Show i Sort b rt Sor Story of th Day j ill I CINDERELLA Jt darling h he said tenderly Is the h p pa parson ill 11 a again I or 0 has hasou ou la bout tomorrow and forbidden you to go jon m is my father and he Is always alwa's fancying that h he Is ill ili parson I said mId sadly F r a wonder he Js Is' Is quite well this Die he never forbids me to do an anything lhing But ut I went on n desp despairingly Rut h ht t it for once Humphrey I cant can't come tomorrow and you must ex excuse use to your mother e grew quite alarmed and nd held my face tace between his hands to h h. have ve ve vea a t it N 1 not not ill iii yourself he cried I I If he f vans no I am never ill It ISsom I far far worse than I cant ant tell you what j ng pt he lie said gravely you tell tell- me everything If If you i trouble ble you ought to let me share it and we can be unhappy tot to- to t br y makes love beautifully but I could not help elp smiling at th the Idea idea to-I to iring this trou trouble ble I t be ie silly i said hastily Its no good tr trying tring to make me tell you you I and nd theres there's an end of or it I 1 am not goIng to lo disgrace ace your pour mother I want nt nl to help me you must mal make malte e up something to explain to to- her r my mother mothe he paid Raid slowly I think I begin bein to see daylight nj believe that my princess is quite quIt such a lay baby as that but I really eJ found your poor little reason reason reason-is is it be because ause you haven't a smart r ro k I nothing Ing of the kind kind kindI I cried crier hastily but he laughed again and did Id any alY notice of ot what I sHi l and went on lf I am right he said you cant can't be so ridiculous ij you only knew N No one will trill look at your f frock ock when they have I lllY believe y face fae What do dJ does a shabby gown matter If it you have the pretin pret- pret In the n world j t like Ika being beine laughed at and I felt elt that Humphrey would never id a t BIB you u have quite finished I s said ld trying to be he cold coM and distant distan not easy while willIe his arn arm was around me when you ou have quite e W haPs if YOu OU will listen to what I am lm saying You are quite wrong lOck Wreck I have got a new one one one-a a pretty one Inde indeed d. d Aunt Margaret M rgaret e it Is ls v lle muslin with 1 t on it and arid and it is partly that hat I ik me go EO cl t I t go because I look nice in It and andI I I j l rit It ve very ch I indeed l f r quite quite quit diff different r so som o m X C 1 i I I It Jl T j I f J of If V f. f J lr 1 Ij as I f l A 9 ti h 1 J you had better go o home homp and and make up something to tell your moth mother r You know what a good imagination you have and if your conscience makes you reel feel uneasy about It you yon caz can call it poetic license lil-enre After all au ll you YOU YOUsa sa say much mere more untruthful Cui things about my eyes and hair and nd complexion dont don't you Z Humphrey didn't look took pleased but hut I cant can't help that One must be candid sometimes arid I was was was' miserable that morning n He took my li hand lind nd in his and andI I began to stroke it gently s but butI I snatched It away I am not lot a cat I said crossly The tears tears' came at last and I had a good cry on Humphrey's Humphreys gray shou 10 frier Pl while he hd wait waited waited dj like the darling he was till I had finished J 2 Its not the frock I sobbed and its it's not f father ther Its Its It's its it's this I I pushed my right foot In front fOnt of my sweethearts sweetheart's rt's astonished eyes eye's and he couldn't help se seeing Ing at once once- what it was that was making me so ml miserable erable Its tie the only pair pall Ive I've got I cried clied and and andI I cant ant go in the these thee e can I I never Jever have any money and O. O Humphrey I do wear out such Euch a lot of shoes shoe They are the worry of m my life but I th thought I could polish them up to look respectable at al least till this morning when I found this one had come undone all down the si si e and my stocking shows through Would your mother molher be pleased to see t tat at do you think No No Noa NoI I went on n hastily stopping him for forI I knew what he hp was going f to say Its no good paying that the I shoe doesn't matter wh when n I it holds a perfect little foot H Holes lE s matter anywhere and anti