The evening world. Newspaper, June 3, 1922, Page 13

PRB aT fa ) WHO'S WHO IN THE STORY. STEPHEN DOUGLAS, a young lawyer who owes his place in the Picture to the generosity of others. LILY SEDELMEYER, over thirty, competent, considered hard- boiled, who doesn't know much about unselfish devotion. JUDGE WILMONT TRUMAN, whose office furnishes the setting for most of the drama, CONSTANCE TRUMAN, the Judge’s daughter, who lives up to her social position. DAVID SARGENT, a young gallant belonging to Miss Tru- man's “‘set.”” MICHAEL HIGGINS, a bit of mystery, whose movements ma- térially affect the story. AUNT HEPHZIBAH, who gives another quality to the tale with- out ever appearing in person. HE gray mutk of an early November twilight deep- ened in the library of Judge Wilmont Truman's law office. All the men had gone for the day except one very young man, gray-eyed and shabbily dressed and incredibly earnest. Judge Truman's offices always wore un air of twilight. A delicate Veil of soft coal soot cov- ered the windows and tempered even the sun of midday. Against the walls stood the judge's bookcases, no one of which resembled its fellow. They had been grudgingly added to from time to time, whenever the pile of books in the corners became uncom- fortably pretentious. Facing the win- dows stood a black onyx ‘fireplace, beautiful and dignified, tipped slightly askew, hung a steel cut of Alexander Hamilton with a background of marble pillar and lugu- brious stage ‘curtain. and over it, In spite of the shiftlessness of his office, Judge ‘Truman was the most able lawyer in the county, possibly in the State, and the most meagre of eo . in his firm was not without lgnificance. Even the dingy rooms, unmodern and draughty, possessed a curious cheem In the Middle West one finds seldom a place that has ac- quired a sense of distinction because men have worked well within it. Two Governors and a Supreme Court Jus tice had read their Blackstone, and scritbled and dreamed, beneath the same complaining gas lamp where now acribbled Stephen Douglas. Eleven yeacs before Stephen Douglas had been “placed out’ on Zeke Preston's farm near ( mn Mountain, lowa But the ambitions of youth are not bounded by fortune or logic or prob- ability, They areas real as the wish behind them—and Stephen Douslas was a valiant wis! Suddenly the door to the Judge's and hed open n the Private sanctum ser Lily Sedelmyer stood Bhe looked at the youn i stant with a half-amused annoyance, and her eyes narrowed: “I take it your heart's in your work"”—— The blush that crimsoned the boy's cheeks deepened with exasperation because he knew he was blushing. “gorry,” he said. “Did you want to shut up the shop?" She came a couple of steps nearer ‘and looked at the lifer of papers. “Traction case?" doorway. He nodded. Lily Sedelmeyer shrugged her shoulders, “Lord,” she snapped, “you @idn't think you could settle that to- night, did you? It's been hanging around here ever since I came—fif- teen years ago." ‘This time it was she who blushed, and a flush of anger crept painfully from her high, rouged cheekbones down her too thin neck where the cords had. already begun to show. She had been a fool to give away her age like that! Stephen looked up at her and grinned, “Seems that something that happened back in '87—Selby County va, the Mississipp! Valley Traction Company—is awfully important and I've been detailed to look it up.” He pointed to the pile of books on the floor beside him. “You'd think any odo could find the thing, it's only a court decision, but I can’t." Back of the lightness of his words was an undeniable note of pleading. of course, ridiculously young @arnest—and good-looking. Lily Bedelmeyer hesitated a mo- ment. It was late and she was tired and she had a date, ‘But life, some way, 1s seldom logical. “Let's have a look,"’ she said at last, “Angel Baby." ILY SEDELMEYER had worked fifteen years for Wilmont Truman, When she first ar- wived she was seventeen, fresh from a school of stenography, and she was long-legged and hard-eyed and bitter. At twenty-five sho had Yooked distinctly ‘hard-boiled,’ and there had already been ‘‘gossip about her." But she was smart. “Lily's worth fifteen Phi Beta Kappas,"' the judge explained once, “and she's almost as cheap." When- He was, and ever any insinuating remark reached his ears he raised her salary and re- iterated his faith in her ability. “What was it Lincoln said about Grant's Hquor?"" he