The Delta independent., 1915-12-10
WHEN A MAN SUS-
PEGTSHIS BEST
FK1END oETHEFT
HNDA WOMAN
TANGEAS UPTHE
SIKU ITO MY
sToRY FogLeWs.
THISAlsT :: ::
CHAP1 cR
The Woman Across the Street.

This is a story of two stories, sepa-
rate yet inseparable. of wheels agog
and of wheels awhir. the frolic and the
business OF life. What a woman's
switch is to her glory. this tale is to
that; but at night, when the game
(Which really fools nobody is over.
the false one may be taken from the
true and laid aside.
II all began that day when Forbes
wondered who she was He was al.
ways wondering who she was. the
blonde. the brunette. the Venetian red
the October brown. on the street at
the play. in the restaurant II was a
habit. And why not7 It was his
bread and butter to send the argosies
OF his imaginative glance securing the
seas for treasure: and whenever he
saw n pretty woman. bows-on he fol-
lowed in her wake. He was an illus
TRAITOR; he drew exquisite colored Gov
ers for the magazines and full-page
drawings for the celebrated love sto-
ries OF Mr.. Popular Piffie. Indeed. he
shared honors with Piffie. ard made
quite as much money.
Every day now for a week. between
three and four In the afternoon. she
had gone by. slim. trig. supple. She
looked like Somebody: she must be
Somebody. for nobody but Somebody
could have carried her head the way
she did. Where her journey began.
where II ended. he had never bothered
himself to inquire. II satisfied his
needs to expect her at such a time
each day and to realize his expecta-
tions. Her hair burned like a copper
beech In the sunshine. and her face
was as white as milk.
BY Georgei II he went out now he
could follow her. His ingenuity would
find means OF meeting her inoffensive-
ly. He knew women tolerably well.
From a pretty little milliners assist.
ant. all the way up to the stately czar-
ina of all the Russias. their vanity
cried out for perpetuation on canvas.
Ting calling! Confound the telephone
at such n moment!
Hello. hello! Yes. this is
Forbes talking. Oh. that you,
Jillson7 What? Eight till
twelve? Deuces what? Oh,
deuces wild. Sure. I understand. A
quiet little game of poker. with the
poor artist paving for the cigars and
liquors. Deuces wild: | know: you
can make the two-spot anything you
please What? Opening your
apartment tonight? In the
Dryden? Where's that? Why,
that's only block or so away.
oh, I'll be there. Rather play poker
than eat By-by!-
Forbes made a dash for his hat.
rushed out OF the studio and down the
two flights. madly and recklessly. Too
late! She was gone. He dashed Jill
son and his poker party breathlessly
but fuently. Supposing she never
walked past again? 1t would be just
his luck.
As a matter of fact, the unknown
meant nothing to Forbes aside from
the commercial value OF her face and
hair. He was always hunting for
new face Like Piflle, he could work
over his IDEAS just so many times;
after that. fresh invention must be
called into play: the retrousse nose
must give way to the Grecian, and so
on and so forth.
Forbes was philosophical. too. When
he was dead he would be very dead.
the Hall of Fame and the Temple of
Forgetfulness would be all the same
to him. At present he liked travel,
good clothes. good food. curios; he
liked to give expensive teas in his
beautiful studio: he rather liked the
innocent admiration of the schoolgirls
ct al: and he wasn't too proud to ac-
cept an OCCASIONAL thousand from the
breakfast.food people and the tinted
soap manufacturers.
Give us n new phiz. Forbes" said
the editors: this one is growing
stale"
All. those editorial degrees of en-
thusiasm. which began with slaps on
tho back. paused at luncheons. and
finally petered down to the noncom-
initial "ummums!" A new face; he
must have It; and for two weeks no
had combed the town in vain. Popu-
iarity had its drawbacks: one had con-
tinually to find new props to keep the
thing from tumblinS about ones ears.
Popularity. the new-collar. the new.
hat, the new-shoe kind Of popularity,
which changes completely every six
months, which has to be renewed and
twisted about and readjusted. And
besides. there were those younger