECAUSE
| "Because?" he repeated
| 'I could never love any one like you
oh no, I didn't mean to hurt you
but he must be brave and daring
| and
ct understand" the man said husk-
lily 81 thought perhaps know I have
nothing to offer you-now-"
She heard his crutch tap down the
| garden path. She heard the gate creak
as IL swung behind him Then there
VISA silence in the garden
| Il couldn't love him." Laeta told
herself over and over again. II like
him. but he is not brav-just kind. :"
| But Laeta found the evenings had
/ L.. Il.