once demanded. And the conversation was dropped Accordingly, Lily's position re- mained as unchallenged jas her effi- ciency. She possessed the Intense, clear-headed, narrow ability that de- velops in persons upon whom circum- stances have forced an early matur- ity. At nineteen Lily was completely supporting her brother, little Bennie Sedelmeyer, derning fils stockings and seeing he got off to school on time. When Lily was twenty-four Bennie died of scarlet fever. The ‘'Sedel- meyer kids’ were orphans and board- ed around, so the funeral was held ‘in the front room of Mrs, Wilson's Se- lect Lodging House, Judge Truman had gone, and he took with him his seventeen-year-old daughter, ’ Con- stance, upon whom, since his wife's death, he had allowed himself to de- pend. If he had thought twice he would have decided to shield Constance from the depression this tragedy would surely cause a sensifive and young person, But he didn't think. He was sorry for Lily and something had to be done about it, something a little more human than the pdying of the undertaker's fee, Constance Truman, sitting on the horsehair sofa in Mrs. Wilson's front room beneath an enlarged photo- graph of Mr. Wilson, added the last touch of bitterness to Lily's despair. The dress Constance wore was dark blue and simply made but it seemed, even to the Judge, an unchallenged symbol of the delicate well-being her lot in life assured her. Lily behaved with a sort of valiant defiance, destined to paralyze all the gentle- ness, all the potential helpful- ness in the other girl. Even Judgo ‘Truman could see that it was not easy to pacity @ tigress, and he decided he had done wrong to bring Constance even to have come himself Before the procession was to start for the cemetery the Jud daugh ter summoned all her went over to Lily. you to come to our and stay for dinner.’ a second, amazed at her own temer courage and “Father wants house afterward hesitated ity. “It won't be so lonesome as herg perhaps."’ For an instant the two girls faced each other. Lily Sedelmeyer knew the Judge's daughter wanted only tc be kind, and yet, in one of those accountable flashes of she suddenly hefd Constance Trumar responsible for Bennle's death, for the bruising emptiness of the It was all illogical and un- resentment, future, wrong and CEE Saea childish, but in that instant Lily hated as she had never hated in the course of a none too pacific exist- ence. “No. » sl her head stub- bornly, “I can't, 1 don't want to, Go away." It‘was final ONCERNING Lily, all las felt su Stephen Doug! that ot knew more law that she was too ud that she wasn't Truman. He rv help the other was that than he ditt thin, but pretty at all like Con had often watehed men in the office, and he had won dered, in a y way, why she seemed content to help. Maybe t made ambitious. now he felt that t detachment he women just wert As he watched | same sense of ind had known in *® when teacher worked out the yblem., “Here,” she su “Blue Byes ‘Her 16m she looked # your cuse, up at him across the volumes. they're not 1 “They're BERNICE THE STORY OF YOUTH, OPPORTUNITY ILLOS ‘TRATED BY WILL B.JOHNS TONE. “But ing now ue; they're green.” heart. Mak gray,"" he retorted, and he when you're Well, good night, sweet- me ambassador to Yap President.” blushed again. “Anyway, my ount “Miss Sedelmeyer"—— 50." She turned abruptly In the door- “Your aunt!" Lily Sedelmeyer way. “Woell?” looked at him quizaically, “You're “Are you really going somewhere funny.” She head and the way his hair curled in —he blushed again, but his very the nape of his neck and the line awkwardtiess had charm—"I'm fed his chin, “Well, 1 reckon T better 1p on eating around alone.! shove off.” She started to pull on ‘Oh, 1 se She made him a mock the slightly soiled cotton gloves that curtsy. “You're asking for the pleas- looked like chamois, “There’safellah ure of my company to dinner, are waiting to buy me a sandwich.” you?" A curious feeling of left-alonen His smile was disarming. “Yea, I swept through Stephen, “Don't ¢ am. My technique’s thin—and 60's he said, and then he realized how my purse, but I reckon T could buy silly it sounded, “f mean, I thank you a ‘sandwich, " you. “I'll bet I'd have hunted all Lily Sedelmeyer wavered. “I've night for that darn thing. §& yews this evening, famous," It was a confession she likes the shape of his got a date." very young sandwich would be a good one. entiment, I reckon I'l w