The Topeka state journal., 1922-09-18
EUening Story
In the Dark.
BY JESSIE DOUGLAS

1t was pure delight. Meadow-sweet
in the air. and the whisper of grass
under her feet and a pail on her arm
that was to Dri. g back fresh butter.
She gave a sudden start.
81 can't do itl'
It was almost dark now, but she
could see the foot bridge across which
she must step to reach the other river
bank. There wasn't even hand-rail.
| But how could she go back and face
! Mrs. Bascom and admit that she was
just one of ''thoee silly city girls who
was. afraid to cross the bridge?
IF there were only some other way
to cross" Molly said aloud.
There isn't
The voice sounded out of the dark
ness so close at hand that Molly
jumped.
1T you wish" the voice went on,
| "I'll see that you get across"
20, do Molly said bresthlessly.
He stepped out ahead of her and
| she saw by the stars that he was tall
hand she knew by it's pressure that
he was strong. She scarcely breathed
until she reached the other side.
THANK you," she sighed.
He walked little distance apart
from her and she saw that he was
full that he could only see the faint
blur of her figure in the dusk.
You'll have to go back again,
suppose" the voice went on, "and if
you'll let me, I'll see that,you get back
safely. I'm Jim Stevens over at the
Haley's."
1t was pleasant talking to a man
like this by starlight. Molly forgot
all her self-consciousness. She was
just like any other girl talking to a
young man under a slip of a July
moon. just as young, just as charm
"If you'll wait here I'll go in and
get the butter" she told him as the
farmhouse loomed UP.
She was grateful that the porch was
in darkness and that when she passed
into the lighted kitchen the door
closed after her.
He was waiting for her when she
came out and she felt her heart beat
with a new sense of happiness.
1t was the first time young man
ever had waited for her outside 81
gate; it was the first time she had
ever talked serenely unconscious of
herself to any man. She drank in
all the joy of the moment as they
hsauntered home to Mrs. Bascom's.
May I see you again?" Jim Stevens
| asked her as they came to the white
farmhouse. Molly caught her breath
She knew what it would mean if he
saw her again.
But perhaps we-you-might be
say lightly.
Disappointed? ?" he asked. "I knew
when I first heard your voice you
were pretty. How disappointed? %
She couldn't answer him.
He said suddenly, eff it's introduce
Mrs. Haley to come over to Mrs. Bas-
CONS and bring me along and intro
duce me tomorrow afternoon"
"Oh, mol" Molly gasped. But
might meet you tomorrow night down
| by the bridge?" Then she ran into
che house.
The first thing she did was to climb
breathlessly the steep stairs to her
| own room, then she lighted the kero-
| sene lamp, and, taking care to pull
down the shade, she went over to the
! crinkly mirror and studied herself.
| No, she was just the same. Her hair
was not gold and curly, it was mouse
colored and very straight. She had
nothing in the way of a Greek profile
but an apology of nose, and her
| eyes were not large and lustrous but
gray and sweet and unnoticeable al
together. 1t was not that that
| troubled her so much, but across one
| temple was a mark, a delicate blue
mark that time would never erase and
| that her hair would never quite cover.
| It was this that made her selfcon-
scious, wretchedly sure that girls were
pttying her ana men turning away
from inc 5lBnC WITH Q1SSuSC. 1t was
this that had made her promise to
meet Jim Stevens after dusk
Just once she told herself she
should have all the joy of talking to
man and pretending she was pretty.
She could pretend.
Next evening she met Jim Stevens
down by the bridge. She wore a white
dress with airy ruff1es that made her
| seem some delicate moth as she flut-
tered down to him She lifted her face
| bravely, sure that that tell-tale scar
! was hidden. They talked and laughed
and came singing back along the road
to the Bascon's and Jim carried her
/ promise that she would meet him the
next night
But why this Cinderella business p"
he asked her. ST do believe there's
something mysterious about you: YOU
won't go canoing with me. you won't
go picnicking with me-have I done
something? Is it still the lack of pro-
per introductlon?"
He was still so sure of this feeling
| dragged Mrs. Haley over to call on
| Mrs. Bascom next afternoon, but
| Molly, hiding in her closet, refused
to hear the calls for her. She waited
to come out until she heard the re.
treating footsteps of the callers
him about two weeks that Jim be-
gan to tell her about himself She
heard with a new terror clutching
at her heart that he was q poster
| artist.
! Molly had almost steeled herself to
meeting him in daylight, but this de-
| cided her. Her summer idyl should
should end as it had begun, roman
tically, charmingly, in darkness.
The night before she was going
Nome Jim kissed her. She knew she
would not forget that kiss as long as
she lived and she knew his voice with
that infection would always haunt her,
| Lovely little Molly
It was the end. He had not said
he loved her. But it would always
be sweet to remember that his voice
had been tender and he had thought
her lovely.
Next morning she was going back
| 10 the city where she worked and
lived in the big institution that housed
working girls who did not earn over
twelve hundred a year. She was 60
ing back to work and heartache and
/ I1v, f,,& Oh h0 Ia