Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-03-12

inSisl oh SOiHS 10 ulnner Win me-
are your"
I'm not sure yet"
She had been fumbling in her muff.
She brought out a note, a crumpled
creamy sheet.
He watched her curiously at first,
then with a start.
"By every sign and token of long.
distance signaling that's Bettina
Thorpe's handwriting" he commented
casually.
She stared.
"Oh, I've got my credentials with
me, too. There's no reason why this
peace conference shouldn't get busy"
He drew an unopened letter from his
pocket and thrust it under her be-
wildered eyes.
by Jove! 1 guess I'd better read
that" he exclaimed.
How perfectly ridiculous!" Her
breath came in gasps. why, l can't
believe tits too silly!"
"Bettina ought to serve a %can-opener
with her stationery" he complained,
tearing at the flap, "or a little dyna-
mite. Ali" He ran hungrily through
the note and then burst into a roar
Il know who you are" he informed
his companion, his face Frightening
with mischief. You're Patricia Otis.
| Listen to this:
Dear Duke: I've been 'phoning you
you like all possessed ever since l heard
of your arrival, yesterday morning. But
nobody knew where you were. Come
to S79 Sixty-third street to dinner to-
night with Bob and me, IL it's a possible
thing, to meet Patsy Otis, who's being
maid-of-honor next week, at the chief
social event of the season. Nv always
told you you'd go crazy over her, and
here's your chance. Hurriedly,
BETTY"
He jammed the letter back into the
envelope. "You see, I've simply got
to go to dinner with you"
Are you Duke G~rayson?"
Il am"
Betty never told me you were
, coming tonight. But then, of course,
she knew I wouldn't be there. l have
always refused to meet you"
Same here!" he agreed brazenly.
She's determined to marry us, you
know. That's why you looked so
familiar. It's the pictures she showed
me. | would have suspected
that you were g~ood-looking from those
things"
THANK you. I'm not. It's these
clothes I'm wearing When you come
to that-Betty had any number of pic
lures of you in her room at Bertranl
hall. See here-I don't want to meet
you. Oh, Betty's a schemer. You
wait until | get alone with her! If l
don't-I simply decline to meet you.
She'll throw me at you in the most dis.
gushing way-leaving us to tete-a.
tetes, and everything like that. She
hates my settlement work, you know.
Her heart Is set on marrying me off.
She says that if ! married a man like
you I'd be a different woman Isn't it
disgusting?"
"N%auseating," he agreed.
''Why, / wouldn't marry the kind of
man you are for anything in the world
you're too frivolous. have an OBJ
ject in life"
He %applauded her. That's right.
You stick to that-no matter how
many times I ask you"
She turned back and her little teeth
gnawed at her underlip. "Oh, sugar!"
she burst out vexedly. She made an
indeterminate movement forward and
stopped. 81 won't go to their dinner"
she said with decision.
He had the look Of one inspired.
"Tll tell you what we'll do. You see
how it is: here are two people conspir.
ing against us-against your happi-
ness and my liberty. Let's evade them
by going off to dinner together. I'll
call a hanson and we'll go down to
the Waldorf. You can telephone
Betty, so that she won't worry,
There'll be nobody there to foist I'm
welcome gratuitous tete-a-tetes on us
That's the only way we a beat their
game"
81 don't know what grandma would
say she said defiantly, but, anyway
I'm going to do 1t. Ill tell Bettina
that I've met you by accident, that
we understand each other and her
and that we see right through all hel
plans. And If she has any idea Of
. poking us into to fall II
!, love with each other, she can jusI
;. give it up, because we absolutely re
fuse to do it."
That's the stuff" He raised al
, alert finger to the hanson that hac
a%ssiduously trailed them up thu
avenue,
!. But six months latM, when Bettins
: Bosworth received a certain inevi
: table announcement, she only smilet
placidly.
. "Pd give q good deal to know
whether she dropped that handker
chief on purpose" she said to Bob.
The Voice!
4 A sound rose out of the south
- (Sweeter was never heardD
. Like the rain song after drouth
From the mouth of a bird.
Over the hills 1t came
With all the haste of hope,
Y And the CLINT of an amber lamo
Touched every slope.
a 81 am the vernal voice."
I These were the words II said,
And l cry to the world: Rejoice
Q Ger the winter dead!'"
: Then the ancient mother Of all,
y The fond earth mother, she
Threw off the iron thrali
And stepped forth free.