I cant can't go I i 1 But yo you must have p some shoes to wear about th the place Humphrey said looking at me so o pitifully y that I he wished he Do you propose to go barefoot of your our life I Barefoot for the rest No I to lo be dignified but hum humiliating tried led after afler my confession conCession It vas was not easy I shall send them to James Simms Simma In the village to to be tie patched and I must wear hl my slippers till It is 15 done H Hf takes a week and ama 6 o. Humphrey you OU dont don't know what awful patches he puts on I f can quite imagine them he be said smiling As big bug as the shoe I expect Poor girl i it is Iii a a 3 hard case but I suppose it cant can't be got over Considering Consider ing that my mother Is giving the garden party entirely in your honor your absence will be a a. little difficult to explain But Bitt as you S say y the poets poet's license wilt will carry one honorably a good way anti and I must make the best of ot a a. bad job I expect I had better go and begin at once I wont won't k p you longer from the parson and the poultry i He was ral rather ratler er a long long- longtime time tle saying good bye but when he lie had gone I forgot all about father and the geese and stayed on all the bewailing my unhappy poverty wondering why people had to wear shoes shoe and stockings at all In the summer time and sed wishing half-wishing I had not been beguiled Into telling my lover the thc whole disgraceful truth Hes a dear dear I said to myself and it doesn't really matter a bit but 0 O I do hope he wont won't tell tall lil his mother The ring he ha had given me that morning mOrning was still sUll on my finger and I slipped It off to look at It thoroughly It w was i. i old and the pattern raved engraved on the gold was almost worn away I noticed d that t. t hat t the there was an inscription inside and with so some some- curiosity spelled it lt It out to O this Rubbe thrice once winne inne all I I l Its a real rea old w ring I said to toT W It I 1 w wonder 1 if it Humphrey know kneW w I am sin n no t lt trail trail- all JI superstitious of but I 1 couldn't t help Mlp feell feeling ig i t 1 A 3 iv f t L t that there might be something in it At At rate there wa WO ii ri tryIng trying try try- Ing and I might as WEI do It as not 1 held it respectfully I ii f bt bf my hand band and wondered what I wanted most but I am ashamed t that that the first thing that came into my head was s sices I I. I rubbed the stone softly with one finger and said un under er my breath half halt Irole solemnly nl trying to I keep from laughIng laughIng laugh- laugh Ing I wish for as many pairs of ebO shoes as I can wear in my whole life liCe Directly I had finished saying It it struck me Inc that I had wasted a good chance Of or course I ought to have wished d for tor money straight out and that would have meant frocks and hats and nice things to eat as well as shoes but it was too late now and perhaps there ther was rot not anything In the silly old ling sing aft after r all Anyway I was wasting my time thue put out oit there in the wood when th there re were a thousand-and-one thousand things In n the h use use waiting to be De done and nd I Ift tilt ft U guilty that I had been p performing a a. and action and arid one totally unbefitting a parsons parson's daughter That night I cried myself to sleep p and dreamed that Humphrey was trying to make me go to the garden party garden party with a beryl ring o on my right foot Instead of a shoe and I came down the next morning with a he heart art full of gloomy de de- de- de v The fresh sweet air rushed in to meet me but butI 1 stepped back into the dark pasSage passage with a cry of wonder a and my heart beat fast fas and sickeningly as I thought of my wish i i In the middle of ot the red stone step stood a little pair nair of ot new shining buckled shoes and I knew that the ring was isas as a real xeal magic ring and that my wish tish had been bee granted But had It been granted I had wished for enough nough shoes to last That my lifetime life lIfe- time time here here was waa one solitary pair a nice pair pall it was true and no doubt most e but still only one one pair and beautiful as th they y w were were ere I l' l couldn't be expected tomake them lost long Perhaps the spirit of of the the ring ring thought I was extravagant and didn't mean to