Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1913 — NO CINDERELLA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NO CINDERELLA

By HAROLD MacGRATH

Author oj “The Man on the Box,” “The Goose Giri,” Etc.

(Copyright, by the Bobbs-Marrill Company)

S ADAM; have y©u «ST a slipper?*’ 1 asked politely. I held toward her a dainty shoe that might very well have appareled the foot of Venus rising out of the Cyprian wave In a pair of balloon slippers. * “I am not yet addressed as madam,’* said she, calmly drawing her skirts about her feet, which were already securely hidden- " Not yet? Ah, that is very fortunate, indeed. I see lam not too late.” : "Sir!” But I saw no anger on her face. There was, however, a mixture of i amusement, hauteur (that darling word of the lady novelists!) and objection. She hadn’t the least idea who 1 was, and I was not going to tell her for some time to come. I was a prodigal, with a few new ideas, "I meant nothing more serious than that you might happen to be Cinderella," said I. "What in the world should I do with Cinderella’s slipper, once she was safely married to the prince?” «

She swayed her fan indolently, but made no effort to rise. I looked on this as rather encouraging. “It would be somewhat embarrassing to ask a married woman if she were Cinderella,” I proceeded. "I should not particularize,” she observed; “married. or single, it would be embarrassing.” "I am searching for the Cinderella who has lost a slipper, and I am going to call you Cinderella till I have proof that you are not she whom I seek.” "It is very kind of you,” she replied, with a hint of sunshine struggling at the corners of her lips. “Have I ever . met you before?”—puzzling her arched brows. “Memory does not follow reincarnation,” I answered owlishly; "but I dare say that I often met you at the Temple of Venus in the old, old days.” She appeared slightly Interested. "What, may I ask, was your business in the old, old days?” "I played the cithern.” "And 1?” "I believe you distributed flowers.” “Do you know the hostess?” —with , solemn eyes. “Oh, yes; though she hasn’t the slightest recollection of me. But that’s perfectly natural. At affairs like this the hostess recalls familiarly to her mind only those who sat at her dinnertable eaalier in the evening. All other invitations are simply paid obligations.”

“You possess some discernment, at least.” “Thank you." "But I wish I knew precisely what you are about,” —her eyes growing critical in their examination. “I am seeking Cinderella,” once more holding out the slipper. Then I looked at my watch. “It la not yet twelve o’clock." “You are, of course, a guest here,” —ruminating, “else you could not have passed the footman at the door.” "Mark my attire; or, candidly, do I look like a footman?” “No-o; I can’t say that you do; hut in Cinderella, don’t you know, the footman carried the slipper.” "Oh, I’m the prince," I explained easily; “I dismissed the footman at the door.” \ “Cinderella,” she mused. She nestled her feet, and looked thoughtfully at her delicate hands. I could see she was at that Instant recalling the picture of Cinderella and the ash-heap. "What was the prince’s name?” “In this case it is Just a prince of good fellows.” “I should like some witnesses.” She gazed at me curiously, but there was no distrust in her Mmpid eye, as clear and motel ess as Widow Wadman’s. “Isn’t it fine,” I cried with a burst of confidence, “to possess the courage to speak to strangers?*’ “It is equally courageous to listen,” was the retort. "I knew I should like you!”—with enthusiasm. She stirred uneasily. It might have been that her foqt had suddenly grown chilled. A storm was whirling ontslde, and the pale, shadowy flakes of snow brushed the windows. I approached her, held np the slipper and contemplated It with wrinkled brow. She watched me covertly. Whet a slipper! So small and da!nt7 was it, so light and airy, that bad I suddenly withdrawn my hand I verily believe it would have floated. It was part satin and part skin, and the light, striking the inner side of it, permeated it with a faint, roay glow. “What a darling thing it Is!”—unable to repress my honest admiration. “Light u one of those snowflakes out yonder in the night Whet a proud arch the instep has! Ah, but it is e high-bred shoe, fit to tread on the heart of any man. Lovely atom!” She stirred again. I went on: "It might really belong to a prinoess, but only in a fairy-book; for all the princesses I have ever seen couldn’t put a hand In a shoe like this, much lees a foot And when I declare to you, on my honor, that I have met various princesses in my time, you will appreciate the compliment I pay to Cinderella.” The smile on her lips wavered and trembled, like a puff of wind on placid water, and was gone