wouldn't be special for supper? Her “date” nor Lily seldom pla “'To-mort if you're till of the A suspicion crossed Because, I mean" | salem enn sild was neither but the Be- ned to yleld to sald, very noble she sume opinion,” that he perhaps Steph n’s mind, wanted contradicte and t! but he rallied gallantly, ‘To-morrow, laughed, “Too bad about y then, Thank you," retorted, “teacher's pet.” “Good night’'—from the doorway “What do you mean, teacher's p he watched him a moment with slow His astonishment was genulr un? ing a desk in the only r cent light the judge's you hadn't things, had you?" s put on the traction yes—"'Stephen," she for @ boy like him trawled, On she taunted v . r way down the dirty wooden ae stairs, long worn into #hal- mw jow hollows, she wished suddenly und being asked ) she handn’t tried to flirt with him— for dinner, 1 hut, Indeed, she hadn't stayed to help noticed any t o) im, It wouldn't pay to grow to care Oue could easily He shook his head doultfull). eare too much “Well, not as being eapoctall TEPHEN, too, had marvelled at fleant. Just ' S the Judge's kindness. By a L he repeated lucky fluke he had secured was something in her voice t A Job in the Truman office us not pleasant to hear. She was stad AND SELF the oMce “taken a had phrased It, the big man } shine’ to him. Fortune denied Stephen much, perhaps, money and security and a background of gentle rearing. But fortune had given him something especial, It had made hin the kind ‘of person the world doesn't mind seeing get on Quite without, conscious motive, or even recognition of it, people had pushed the materials of success into his way They hadn't been very powerful people, most of them, Hephzibah, old Judge Squires, Jacob Sears, Squire Smart —and Anna—but they had given him that something which 1s called experience, experlence shorn of bitterness, clean of scars. He was old for twenty-two, and he was appeal- ingly young. Perhaps, indeed, It had been Ste- pPhen's youth that bad captured Lily Sedelmeyer, As she dressed for the office the next morning she looked longer at her face than was necessary to administer the swift make-up that transformed the pallor of her skin into a perhaps not too delicate rosi- ness. If Lily had ever had sleep enough, or a sense of security, or affection, she might have been pretty, As powsessed a sort of valiant good louks. ‘This morning, though, she stared hard at the slate- colored eyes that stared back at her, “Gosh,” she put was destined dates," it was, she she murmured finally, and orgette that for the only her on new xe to be to the worn ofl too, she bought three pink rosebuds. On way They were ridiculously expensive, and they would fade before but evening Lily was willing to gamble on the value of even the fleeting aesthetic touch, She put them at once in a glass of water on her desk, and in the soon 4s he left the uulversity, and, as afternoon she stealthily turned off the radiator in the Judge's office, At six Lily Sedelmeyer wiped the stems of the roses on her dust cloth, pinned them on her, waist, regardless of the holes the pins made in her new georgette, and made up all over again, slowly and carefully. No one was left but herself now and Stephen, and Lily's methods were direct, She had waited long enough for her mo- ment of appreciation As she pushed open the door to the library he looked up startled, then he grinned at her. ‘“‘Hello,* he said. “Got a flower garden at your house?” “From my aunt's conservatory,” she retorted, ‘She wants me to come and live with her and take ‘les- sons on the harp. Hut I'd rather be independent.” She crossed the room LILY WAS A GQOD THOUGH SOMEWHAT EXAGGERATED DANCER, and jumped impudently to a seat on the Hbrary table, ‘“‘Hungry?’’ ‘I've moaroely eaten a thing for twenty-seven years.’ She slid Ughtly from the table and confronted him, ‘The party's on, then?"’ “Of course, Didn't you accept yes- terday?"" ‘They hed dinner at an Italian res- taurant where the linen was spotted and where, in the centre of each table, stood a dusty vase filled with dusty pink and red paper carnations. All through dinner Lily Sedelmeyer felt a quite unwarranted and delight- ful happiness, She was at peace surd- denly with the world, with herself, and her voice became less shrill and she didn’t laugh much, She was neither aggressive nor shy. For tha first time in a none too guarded ex- istence she was quietly and simply herself with a man, OR a long time they tulked F about the office, and Lily ex- plained to him the scenario of the Traction Case, how tt had dragged througn @ dozen law courts, making and despolling Mayors and Judges and bankdes in its course. It was tled up with ¥ie whole game o¢ local politics, and the great man wh) ~— pulled the strings was one Michpe! Higgins of Chicago, a mythotegieit character, whose emissary wasgpighe Judge. iY “Tver seen him Stenhen dé manded “e Lily shook her head » te Judge always meets him in Chicago: This thing's too small for iim to Mey up in personal. He's ot a few AM roads and steamship lines to rif Hk- sides."" = For the first time Stephen -yigagl- twed the dimensions of high fi 5 and the vision caught his imaghm- tion, ‘I suppose there are a jan- dred or so gifted young men lie me ruining their Saturday afternvoms tor that bird, and he never heard of dhe of us.’ = “You're too modest, Mr. Dougta,’* Lily mocked. : Stephen grinned. “Anyway. ¥'d liké to-see him." And for a moment he forgot Mr, Gambctto's restififiint and the second order of spaghetti ahi the woman across from him whese eyes never left his face. Sad “Cheer up,’ she said, “and telt_me the story of your life." Lily was. pot untutored in the ways of beguiling: 4 man, ‘Tell me everything. I'mofh- terested,"" oe Stephen looked at her a moment questioningly, “Go on,'' she nodded, “I még” He was embarrassed pleased: ‘It won't leave you breath” lees," he said finally, “but ¥u brought it on yourself.” Then. he told, her about Zeke and Hephgliait\ @nd the farm and Gréen Mowtitain, When he talked about Hephaibaif'ite, nomeway, found it dificult to expayne himself. | 4 Ever since that first day when she had taken him away ‘from thesér® phans' Home in Des Moines sthé"tlad been the one unquestioned thing a his existence and he had accepted, fier devotion as a plant accepts suslight —too completely even for gratitude But Lily Sedelmeyer understood, yne she felt in her throat a curious ‘adhe Ferhaps there is something of Hepliai- bah Preston in every woman. ‘Thtn she revolted. “This sacrifice stuff's ull wrong,” she contended. “No Wor der women never get on. They‘ré {6: ever helping some man. I'm agaist \t, credite mihi, as they say in Latin,” Stephen laughed at her proteet. “Comes well from’ you—that,”” he'sifid. ‘You haven't taken any trouble he ering wbout me, now, have yaw? Lily looked away from him owati- denly. “That's different.” in For an instant she was tempfyy-to be frank with him, to tell hime cared for him, that Judge Triman liked him—and» Constance. For a moment too the old enniity flares up inside her, and she hated Constang hated her for being young and tet) - tiful and well ‘born. Besides, he feared Constance Truman as 4 ho- tential rival. Well, the game wasn't over yet. She had a lot of cards she could play Constance Truman-dida't dare to. Being a nobody had vantages. UDDENLY the door of the S taurant was opened, shrill, metallic notes of Joe's Jazz Orchestra, which rendered determined music at the Nelson Danc- ing Academy, blared Into the teem. The rendition was as bad as Was’ Ti®s- sible, even for an orchestra with tal- ent for the worst, but the plece*was a waltz, an old one, the sort around which memories are built—and ‘for- gotten. For an instant the twu looked at each other questioningly, then Lily decided, ‘Let's, she agid. The counterpart of Nelson's Agad- emy Is to be found in every town “and city from New York to Seattle, “It Is neither vicious nor refined. rom coast to coast it exists, gaudy, sbab- by, commercial, a retreat for the lonely and resourceless, an outhtand- ing testimonial to all that is unbeau- tiful and dreary and yearning ia. the great American middle class. Stephen hought Atty cents’ worth of tickets and handed two to the bull necked gentleman at the entrange tc the dance floor. This was a reckless extravagance, for the dance was al most over, but Stephen Douglas was by instinct no Scotchman, Lily was a good though somewhat exaggerated dancer, In a vague way Stephen reulized they were making themselves conspicuous, but, after all, what difference did !t make?) Thoy any ther were as much class as couple, At the end of the dance they sat in the corner at a table, traced with a aticky pattern of rings from the Hem- onade glasses, Other couples, leas @pu- lent, wandered up and down the dingy To sit one must erdér re corridor ee ee cere gee eet: ah, Sem cement 0 ! a 2 oer oe ete ah ong ak I Tin NESS ~~