Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 101, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1912 — SEATS FOR TWO [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SEATS FOR TWO

By Jean Dickerson

(Oopyrltfit. isa, by Aasooiatcd LKenuy Cress.)

It w#s a popular play and Alice Ludirgton bad hastened her shopping and luncheon in order to secure a seat before the curtain arose on the matinee performance. “We have seats for two,” said the man in the hox office as he ran over the tiny pigeonholes and then placed his pencil point on the chart “Seven and eight M." \ *' - 1 “I want only one,” said Alice, feeling rather forlorn and wishing she had asked Maud Fenwick to accompany her.

She went down the aisle of the theater with a little thrill of anticipation. The seat was on the right hand side near the aisle, and as she Settled herself in it with a flutter of soft brdwn draperies she noticed that the seat beside her, number Seven, was unoccupied.

“That is the other seat,” she thought, as she removed her hat and laid it on the vacant chair. “I do hope nobody takes it.” On her left was a stout woman whose features possessed a vagueness of outline that denoted a tendency to weep at emotional moments in the play. Alice fluffed her soft hair into order and read her program. Just as the lights were lowered some one entered the row of seats at the other end. M ithout looking up Alice removed her hat to her lap and was conscious that a man was sitting beside her. With eyes fixed on the opening scene of the play, was oblivious to everything else, for as the first act proceeded toward its close she saw its resemblance to her own heart tragedy.

There was a young western girl and the handsome ranchman w.ho loved her. There was a stern, nar-row-minded parent who had forbidden marriage because of the traditional wildness, though unproven as yet, of the ranchman The girl, obedient to her New England upbringing, gave

up ber lover and he went away in anger, believing her love to be a mere milk and water sentiment. There ended the resemblance between the two stories. Alice's life had resumed its dull, even monotony after her father's death. She had never heard of Dale Loomis after his return to Wyoming, and she lived alone with her mother in a gloomy uptown residence on a side street. All that was five years ago, and the brief visit she had paid to the western ranch where she had met Dale had been like some dil ftfr beautlful dream until this play re-enacted some of the scenes before her wistful eyes.

The girl and her lover galloped freely over the plains, even as she had galloped alongside Dale’s big chestnut,' her wiry little pony responging to every touch of her firm hands. She felt the cqol, sweet air of the prairies and saw the shadows of fleeting clouds against the distant ranges. She saw moving masses of horned cattle and heard the thunder, of their hoofs as they pounded past. Some of these things she saw in the play—the rest of it was magic woven out of her memory. After the death W the father the play moved along' different lines from that ,of Alice's experience. There was much adventure woven with pathos and a note of tragedy. When the curtain rang down on her first act, Alice found her eves near to tears and her heart aching with its old sorrow, for she had been very near to the brief, happy days of the P a st.'. /' vv:':' ••

Afi the lights Sashed up she composed herself and looked around at her companions. The stout woman on her left was openly crying, even as she ate chocolates from a box She smiled through her tears at Alice.

“I know Tc a fool,” she said, apologetically, “but I’m so sorry for that young man—don’t you think that girl was a ’weak-minded thing not to throw up everything and marry him, even if she had to live On a cattle ranch?”'

“I don’t believe she objected to the eatfcie ranch,” said Alice gently, “but I am sure if she had to live it over again she would be true to her own convictions and her —her love for the man."

She turned her head and instantly sat rigid with surprise anjd suppressed emotion. Sitting beside her on the right was Dale Lodmis, his stern profile turned away from her and a certain tenseness in his attitude betraying that he was/fconscious of her presence.

It seemed hours before the curtain rose on the second act. Not once did she stir from her position, so fearful, was she that any movement on her part would compel his attention, and she dreaded to meet his eyes and perhaps—perhaps find all the tenderness gone out of them. If he looked at her indifferently, coldly, she believed she would die.

While the second act went swiftly to its end a new terror assailed her. What if he should leave after this act? He would thus drop out of her life forever —nothing but the merest chance had brought them together -in the maelstrom of the big city, and sueb a current does not serve twice iii a lifetime.

Once more the lights sprang up and the stoqt woman at her last hand turned ’a radiant face to Alice. "I guess it's coming out all right in Ahe end,” she said. "That girl loved him right along, didn't she — just as you said?” “ A warm eoldr flooded Alice’s fair face and she nodded speechlessly. It came upon her then like a .shock that Dale Loomis must have overheard her former conversation with the woman.

“I suppose she thought she was doing right,” went on the woman. “You know, the Bible says, ‘Children Obey your parents.’ I wonder if he thought that maybe she was doing the best she could? There, the curtain's going up—now, we’ll watch it come out all right in the end!”

She creaked herself to a bolt up-j right position the better to enjoy the performance. Alice, sitting in the shadow of the woman’s broad shoulders, merely caught glimpses of the play as the love story drew to a close. Once she stole a glance at Dale and surprised his eyes bent on her fa-ee, instead of the stage. Then, as the mimic ranchman of the stage once more declared his love for the girl, she felt a broad, warm hand covering her own cold little fingers in a familiar grasp. They sat thus as the play ended amid a burst of applause, and as the curtain rang down Dale leaned over and whispered close to her car: “Is. it all right for me, too, Alice?” “Yes," her lips trembled in reply. And the emotional stout woman never knew how much she had done to bring about a happy ending to a romance that found its climax in the two seats beside her.

“I Want Only One.”