"Leave it,” she said, melting, "ant? begone.” "I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be gallant at all, don’t you know. The prince himself put the slipper on Cinderella.” "But this is a modem instance, and a prosaic world. Men are no longer gallants, but business men or dub gossips; and you do not look like a business man.” "I never belonged to a club in my life.” * “You do not look quite so unpopular as all that” A witty wbman! To he pretty and Witty at the same time —the gifts of Minerva and Venus in lavishment! "Besides, it is all very improper” she added. “The shoe?" I cried. "No; the shoe is proper enough,”— musingly. "You admit it, then!” —Joyfully. “I refer to the dialogue between two persons who have not been introduced.” Faintly came the music from the ballroom. They were playing the waltzes from “The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief.” The agony of an extemporization seized me. "Strauss!” I cried, flourishing the Slipper. “The blue Danube, the moonshine on the water, £he tittle-tattle of the leaves, a man and woman all, all alone! Romance, love, off to the war! . . .”

“It Is a far cry to Cinderella,” she interrupted. “Ah, yes. Musio moves me so easily.” “Indeed! It is scaroely noticeable," —slyly. “Are you Cinderella, then?" . "I do not say so.”- v ' “Will you dance with me to prove it one way or the other?" “Certainly not,’’—rather indignantly. “Why not?” "There are any number of reasons,” she replied. “Name Just one.” “I do not know you.” “You ought to,” —with a double meaning which went for absolutely nothing. “My angle of vision obscures that Idea.” “If you will stand np . . .” I hesitatingly suggested. “I am perfectly comfortable where •I am,” —with an oblique glance at the doorway. “I am convinced that you are the Cinderella; I cannot figure it out otherwise.” “Do not figure at all; simply leave the Bhoe.” < “It it too near twelve o’clock for that Besides, I wish to demolish the pumpkin theory. “ It’s all tommy-rot about changing pumpkins into chariots, unless you happen to be a successful pie-merchant." She bit her lips and tapped her cheek with the fan. (Did I mention the bloomy cheeks?)

“Perhaps I am only one of Cinderella’s elder sisters.” “That would be very fortunate. You will recollect that the elder sisters cut Off their —” “Good gracious!” "Cut off their toes in the mad effort to capture the prince,” I continued. “But I am not trying to capture any prince, not even a fairy prince; and I wouldn’t —■” “Cut off your toes?" I suggested questionlngly. “Prolong this questionable conversation, only— ’’ “You cannot stop It till you have the shoe,” I said. ____i—* “Only,” she went on determinedly, "I am so comfortable here that I do not care to return to the ballroom just at present.” “I never expected such a full compliment;” and I made her my most engaging how. “I am afraid you will have to cut off your toes to get into that shoe,” —maliciously. "I could expect no less than that from you. You keep coming closer to my Ideal every moment” She shrugged disdainfully and assumed a bored expression that did not deceive me in the least

“Since you are so determined to continue this dialogue, go and fetch some one you know. An introduction is Absolutely necessary.” She seemed immovable on this point “And the moment I turned my back —presto! sway would go Cinderella, and I.should be in the dark ee much as ever regarding the pumpkins. No, I thank you. Be good, and confess that you are Cinderella." “Sir, this really oeeses to be amusing.” Her fen closed with a snap. “It was serious the moment I entered and saw you,” I replied frankly. She smiled In spite of the anger which sparkled in her eyes. Of oourse, if she became downright angry I should tell who I was, only It would spoil everything. “An 4 you do not know me?” I said dejectedly. “Do you mean to tell me that you have never dreamed of any Prince Charming?” “I cannot say I have,"—ldly. “You say you do not know me,” I began. “Let me see,” —narrowing my eyes as one does who attempts to recall a dim and shadowy past “Didn’t you wear your hair In two plaits down your hack?”

