Lower coast gazette., 1913-07-26
CHAPTER II.
The Cir, and the Boy.

The Hotel Keswick telephone girl
was a character. Even the politicians
who made the, big Washington cara
vansary their headquarters recognlzea
that. Some Of them had sought TO IN,
bend from their labors at law-buildlng
and law.sapping long enough to try 70
improve their casual acquaintance Win
her. But they had q and all aDan,
doned the effort.
Not that Miss Wanda Kelly was IN
the cry least shy. No, she had a re-
sponsive word for everybody. Only,
sometimes that word had a queer way
Of soaring Instead Of flattering.
"If Joan Of Arc had been brought
I'D in the alleys" once observed the
Honorable Tim Neligan, land II hes
been nursed on iron tonic and learned
her alphabet from George AIDES fables,
she'd have been a dead ringer for Wan
da Kelly"
To which the more or less Honor
able jim Blake had made reply:
Maybe that hello girl vas all Wan
da when she started out. But hes-
wick switchboard course has made
her all Kelly. l don't know why no
: one reports her for being fresh. Ex'
r cent. maybe, that he'd have to ten
e what he said to her to bring cut tne
: fresh comeback"
In any case, no one did report wan
da Kelly. There, in an alcove unde'
the great garish stairway, she sat "a!
after day manipulating her racks Q
u switches. To her left were the tele
/ phone booths; to her right the corr
n dor where all the political world pass
J. cd her in review. Behind her-ant
when voices CHANGED to be raised J
earerness or dispute, in easy ear-sho
70 was a spot where far more histor
was made than In the Capitol itself.
This historic place was q deep mich
u known to local fame as the anne
corner" It was off the beaten trac
Of the corridor, yet a vantage-poli
OF whence everything was visible. Hel
e- Tim Blake-long, lean, saturnine ma
he ter Of the machine-had a way OF 81
Ilv tine. his eternal cigar in one corn'
of his mouth, his SLOUGH hat aslant :
= his head or under his chair. And hel
like filings to the magnet, the men W
y cleaned In Ji1n's wake. and whose J
OF Iitical life hung on his curt nod. wou
cluster.
Of One evening as the dinner crot
in was drifting along the corridor iowa
Of the huge dining-rooms, Wanda no'
that the amen corner held but y
NO men. Both of them she knew, =
both were very evidently awaiting ;
~, Blake's return from the Capltol. NJ
toll than one passer.by along the corrit
nudeed his companions and poln'
of out the elder Of the corners two &C
the pants.
last The object Of these surreptiti'
IN glances was a finelooking, ratl
~ rortly man Of early middle age
- honorable Mark Robertson, forl
0e governor OF New York, present rel
'ofe sentative in congress from the 50
on state and-equally Important
the Blake's son-in-law. More-he was
1g a man whom the machine. at Its mast
at a orders. had slated as next speaker
line. the house. Yes, and perhaps =
IN one heard were true. for q lar nls
a+ed Office later on.
Wanda Kelly knew this. And, tina
oar" to overheard scraps OF amen.co
eVee talk, she knew much more. Sns
4 OF often seen Robertson. NOW =
time she had received q careless noo I
,ners him or from his stately young =
e re- Blake.s only daughter. VINO 50 Q
while congress was in session
.an down from the Robertson house
,ohs Now York for a sotourn OF a da'
from two With her husband and fathe
the capital.
lat in Yet Wanda wasted fewer thou
Ids it lust now on the celebrity than OF
weed much younger man with whom he
a.. talking. And perhaps her thou
had telerathic power. For, AS 70
y my sen strolisd out iuto the foyer