The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-30
Eoening Story
The Toss of a Coin
BY FREDERICK HART.

Margaret Sears was giving way unre-
| STRANGELY to grief
The cause of her tears lay on the
bed beside her, a tumbled mass of
tulle and silk and satin. It was a
pierrette costume, dainty. alluring,
crisp and fresh from the hands of the
! dressmaker; beribboned and beloved,
with pompons on the slippers and a
tall pointed hat, also decorated with
| pompens-a costume-which any girl
! might be proud to wear at the last and
best fancy dress party of the most ex-
elusive club. Dress, stockings and hat
alike were of a delicate shade of pink
&. Pink" moaned Margaret to her
pillow. pink! And 1 told him dis
tinctly that it must be blue. and now
it's too late, and Billy will go away
and never see me any more!"
The explanation of this somewhat
| enigmatic remark was contained in a
note, crumpled from much reading,
which lay on the dainty dressing table
at Margaret's side. 1t contained only
| a few words:
Peggy: I realize that I've made a
| fool of myself and 1 ask your forgive
| ness. I am called away to Canada to-
night to be gone for two months; no
| telling where a letter will find me. 1
| won't have time to see you before I
go; but ] will get tomorrow mornings
paper on the train and read about
your costume. If you wear blue I'll
know that I'm forgiven. Eyer,
|
That note had arrived the day be-
fore. Billy was far on his way now.
and she had no address of his; she
had at once ordered a blue pierrette
costume at the last minute: it had
arrived too late to change. and it was
pink! There was no evading the
dance-it was social duty to go and
she had to go in costume, and she
had searched the house in vain for
blue ribbons, blue tulle, blue anything.
! -
color to be had-and now it was too
late!
| She heard a ring at the door A
moment later her maid announced the
youth who was to be her escort.
Tell him to wait" she said DULY.
! 'I'll be down in a. minute
She put on the pink pierrette dress
with hands that trembled at the
hooks. There was nothing to do but
go. Billy would see the next morning
that she had worn pink. and would
| think that he was unforgiven, and he
| would not be back for months! Her
eyes brimmed with tears. Fate had
| indeed treated her badly.
At the club that evening it was no
| ticed that Peggy Sears was not her
! usual buoyant self. She did not seem
to enter into the spirit of the occasion,
| and there was some gossip bit of
, tongue wagging-te the effect that II
/ Billy Fahnestock had not been called
away so suddeny Peggy's smiles might
have been more visible. But Peggy
seemed as immune to gossip as she
was to the gayety of the party. Even
when some dearest friends tried to
| whisper a few pointed remarks into
i her ear she was unimpressed. She
| had yielded to fate. To make matters
worse. there was Helen Travis, clad
exactly as Peggy was-in bewitch-
i ing shade of bluei If it had been any
al hut Ira Wis
would have asked her to Exchange;
but it was over Helen. that she had
quarreled with Billy! 4
| The society reporter ipht the last
the night editor. I'm goin' home"
he remarked. Then he added: Funny
I thing about that party. There were
two girls there dressed exactly alike,
except one was pink and the other
blue. 1 couldn't tell em apart, except
one was poppy and the other seemed
to have something ON her mind. 1 for
got their names, but I Tipped a penny
to see which name Ia put for blue and
which for pink
ooh, well, it doesn't matter" said
the night editor. And the copy went
thru.
/ At II o'clock the next morning
Peggy Sears opened her eyes on dun
world. 1t was raining outsfde-a fit
accompaniment for her feelings.
rap at the door-the maid with her
breakfast. "Ceme!" said Peggy list
lessly.
The maid entered. On the tray be-
side the shining coffee service was a
yellow envelope. 80
!. at came just this minute. Miss Peg
gy, said the maid. Her heart beating
with a wild hope, Peggy tore the tele-
gram open. This is what she read:
''Happfest man in world; saw pa
per. Will write soon. BILLY"
"Hilda!'' shrieked Peggy to the
startled maid. "get me the morning
paper-quick.'
Under the headlines of the account
; of the fancy-dress ball she read.
miss Margaret Sears and Miss
Helen Travis elected to appear as
, Pierrettes-Miss Travis in a dainty
CONNECTION of pink and Miss Sears be-
witching in blue
The rest of the account was writer
in the society reporters best style; bul
he would not have been flattered had
he seen how his carefully elaborated
description was sighted and his fail
readers attention focused on the two
lines reproduced above, which she
read over and over as tho to brand
the words on her memory and to as
. sure herself that there was no mis-
take. And when she had so assured
!. herself she Rugged the paper to hel
bosom and gave way to tears of joy
while her breakfast grew cold and hel
maid wondered whether or not hel
: mistress had suddenly lost her mind
3
"Here's a funny one" said the nigh
: editor to the society reporter the mex
! evening. 1--WE just got a letter from
, one of the girls who was at that fancy
, dress party the other night; she seems
, crazy about the way you wrote it up
Nothing funny in that replied the
society reporter modestly. II car
write a pretty good story, I guess
when I get down to it-helloi Tha
letters from Miss Sears. That i;
! funny. I was afraid she might b'
, sore"