"That is regular; it is still the custom; it proves nothing.” "Let me recall a rambling old garret where we used to hold wonderful shown" , Her fan opened again, and the ten* drils at-her temples moved gently. "Once we played the Sleeping Beauty, and you said that I should always be Prince Charming. How easily we forget!" She inclined forward a bit. There were signs of reviving interest. She began to scrutinize me; hitherto she had surveyed and examined me. “Once—” "Say, ’Once upon a time;* all fairy stories begin that way.” “Thank you; I stand corrected. Well, once upon a time you fell down these same garret stairs; and if you will lift that beautiful lock of hair from your right temple I shall see a scar. I am sure of your Identity.” Unconsciously her hand strayed to her temple, and dropped.

"Whoever you are, you seem acquainted with certain youthful adventures. But some one might have told you these things, thinking to annoy me.” Then the light in her eyes grew dim with the struggle of retrospection, the effort to pierce the veil of absent years, and to place me among the useless, forgotten things of youth, or rather childhood. "No, I pan not dace you. Please tell me who you are, if I have ever known you.”. “Not Just now. Mystery arouses a woman’s curiosity, and I frankly confess that I wish to arouse yours. You are nearly, if not quite, twenty-four.” “One does not win a woman’s interest by telling her her age.” "But I add that you do not look it.” “That is better. Now, let me see the slipper,” holding out her hand. “To no one but Cinderella. I’d be a nice prince, wouldn’t I, to surrender the slipper without finding Cinderella!” “In these days no woman would per mit you to put on her slipper, unless you were her husband or her brother.” “No? Then I have a much per verted idea of society.” “And,” —passing over my remark, “she would rather sit in a corner all the evening.” “But think of the fun you are missing!” “To be frank with you, I am not missing very much fun.- I was at a dance last night, and the novelty begins to pall," , Enter upon the scene (as they say in the play-books) a flurried partner, rather young and tender to he thrown

In company with twenty-four years of sparkling femininity. Well, that was Me affair; I I didn’t propose to warn him. “Oh, here you are!” he cried, brightening. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,”—making believe that something waa the matter with hie gloves. \ “Do you know this gentleman?" she asked quietly, pointing to me with her fan. I felt a nervous tremor. I wondered if ahe had been waiting for a moment Hte this. The young fellow held out hla hand; his smile waa pleasant and inquiring. “Wait a moment,” ahe interrupted wickedly. "I am not tntrodudng you. I am aimply asking you if you know him." y Wasn’t this a capital revenge? “I ... I can’t say that I ever saw the gentleman before,” he stammered, mightily bewildered. Then all at onoe hla face grew red with anger. He even balled his flats. “Has he dared—” "No, no! I only wished to know if you knew him. Since you do not there Is nothing more to he done about it.” “But if he has insulted —” “Bh! That’s not a nice word to hear in a conservatory,!’ ahe warned. "But I do not understand.” "It la not neoeaaary. If you do not take me instantly to the ballroom you will lose the beat part of the danoe.” She rose, and then I saw two little blue slippers peeping out from under the silken skirts. “You might have told me,” I said reproachfully. “And now I do not believe any other Cinderella will do. Young man,” said I, holding out the slipper for his Inspection, “I was Just paying this lady the very great com* pllment of thinking that this might be her shoe.”

