The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1906-10-30

approval that amused him.
"All this glory for simple school
girl?" she questioned saucily
80 simple you have not even told
me your name" he said, gravely.
Dear me, how unfortunate I'm In
cognita tonight" she regretted. How
ever, as first aid to conversation, |
will admit that I'm Mary-just plain
Mary"
Dillingham; wondered whether any
body had ever discovered that tiny
dent of dimple near her left eye that
winked at him wickedly when she
laughed.
mo one could ever call you plain
Mary" he said, absently, and started
to find himself thinking aloud.
And If perchance, l might wish to
address you-one never knows what
may happen-what-" her dancing
eyes questioned him.
For ease in conversation I'm Rich
ard" he assured her. Just poor
Richard"
Poor Richard in an automobile"
she laughed
He ordered sweets with the coffee
and she munched them with the aban-
don of a child. Then with a sudden
return to schoolgirl naivete, she ex-
claimed, as she filled her wisp of
handkerchief with almonds
"Oh, dear, forgot that plaguey old
school. And now I've got to go back.
The girls will be just crazy when /
tell them. And I'm going to take
those to prove it. 1t was a lovely din
ner. And you've been lovely, too"
Then she added slowly, What must
you think of mel"
What must he think of her. billing
ham wondered if she would be very
angry If he told her all that he
thought-about the Pickering dent of
dimple and the sweet harshnesS of
her voice and the tantalizing witchery
of her eyes and the pointed oval of
her chin-and-oh, well
But it is what you think of me
that is worrying me-" he finally as
sured her, forgetful of the fatherly ad-
vice.
II want to go home" said the girl,
and at the unsteadiness of her tones
Dillingham; jumped up repentantly.
When Dillingham; returned three
minutes after, the little table looked
desolate with its disarray of emptied
dishes. He looked about uncertainty.
Where she had sat pink coral stick
pin stabbed a torn corner of the menu
card to the table. He picked it up
and read:
Il never saw Grayham Manor. There
is no Annabel Morris. You we're
only you-and nicer than l deserved
1t was -fiction-except that | was
no prospect of dinner
tonight or breakfast tomorrow. Good
by, Plain Mary"
Dillingham; wondered next day and
again at intervals all the succeeding
week why she was hungry, and his
heart stood still at the thought that
she might be hungry at the moment of
his thinking in some obscure corner of
the city.
Then one night, gloomy and morose,
he dropped into the Modern theater
to watch the opening night of a new
comedy. Listless he watched bizarre
ballet in mismatched stockings and
powdered wigs come prancing on
Then his glance wandered restlessly
over the audience and back again to
the stage.
And there-winking, disappearing,
winking again, in the face of girl at
the end of the front row was a tiny
dent of a dimple near the left eye-a
dimple which he foolishly felt he
owned by right of discovery
An hour later she walked swiftly
from the stage entrance, her manner
stiffiy repellant, and ignoring the wait
ing groups of men about the door.
One lifted his hat and smiled broadly
at her
SILLY idiot" she murmured beneath
her breath, as she escaped his hear
ing
Naughty, naughty, plain Mary" a
voice chided in her ear, and she
wheeled suddenly, rosy from chin to
forehead
OF course, in the saffron journals 1t
was headed "Millionaire's Romance
Begun at Stage Door Ends In Orange
Blossoms" but Dillingham;, himself,
knew from the first that the stage
door was really the finish.
Copyright, 1906. by Daily Story Pub Coz