Evening star., 1909-06-11
extreme youth, but

extreme youth, Dul-
Looks like measly rabbit thought
Conover in amused contempt, AN thats s
what Amzi Nicholas Gaines been workin'
all his life to win, is it? Gee, but it s
queer what kinks a sane mans brain ii
take. where a Womanis concerned
Outwardiy he was listening with stony
immobility to Letty's timid words of
salutation. AS she paused. he pulled his
wits together.
Pleased to meet you.' said he I'm
to have the pleasure of takin' dinner at
your house Friday night. l blieve.
Thanks for askin' me. hope we'll see
more of each other
meet fathers business friends returned
Lefty, Ill at ease. She had wondered
and her aunt had protested loudly. al
tandlshs curt announcement that Bla-
| carda.s vacated place at the table mus,
be taken by this unknown outsider. Nor
as she looked at the stocky. heavy-jowled
man and heard his uncouth speech. did
| the mystery grow clearer
You seemed In a hurry" observed
Caine, relieving the girls embarrassment
ny taking Conover off her hands. Il
J think we'll be in plenty of time to hear
all or the speeches we care to. There's
the same pleasing likeness about them
mat there is about string of street cars
II you miss one, you can get the next and
nothing worth while is lost by the omis-
sion. At stag dinners of course it's diff
ferent. Then it is always interesting to
note the inverse ratio between elouuence
and sobriety. But at these celebration
olnners the speeches are warranted to
contain nothing of dangerous interest
Shall we go in?'
For lack of a gallery the guests who
had come to hear the speeches sat in the
double ranks of chairs which lined the
large dining room. Conover and the two
others arrived during momentary lull
DptWoen SnQonhQG
cordially by such people as she passed on
her way to her seat. Caleb as one of
her escort, found himself the object of
more courtesy than had ever before been
portion at the Arareek.
This new warmth of manner on the
part of his fellow-members pleased Caleb
tremendously incidentally, it gave him
the germ of an idea-vague, nebulous, yet
OF promising growth. The burgeoning
germ found mental expression during the
next afterdinner speech. Caleb allowed
ms shrewd gaze to rest on Lefty Standish,
more critically-with less OF humorous
depreciation-than before. She sat next
him. one plump hand pillowing her slight
on the speaker in polite attention; her
small mouth pursed in a smile of almost
labored interest
She's better-lookin' than 1 thought. >
mused Conover An she's good dresser.
Maybe her face amt really so foolish
Starin' at Dey so much may have spoiled
me for other girls. Everybody here
seems glad to see this Standish person; !;
an some of their gladness has stopped
over onto me. If I'd a wife like that I'd
strut right into the gold shirt crowd an
they'd hang up Welcome, Little Strang-
er" sign for me. If Dey can get into
the right set by marryin' one of 'em,
guess the same rule ought to work with
me. I'll talk it over some time with
Caine. He ought to know
A ripple of hand clapping reused Caleb
from his disjointed reflections. and he
joined with yigor in applauding The
speech he had not heard.
What an easy speaker Mr.. Vroom is,'
said Lefty. Don't you envy such men,
Mr.. Conover? Don't you think it must be
wonderful to make a speech without being
frightened to death? To stand up before
so many people and just talk to them as
If"
Easiest thing in the world announced
Caleb. duly irritated at her praise. Amy
one can do it. All man needs is to say
to himself: I'm a blame sight better.
ceverer. bigger man than any of this
bunch I'm talkin' down to- Then he
won't be afraid Of em. Because he de-
spises 'em. That's the way l always do
when I've got speech to make. It's lots
easier to stand up in an open-face suit
an talk like Vroom did to a friendly
crowd than to try and persuade one
Grouchy grocer to handle your special