“And it isn’t;" she returned. "Now, in honor to yourself, what is my name?” “You are Nancy Marsden.” “Ahd you?” .“Your humble servant,” —bending. “I shall soon find out.” k “It is quite possible.” And then, with a hand on her escort's arm, she laughed, and walked (or should I say glided? It seems a sacrilege to say that so enchanting a creature walked) out of the conservatory, leaving me status ruefully and mournfully at the little white slipper in my hand. Now, where In the world was Cinderella? j n. I thrust the slipper into the tail of my coat, and strolled over to the marble bench which partly /encircled the fountain. The tinkle Of the falling water made a pleasant sound. Ten years! I had been away ten years. How quickly youth vanishes down the glimmering track of time! Here I was at thirty, rather old, too, for that number; and here was that pretty girl of fourteen grown into womanhood, a womanhood that would have stirred the pulses of many a man-less susceptible than myself. That she was unmarried somehow made me glad, though why I cannot say, unless it be that vanity survives everything.

I had been violently in love with her; at that time she hadn’t quite* turned six. Then I had lorded it over her tender eighth year, and from the serene height of twenty I bad looked down upon her fourteen in a fatherly, patronizing fashion. As I recalled her new glory the truth came upon me that she was likely to pay me hack with interest for all the snubs I had given her.

Off to Heidelberg and Bonn and Berlin! Student days! Helgh-ho! Ten years is a long time. 1 might still have been an alien, an exile, but for my uncle’s death and that the lonely aunt wanted a man about. (Not that I was much of a man to have about.) In all these ten years I had not once visited my native land, scandalous as it may seem; but I had always celebrated the Fourth of July in my garden, celebrated It religiously, too, and followed the general elections. All these people (or nearly all of them) I had known in my youth; and now not one of them recognized me. There was a pang in this knowledge. No one likes to be forgotten completely, save the absconding bank clerk and the defeated candidate. I had made no effort to recall myself to

those I met. My hostess thoughtlessly supposed that I should take on myself the labor of renewing acquaintance; but I found this rather impossible. Everything waa changed, the people and the city; the one had added to its height and the other to its girth. So I simply wandered about the familiar rooms summoning up the pleasant ghosts of bygone days. Then came the slipper episode—and Nancy! Home again! No more should the sea call, nor the sky, nor the hllla; I waa home again, for ever and for ever, so 1 hoped. J And then 1 glanoed up from my reverie to behold a woman, fair, fat and forty-eight, seat herself breathlessly on the far end of the bench. I recognised her instantly; she had been one of the salient features of my childhood, only a little further removed than my mother herself. She waa florid in her October years; twenty yean ago ahe had been plump and pretty; now she wee only pretty plump. But a rollicking soul beamed from her kindly eyes. So I bethought me of the slipper, dragged It forth, rose and approached. "Madam.” said I gravely, "are yon Cinderella?” She balanced her lorgnette and stared, first at the slipper, then at me. “Young man, don’t be silly. Do I look like a woman who could wear a little thing like that? Run along with you, and don’t make fun of poor old women. If there is any Cinderella around here I*m only her godmother.” For a moment I shod abashed. Here was one who had outlived vanity, or at least bad discovered Its worthlessness. “Have you no vanity, madam?” I asked solemnly. “If I have It has oeaeed to protrude. Go and give the slipper to a footman, and don’t keep some girl bopping around on one foot”

I was almost tempted to tell her who I Was. “Ma4am, there was a time”—l began. ■ V “Oh, yes; thirty years ago I might have claimed the slipper; I might even hare worn it,”—complacently. “Please permit me to « conclude: There was a time when you held me on your knees.” > “What?” ' i'i "it is indeed so.” “Confess, then, that you were properly spanked. . . . Heavens and earth, wherever did you come from?” she exclaimed suddenly. “Sit down beside me Instantly!” And she called me by name. ' r - It was the third time I had heard it that night. I had heard it so infrequently that I liked the sound of it. “And it Is really your’ pushing me off at arm’s length the better to observe the changes that had taken place. “You grow more like your father; if yon hadn’t that beard you would be the exact picture of your father when he married your mother. Oh, what a pretty wedding it was!” “I shall have to take your word for It. I was up and about, however, at the tin anniversary.” “I remember. Oh, hut what a racket you made among the pans!” She laughed softly at the recollection. “I was properly spanked that night,” I admitted. And straightway We uncovered thirty and twenty years respectively.

