Show the girl who came back BY JACK WOODFORD tp W N U service THE STORY influenced by loneliness without relatives or real friends in chicago lillta corbea young and pretty yields to the importunities tuni ties of harvey torrence with whom she fancies herself in love she discovers his true character and leaves him taking refuge with an acquaintance aertrude watson lillta Is accosted by th son of the wealthy owner of the apartments fred watterson she repulses ats advances but he in stats on driving her to the lore on the street torrence Is wait ing he puts the worst construction on lillta a being with wat terson and the two men engage in a battle in which tor rence Is killed lillta spends night of misery in a police cell she informs her father by wire of her situation but he answer that he never wants to see her face again next morning the judge at the instigation of lawyer a stranger to lillta als misses the case the lawyea gives her and an unsigned note informing her that college tuition has been paid for a year he refuses to give the name of her benefactor she takes up short story writing CHAPTER ill continued you re not fooling me cut n lo 10 allta so intrigued with hie thought ot becoming a writer that she could scarce refrain from hugging the girl you really think that I 1 have latent ability tint I 1 could eier my dear girl 1 know you could and then too so much depends upon ones determination to succeed eed if you bad that in addition to what antly seems to be a slight trace of the subjective tempera attributes of the writing type nothing in all alie wide wide world would please me so much declared lillta enthusiastically ohl id try awfully hard 1 I know i ou would encouraged the other 1 felt just then there was nn interruption pardon me said a pleasant voice from the doorway for intruding but 1 won t be a moment I 1 just want to get my list of new registrants I 1 left it upon the desk top he entered and reached for the list and turned to go when the registrars secretary slopped him mr 1 want you to meet miss farrar miss farrar Is thinking of taking up the short story MIs barrar this Is mr our in of shoil story ie Is himself a writer of short stories as you probably have noticed if you read the lillta stood up A pair of deep brown eyes met here she felt her hand taken in a warm handclasp she looked up a a grave sympathetic understanding face poked for a mo ment above the face at a neatly clipped head of dark hair flecked with premature gray hairs she heard the delightful voice saying things to her but she did not biow whal the things were it was as though she had suddenly been struck by lightning and wa numb she hardly knew what she had said haw she had gotten downstairs and out into the rattle and ann of jhb street she knew that she had arranged to report for study n the h rt story class and as she walked meditatively inward the 1 I she also anew one other tiling that she could handle at least one story theme eien if it were an old theme she could write a story about a girl who hud never that such a thins exerted falang andly tn love at first sant CHAPTER IV one afternoon hardly more than two months after her enrollment she approached the worn stone steps of the university building with intrepid footsteps and a bulky bundle of pa pers under her arm icart beat like mad as ahe elevator jerked and daggered toward the fourth floor in charge of a dental student in a white coat who was helping to pay his way through school by running he eleva tor she walked toward the class room through the school library smiling in at miss marion in the reg office as she passed it and getting a heartening smile in return which somewhat encouraged her but her courage left her again as she en the little erwim where the story class limited to thirty students met most of the class was there sit ting around the long table wIt ln for mr to come in it was bloomy and dull within the room and lollen felt depressed as she took a seat at alie long table somehow the heart went completely out ot her in all of the time that she had been in the class BO far mr lind only spoken to her once after ing his introduction to her and upon the second occasion he had merely aci that she hid not yet turned n any kind of written anent tonight the others were not animatedly chattering as usual every one seemed tired and dull I 1 oatta got to thinking of her the only ebe bad that she knew of who still remained ellve remembered that she had practically no friends since the ghastly thing that had happened to her she longed to go home to for a night or so hear her fathers slow araie graie dellb erate olac meet and talk to some of the girls to the little town with the river running through IL but she could not go home ever her father had said just then mr walked in briskly it was as though a breath of fresh cool air had come into the room as though the lights had suddenly started to dance the entire class sat up took on new life there were smiles and cheery greet ings around the room air blanked planked down a timeworn black brief case brown at the edges where the leather was curling away from the seams well chos dead he remarked cheerily A laugh went around the long table nobody now ventured one of the prettier girls daringly mr war rill regarded her with a smile which lillta begrudged since it had not been directed toward her that being the case he continued gravely 1 I suppose theres no real need for the music from that ghastly shutter theres enough poe alke at mo sphere in here god knows without It reminds me of the first sentence in the fall of the louse of usher two boys rose and man aged to silence the shutter sudden ly lillta felt mr s eyes upon her As 1 live he began miss farrar has at last favored us with a bit of narrative quite a bit judging by the size of the parcel under her arm since weve never read anything of hers perhaps wed better