give me a second pair until the the first were finished f but it seem seemed d strange that a a. magic ring should be so thoughtful t It was strange that there was only one pair It seemed such a a. poor way of ot doing things such ruch hearted half-hearted generosity In the spirit of the beryl ring and andI I sat down on one of the little green seats in the porch and put the shoes on the other the better to admire elmIre their radiant polished beauty and the delightful little steel buckles on the Insteps i Suddenly a reason for their their solitude solitude flashed into nto my roy mind and I felt at once In my heart that It was the true one There Ther was on only y yone one pair of shoes for for m me mt because I should only need one pair I had wished for as many pairs as would last me my w whole ole life and the spirit of oI the ring to whom the future was no doubt an open book had foreSEen foreseen foreseen fore fore- seen that one pair would be enough I was vas going to die young Three months at the most It was ivas July now and andI I should die in October I pictured myself lying lyIng lyIng-a a straight white while figure on a bed at the end of September September- I 1 would begin to keep keep my room tidy tidy with with trails of ot crimson and yellow creepers and all the best Japanese chrysanthemums chrysanthemums' from froal Humphrey's Humphreys Humphreys Humphrey's Humphreys Humphrey's Hum Hum- mothers mother's greenhouse tenderly laid around r rue by y my sweethearts sweetheart's heartbroken but still poetic X hand Perhaps it Isn't true after all I cried and perhaps nothing will wilt happen in October except the festival Nothing ever occurs to put that off Then I saw the shoes and I knew In my my heart art of ot hearts that they had brought my death warrant I g got t up and put them awa away in the parlor which we never used and began making up my mind that I wouldn't tell anY anybody ody t till I I had broken it to Humphrey so after attEr breakfast I went into int the wood od again and found him for a w wonder voder de the tle first at our trysting place I carried the shoes in my left hand and I pointed to sadly theta with m my rights as an an introduction to my solemn so-lemn tidings k 1 Do you see those shoes I asked and Humphrey- Humphrey actually i laughed Yes Yes he said of course I do I am m not blind Do you like th them m Dont laugh laugh I whispered in a broken voice You will be sorry if you do lo Do you know what these shoes mean Yes he said he-said said trying to look grave grave of ot course I do They mean that you'll be able to come to my m mothers mother's party this aCt afternoon loon dont don't they they they- I laid my ly hand nana handon on his nis armI arm jf y s I must begIn to think of ot other ether things than parties now now I said Sit down Humphrey and listen to me me quietly You You will il l need need needa a l' l our strEngth to bear bex- what J am going to tell you you I He lie did as aa he was WM told without a word i and and- gently gamily I 1 told him everything except the part about the straight white figure arid and th the chrysanthemums ms and when ihen i had finished he laughed out loud and kissed d me again What a baby he said And hen then you dare to talk about my imagination imaginations Its It's a pity pity- you u look shoes You might have found an explanation tion on there vJ V v- J 1 lid did look Inside one or of them themI them m I I sa said d wondering what h he was driving at Then it was the wrong wrong one He lie held out the to me and I put my hand in It There was something hard there c certainly lY an and nd I tore out a a. rolled up screw of paper and opened it still stin von dering what it all' all meant It was in Humphr Humphreys Humphrey's ys y's own dear illegible writing and thi ls w what it said I have solved the difficulty for my princess and ind brought my love a fairing I lay my glass slippers at the the s' s sweetest Cinderella in in inthe the the world I 1 looked up from the paper to find Humphrey y was still laughing at me but this time I laughed too I i What does doe this mean I asked pointing to the gilt letters on the sole which had puzzled me I II II II I am afraid my poor little princess is a dunce said Humphrey taKing ta me In his arms shoes and all It on only y means that the enchanted shoes were made in Paris Chicago Chicago Tribune |