“By the way,” said I carelessly, “is Nancy Marsden engaged to be married?” “Nancy? She never will be, to my idea. She recently turned down a real duke; a duke that had money and everything." ~ ‘ “And everything; is that castles?” I Inquired. “Nonsense!” “Well, between you and me and the gatepost, Miss Nancy will be engaged within two months.” "No!”—excitedly. "It is written.” "And to whom, pray?” “It’s the woman’s place to announce an engagement. But I know the man.” “He is worthy?” "Oh, as men go.” Then the water-clock In the fountain struck twelve, and 1 sprang np. "Mercy, I’ll never find any Cinderella at- this rate. All is lost if she escapes me.” I kissed her habd gratefully; and made off. I immediately ran into a young miss who, judging from her short dresses, was a guest on sufferance, not having “come out” yet “Are you Cinderella?" I asked, with all the gravity I could assume. “Thank you, air, but mamma will not permit me,” her cheeks growing furiously red. I passed on, willing to wager that the little girl had understood me to ask her to dance with me.

How I searched among the young faces; many I saw that I knew, but my confounded beard (which I determined to cut the very next morning) hid me as completely as the fabled invisible cloak. I wondered where Jim was—Nancy’s brother. I had seen him in Europe, and I knew if he were anywhere around there would be one to clap me on the lmck and hid me welcome home. This prodigal business isn’t what if s cracked up to be. . . . Somehow I felt that within a few days I should be making love again to Nancy; and. I may truthfully add that I dreaded the ordeal while I courted it : ,

What if ahe refused me in the end? I cast out at onoe this horrific thought as unworthy a man of my address. Under the stairway there was a cozy corner. Upon the cushions I saw a dark-haired girl in red. Now, when they haven’t a dash of red in their hair I like it in their dress. She was pretty, besides; so I stopped, “Pardon me, but won’t you tell me if you are Cinderella ?”—producing the slipper. “I am,*’—she said with an amused ■mile. • “Then there is a Cinderella, after all?” I cried Joyfully. “Where are the pumpkins?” glancing about “I believe that several of them have gone hunting for the slipper" I was delighted. Three witty .women all in one night, and two of them charming. It was more than a man had any right to expect “You have really and truly lost s ■Upper?” “Really and truly; only I era not the Cinderella you are looking for.” From under her skirt there came into view (Immediately to disappear) a small scarlet slipper. I was very much taken aback. “Redr said L “Ah. I have It The wicked fairy has cast a spell over the slipper and turned it white.” “That would simplify everything . . . if we lived in fairy-tale times. Oh, dear, there are no fairies nowadays, and I wonder how In the world I am to get home.” “You have the pumpkins end the mice,*

“Only the pumpkins; it is after twelve, end all the mice have gone home.” “Haven’t you an incantation r I asked. She stretched out her arms dramatically. “Be gone, young men, be gone!” “Very good,” mid 1; “but I am impervious to Incantations of that sort." “I wonder where the other Cinderella is?"—adroitly. It was quite evident that she wanted to be rid of me. " If I hadn’t met Nancy—! “Suppose I try this white supper on your foot?" “It la not a sopposable matter.” “Would that I possessed a cobbler's license! "—sighing. She laughed. “You weuldn*t be half so nice” .

