The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-15
E0ening Story
Boarding House Blossoms.
81 RUBY DOUGLAS.

sun slanting in shone on the dull au-
burn of her hair and turned it into
fiery copper.
! brakes table was far back in the
shadow of the second dining room.
He sat where he was quite unobserved,
but from his vantage point he was
most observing. He studied each of
Mrs. Drews paying guests while he
mechanically fed himself with her in
| differently cooked food.
Most often he found himself watch
ing the girl whom he had named
| Violet He had given her this name
because of her slim, modest sTyfless.
| and somehow she seemed to exude
| fragrance that was reminiscent of the
English violet itself.
| Drake never made friends in board
| ing houses, nor apparently did the
| girl. Otherwise theirs might have
| been before this an ordinary speak
ing acquaintance.
| The days had long since gone when
| landladies could buy a bunch of wall
| flowers or jonquils for a dime, and in
| consequence the tables were seldom
adorned with anything more decor
| alive than a salt and pepper shaker
and the mustard pot.
| One day when Drake opened his
| mail and found a check larger than
he had expected from story inspired
by folks in that dining room he de-
landlady. He bought an arrlfuI of
! tawny cl1rysanthemums and every
table in both dining rooms was made
beautiful by them.
! Drake happened to glance at Violet
and his heart gave a bound. She had
| cuped one of the great blossoms in
| her lovely hands and was burying her
lface in it. Then, she raised her eyes
! and looked into its golden depths with
an unmistakable love of flowers in her
| expression. She inhaled the bitter
| sweetness of it for a moment, sighed
as if in "Reminiscences and then went
| on with her soup Drake, too. con-
! tinued his prosaic| task of eating.
| Jolly good thing didn't get roses
| he said to himself. 'She might have
kissed them right here before this
! cold audience" He wondered how it
| v ould feel to have Violet look deep
into his soul as she had looked into
| the heart of this flower.
That night he brought home six
/ hyacinths and took them to his room
| under cover OF his coat.
| Violet usually went for short walk
after her day in business, and it was
while she was gone that he slipped the
| bunch of blossoms thru the balcony
| railing and on her window SILL so that
| they might greet her when she pulled
up her curtains the next morning.
brakes room was next to hers and
he could hear her moving about when
| the windows were up.
He slept well and he believed he
| dreamed of a slim, authenticated girl
| in A garden of flowers.
The tinkling of the brass rings on
the long curtains in the next room
brought him to consciousness in the
morning. He sat up and listened. He
| heard a soft little exclamation and
was repaid for his gift. she had found
the flowers and they had given her
delight.
Later, in the dining room, he heard
her questioning Mrs. Drew, but that
lastonished person was as much Tnys-
titled as was the girl
boarding house, and Mrs. Drew was as
pleased and excited as a cat with her
first batch of kittens. But she could
not put two and two together. She
! could not find the happy man.
Easy going David Drake, the seri-
Gus, quiet author of so many short
stories. was the last person she would
have suspected.
And Violet? She was only half
Fconscious of having stepped into the
world of romance. But she had found
| a new interest in life. Her eyes took
| on warmer glow, her steps became
more fbuoyant and a faint rose flush
appeared in her pale cheeks when she
| entered the boarding house dining
room.
Exquisite orange tulips had fol-
lowed the hyacinths and then happy
yellow jonquils. Then one morning a
or deepest, warmest red greeted her
eyes when she pulled aside her cur
| tain. After that she knew that she
was truly loved.
| Violet had kept all the bulbs and
was caring for them until the follow
ing spring, when she hoped to be able
| to plant them in the far away garden
/ in the South. She had been miserabIy
homesick since she came to the big
| city to make her living and she longed
Tor the family. the flowers the birds
! and all that meant life to her No one
knew Just how much this gift of flow
ers mad meant to her nor how won
| derfully her soul had responded
1t was getting well into spring and
the long, light evenings made it diff
cult for Drake to get his offerings
unseen to her window. His own avn
| lngs were up and the partition be-
| tween the balconies was canvased so
| as TO insure privacy. The girl had
planted flowers on her ratings and
ne gould see her tending them.
Whom he sent the two tubs of Grim
son ramblers to her after this he de-
cldod 10 write a note to accompany
| them. He was fearful lest the girl
worry about the material side of it
| the expenditure. He fabricated as
! successfully as if he were writing fic-
lion and explained that the overpro-
| jlti2 greenhouses of his brother in the
country made it nothing at all for him
! 70 keep her in the flowers she so
obviously loved.
! Violet pondered over the note. and
! more than ever her eyes were dreamy
/ with the wonder of her secret ro-I
nance Would it be so wonderful
when she met him face to face?
| She knew her moment of awaken
! ing had come when she entered the
| dining room one morning and her eyes
! fell on dropping bud of bezonia in
/ the lapel of David brakes coat She
4 oiushed brilliantly He caught her
| eyes. and as she found her way to
/ her own table she realized how won
| derfulIy woven was the web of her ro-
nance No man, of all whom she had
known, could have fittle so adequate
| " into the dream as this quiet writer
/ of short stories
| When she returned to her room she