have a look miss farrar please frightened almost to death I 1 allta handed over the bundle of paper she wished to heaven that she had not brought it haan hadn t written the thing at all she would die in her rhale if he should read it aloud she watched in mute agony as he undid the string shuffled the papers of manuscript a look of amazement upon his face thanks tremendously miss farrar he said with the slightest hu gleam in his deep brown eyes for haling broken one spell any how at last a member of the class has succeeded in getting beyond twelve hundred words with a story this must be five thousand words at least I 1 was afraid it gasn wasn t in any of you aa he talked he glanced over the pages reading snatches to himself here and there suddenly he leaned bark in his chair and corn fenced reading from the lillta squirmed and writhed but as he read she realized that it was after all not half bad she had poured her ery hearts blood into it trans the agony of thoe hours in a cell the brutal questioning of alie po lice captain the horror of harvey dead at her feet the humorous un morality of gertrude into a ihling piece of writing so changed and so camouflaged eliat it would be impossible for anyone rending it or hearing it read to identify the thine with the story nelch appeared in the papers some time previous she looked arkind at the other members of the class to see hw aliey were taking it they sat for the most part with blank expressionless faces with the exception of the pert rather pretty girl who had made the corn remark to mr barrill when he had come in she was grin nang in a contemptuous sort of vay I 1 allta bit her tongue and twisted her fingers under the table th only ef feet apparently that the story was having upon the class was to bore all of them except one to he point of annihilation and to make that one think that it wis funny funny of all things those pijus it seemed to I aust be almost red at last mr finished the story ie the upon the table bior a moment it was berj quiet in the room lillta could fed her face burning mr said after a moment a little impatiently well nhat does the class think ot it the class began to express itself ita a knockout I 1 contributed one youth its a now I 1 substantiated miollier miot lier the berries 1 insisted a third letter than lots in the offered another but lillta that alie were all bos suddenly mr turned upon miss the young lady who had him she was a little thins a post graduate of el lesley bhe sometimes wrote dainty little heris short stories of about he hundred words full of fragile tea cups and naive emotions well if 1 may be pardoned for saying so she prefaced 1 thought that it was a crude that Is 1 believe that perhaps it might have some commercial possibilities but oh I 1 be yourself reproved mr cutting in its far and away the best thing turned in yet in fact its the best tiling ever turned in to me since ie been alth south western in any class its alive its real the characters tn tt are living breathing human beings but the sentence structure and the style objected another rather pretty feminine member of the clas style be hanged 1 retorted mr style Is secondary to the illusion of reality and it has that la large chunks willingly trade style for anytime sudden ly lillta who dared not look up felt his eves upon her miss barrar this Is alie first thing turned in yet that I 1 feel justified to advising submission to a magazine since it Is a confession story in the popular connotation of the word a first person story to put it more correctly I 1 wish that vou would send U to a magazine and let me know the result several of the girls tittered even the boys looked incredulous 1 I have an idea went on mr war rill a little disconcerted by the titters that it will sell for a good price since he evidently was not joking the others stopped taking it as a joke throughout another hour of class lo 10 allta was as oblivious to what was going on as if she were in another room was it really possible that she could write and be paid for it had she really won the approval of mr or was he perhaps just kid aln her she decided to remain after the class wao over and make sure but then she reflected that would not do any particular good either for the feminine members of the class always remained and even some of the hoys poor mr had a terrible time getting away from them it suddenly mccun ed to her however that she had seen him late one afternoon going into a little old fashioned greek restaurant about a block from the school pos ni always went there for supper after clas after he had gotten rid of the students who adored him when class was over she went to the little restaurant and chose a table over in one corner sure enough after what seemed like hours mr came in glanced about the room saw her and came over and sot down well you certainly handed me a surprise tonight he began 1 I dlan t suspect that I 1 was in you that story it was marielou marv elou it stays in ompa mind sell it belond the shadow of a doubt and then your troubles will begina 1 coubles roubles rou bles echoed lillta who had hoped that the end of troubles might possibly be in sight whatever on earth young lady he reproved don t try to fool an old hand I 1 know how you came to write that story youve lived most of it oh I 1 dont mean exactly as it wis written but you ve lived something mighty close to it the fact that you could do it shows talat you have unquestioned talent and latent ability but the question Is will you have the grit and pat lenie to develop into a writer of purely alve tale that Is will you he able to fabricate stories out of bhole cloth now that youve gotten your own story off your chest with yur help 1 am positive that I 1 can and try ever so hard I 1 ni studying every moment that I 1 possibly can lie stopped to give his order and then smiled across at her TO BB CONTINUED |