This was almost the beginning of aa enchantment “If you will tom year head toward) the wall IT try bn the slipper. I am curious to learn if there is a girl here who has a smaller foot than L” "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!” “Tian’t vanity; its curiosity> and! maybe my foot is getting cold." I took some pillows and piled flww on the floor. “How will this dor “Since I cannot have the slipper I shall not move. Besides, I am sitting on the unshod foot Hadn’t you hetfor sit down here beside me and give aa account of yourself and what you have been doing an these ten years r “You know me?” genuinely astonished. ■ V (V "But you do not know meF “No; it’s a terrible thing to admit; but I do not recognize you.” “Don’t you remember Betty Leer "Betty Lee? That homely little girl turned into a goddess? Small wonder that I didn’t recognise you.” "My girl friends all say that I haven’t changed a bit in ten years.” “Envy, malice, jealousy! But K is odd that you should recognize me and that Nancy Marsden should forget me.” “I tiled to detest you; we forget only those we love.” Enter one of the pumpkins, a young fellow about twenty. Hang it, I waa always being interrupted by some callow youth! “Here’s your confounded shoe, Bett. I’ve had a deuce of a time finding it." He tossed the slipper cavalierly into her lap. “Young man,” said I severely, "you will never succeed with the ladies.” "The lady happens to be my sister,* —haughtily. “Pardon me!”—contritely. "I should have remembered that sister* don’t belong.” The girl laughed and pushed out one of the pillows. Then she gave me the slipper. V.“We’ll not haggle over a cobbler’s license,” she said. I knelt and put on the slipper. Only one thing marred the completeness of my happiness; the slipper wasn’t » blue one. The girl stood up and shook the folds lnr her dress, then turned coldly on her brother. "You are a disgrace to the family. Bob” "Oh, fudge! Come on along to sup* per; it’s ready, and Pm half starved,* Brothers don’t belong, either. "I wish you luck with the white slipper,” said Betty, as she turned to leave. "Call on me soon, and ni forgive all the past” “That I shalL” But I made up my mind that I should call on Nancy first. Otherwise it would be dangerous. I stood alone. It rather hurt to think one girl should remember me ' and that the other should absolutely forget But supper brought me out of. my cogitations. So once again I put away the slipper and looked at my supper card. I was destined to sit at table four. I followed the pilgrims out to worship at the shrine of Lucullus. ( Evidently there was no or, true to ter condition in life, she was at this moment seated before her ash-heap, surrounded by strutting end cooing doves. Well, well, I could put the slipper on the mantel at home; it would be a pleasant reminder. I found table four. There were four chairs, none of them occupied; and as I sat down I wondered if any one I knew would sit down with me. A heavy hand fell rudely upon my shoulder. "What do you mean, sir, by entering a gentleman’s house In this manner?* demanded a stern voice. I turned, my ears burning hotly. “You old prodigal! You old man-without-a-country! You pirate-” wait on the voice. "How dared you sneak in in this fashion ? Nan, what would you do with him if you were in my placer The voice belonged to Nancy Marsden’s brother. "I have no desire to put myself la your place,” said the only girt whs could be Cinderella. "I wouldn’t bother about his slipper, not If be went barefooted all his Ufa,* said L And then, and then, and then! What a bombardment! How pleased I wasl I was inordinately happy, and I didn’t eat a thing till the salad. “How could you!” said Nancy. “But you didn’t recognise me,” — with s show of defiance; "and I expected that you would he the vary flrst” “Cut off that horrid beard.” “Tomorrow morning." “And never wear it again.” “Never." “Have you found Cinderella?* Nancy asked presently. “No; but I haven’t given up all hope.” “Let me see it” With some bed tan c* I placed ths slipper in her hand. She looked at It sharply. “Good gracious!” “Whet’s the matter?- I ashed. “Why, this slipper has never bum worn at aIL It Is brand nswl* 8h» was greatly bewildered. “I know It.” I replied; ”1 bought It myself.” Then bow she laughed! And whew I asked her- to do It again she rid, even more heartily than before. “You will always be the earns”— passing the slipper hack to mo. “No, I want to be just a little different from now on”—lnscrutably. She gave ms an indescribable glasoe. “Give the slipper to me” "To keep?* “Yes. to keep. Somehow. I rather fancy I should libs to try it os”-ds murely. Bo I gave her the iHpper.