Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1910-08-18

said finally. I'VE do 1t all the time
only tonight happens to be the an
nual something or other, and" h,
trailed on into silence, trying u
buckle my belt around him. "a goot
six inches" he sighed. II never ge
into a hanson cab any more that
don't expect to see the horse fly vi
In the air. Well, Allie isn't goini
either. She turned down Granger thii
afternoon, the Annapolis fellow yol
met on the stairs, pigeon-breastet
chap-and she always gets a head
ache on those occasions"
He got up heavily 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 would like to.
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. II not, to bring II
across the hall. Then he came bach
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'a
a lot Of money, too, or will be-"
"Confound the money!" I NUT
tered. THAT is-nothing. Razor
slipped"
II can tell you," he went 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
herr"
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 man-and
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 hal
put belladonna in her eyes the night
before to see how she would look, and
as a result couldn't see anything neap
er than across the room, some ons
read the letter aloud to her, and tina
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!" 1 said, with enthusi-
asm. liked the Granger fellow.
since he was out of the running. But
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 a dubious
secret between us, was making me
heady. I 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
l am an island in sunlit
sea of emotion, Sam, am empty
place surrounded by longing-a-"
can empty place surrounded by
he retorted you want
your dinner, that's what's the matter
with you"
l shut the door on him then. He
seemed suddenly sordid. Dinner, I
thought! Although, as matter of
fact, 1 made very fair meal when,
Changers suitcase not having gone,
in his coat and some other mans trou-
sers, l 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. 1
pied my injured arm, and fictitious,
vaguely located sprain from the
wreck, as an excuse for remaining at
home. Sam regaled the table with
accounts of my distrnst of women,
my one love affair-wlth 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.
(To BE CoNTINUED.)