The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-07-06
Epcning Story
Poor Butterfly Indeed.
BY ROSE MEREDITH.


is pleasant, too"
Marshall agreed that the view of
tangled old garden that crept towards
the woods would be ideal. He heard
his prospective landlady add that the
other rooms overlooked kitchen gar
dens, the untrimmed trees of the spa
cious lawns, and the village beyond
the bridge. He turned to Miss Hes
keith.
''I shall need a quiet place, simple,
well cooked meals served in my room
and that is about ALL his plain face
broke into a pleasant smile. "I am
writing a play" he added, land may
sit up very late at night. OF course
you may charge for the extra oil 1
burn
my father used to sit up at all
hours. He was a great student-you
shall have his favorite lamp, If you
WISH" Miss Hesketh almost smiled as
she made this concession to the pay
ing guest she had dreaded to take
into her old house with its faded gran
deur and its many evidences of better
days. But failing fortunes had driven
her to this extremity-no one wanted
to buy the place and she had resolved
that her knowledge of good cookery
combined with the natural resources
of the place should exc out living
for herself and Archibald's child.
Archibald's child, lovely, dark
eyed girl of twenty, was the subdued
companion of the stern, elderly aunt.
Archibald Hesketh had secretly mar
ried a beautiful dancer who had given
up her own life for wee little Amabel.
Archibald brought the baby home to
his Mortified elder sister and later had
been lost at sea- So Lydia Hesketh.
who never wanted a husband or
baby in all of her narrow life, found
herself in middle age with a child to
bring up to womanhood. Is it any
wonder that Amabe1 was strangely
quiet and restrained? She had few
girlish companions and her education
had been undertaken by Miss Hesketh,
but then there was the brown old Ii
brary. dim in summer, coy in winter
with log fires and hundreds of books,
and occasionally old friends dropping
at the church. No wonder the girl S
dark gray eyes were quiet pools re-
fleeing only the flame of sunrises and
sunsets.
my little niece will wait upon you
She is not q talkative child and I am
sure she will not annoy you" con-
cluded Miss Hesketh after the Pc
cuniary matters had been arranged.
She had found Marshall most liberal
as to terms, and when he moved his
traps into the south room on the
second floor she went downstairs to
the kitchen, humming a weird little
tune in a minor key. Things looked
Amabel was in the kitchen hulling
strawberries. She looked up and
smiled as Miss Hesketh entered, and
when Amabel smiled all the gravity
vanished; there was mirth in eyes
that danced, lips that curved de-
liciously, dimp1es in the creamy
cheeks
At sight of this loneliness Lydia
Hesketh was panic stricken. When
ever she was frightened or discon-
certed she Immediately became very
irascible. "You must not smile like
SO unusual looking he might think
you were trying to flirt with him.
believe should wait upon him my
SELF
Amabers face sobered. For the
first time she realized that she had an
Objectionable, unruly face; she had
always thought most approvingly of
her reflection in the dim old mirrors,
for she was her own playmate for
many years. why couldn't I wear
one Of OLD Hepsy's frilled caps, Aunt
Lydia? They are not frivolous. Hepsey
left some of them when she went
away and they are clean and starched
in the linen press She, ran and
fetched one and slipped it lover her
dark hair. No one would have sus-
pected that the quiet face under the
quaint starched sweeping cap was
that of girl in her teens. With her
small stature and tiny form Amabel
looked like a child playing at grand
mother"
Excellent" pronounced Miss Hes
keith. Now, there is no reason why
you should not carry his meals up
stairs while I attend to the other
work" But Marshall elected to eat
alone in the gloomy dining room, and
he barely glanced at the funny little
form that waited upon him every day.
Sometimes he read while he ate,
which is bad habit, but Amabel
and her aunt quite approved. So
money came into the great house and
the old woman and the young one
rejoiced in the new prosperity; they
still cultivated the strawberry beds
made and sold jellies. Up in the
south room Lane Marshall worked
on his play, and was away sometimes
for days riding in his small, high
powered car.
One night in August he had worked
until midnight. He put out his lamp
and sat down by the open window,
looking out into the moon-bathed
garden. Perhaps he slept a while,
for when he opened his eyes he saw
slim, Whitehead form fitting down
the path to the lockwood maze where
He could see it all from his post, and
he smiled when he remembered how
he had lost himself in there one day
and the odd child, Amabel, had led
! him out OF his captivity.
He watched the form, hardly be-
lieving it could be Amabel, for he had
never seen her without the hideous
cap. She was wearing a very straight
white dress that hung Imply about
her bare feet. A great cloud of
dusly hair floated behind her. Her
feet hardly touched the ground, SO
lightly did she skim down the path
and thru the tangled maze. Pungent
doors of lockwood came to him and
the fragrance of roses invaded his
solitude. Now he saw that the child
was dancing. dancing some interpre-
tation of her own-a worship of the
silver moon-the Respondent stars
the God above. She typified youth
longing for play-her poses were in
nocent1y charming.
Poor little lonely thing-poor little
] l.