Charlevoix county herald., 1910-12-31

MIA Na1,u Z9S922s
said finally. I'VE do it all the time,
only tonight happens to be the an
nual something or other, and" he
trailed off into silence, trying to
buckle my belt around him. "A good
six inches" he sighed. Il never get
into hanson cab any more that
don't expect to SIC the horse fly up
in the ais Well, Allie isn't going
either. She turned down Granger this
afternoon the Annapolis fellow you
met on The stairs, pigeon-breasted
chap-and she always gets a head
ache on those occasions"
He got up hea lilly and went to the
door. Granger is leaving" he said.
Il may be able to get his dinner coat
for you. How well do you know herr"
he asked, with his hand on the knob.
III you mean Dolly"
Alison
Fairly WELL" I said cautiously
Not as well as l would like to- l
dined with her last week in Washing
ton. And-I knew her before that"
Forbes touched a bell instead of go
ing out, and told the servant who an
swered to see If Mr.. Changers suit.
! case had gone. If not, to bring it
across the hall. Then he came back
to his former position on the bed
you see, we feel responsible for
Allie-near relation and all that" he
began pompously. 'And we can't talk
to the people here at the house-all
the men are in love with her, and all
the women are jealous. Then-there's
lot of money, too, or will be-"
"Confound the money!" I NUT
tered. That is-nothing. Razor
slipped"
II can tell you" he we3t on, be
| cause you don't lose your head over
every pretty face-although Allie is
| more than that, of course But about
month ago she went away-to Seal
Harbor, to visit Janet Mcclure. Know
her?'
mo"
"She came home to Richmond yes.
terday, and then came down here
Allie, mean. And yesterday after
noon Dolly had letter from Janet
| something about a second mainland
| saying she was disappointed not to
have had Alison there. that she had
| promised them a two-weeks' visit!
What do you make of that? And that
| isn't the worst. Allie herself wasn't
| in the room, but there were eight
other women, and because Dolly had
| put belladonna in her eyes the night
| before to see how she would look, and
as result couldn't see anything: near
er than across the room, some one
read the letter aloud to her, and the
whole story is out. One of the cats
| told Granger and the boy proposed to
Allie to-day, to show her he didn't
care a tinker's dam where she had
| BEEN"
Good boy!" l said, with enthusi-
asm. / liked the Granger fellow
Sam was looking at me with sus-
picion.
Blake" he said, "if l didn't know
you for what you are, I'd say you were
| interested there yourself"
| Being so near her, under the same
roof, with even the tie Of dubious
secret between us, was making me
heady. / pushed Forbes toward the
| door,
81 Interested" I retorted, holding
him by the shoulders. There isn't a
word in your vocabulary to fit my
condition. / am an island in a sunlit
/, sea Of emotion, Sam, a-an empty
place surrounded by longing-a-"
"An empty place surrounded by
! longing!" he retorted You want
your dinner, that's what's the matter
with you"
/ shut the door on him then. He
seemed suddenly sordid. Dinner, I
| thought! Although, as q matter Of
fact, / made very fair meal when.
Changers suitcase not having gone,
in his coat and some other mans trou-
sers, / was finally fit for the amen.
tiles. Alison did not come down to
dinner, so it was clear she would not
go over to the clubhouse dance.
pied my injured arm, and a fictitious,
vaguely located sprain from the
wreck as an excuse for remaining at
home. Sam RECALLED the table with
accounts of my distrust of women,
my one love affair-with Dorothy; to
which | responded, as was expected,
that only my failure there had kept
me single all these years, and that if
Sam should be mysteriously missing
during the bathing hour tomorrow,
and so on.
CTO BE CONTINUED)