The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-01-12
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!
WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS :
BY LOUISE OLIVER. 4:

UedI OOuuiS. .
Can you come to dinner Friday!
7 have an extra girl, and as usual
need a man, Connie, dear, don't
think I'm asking you for the tenth
time this season just because / am
so fond of you; such of course we all
are. But it is because you are such
darling to fill in. What would we 90
without you?
Faithfully yours,
Belle"
up. s. Don't tell the story about
the flamingo. simply can't laugh at
il again. l can say it backward IN
nv sleep. Hunt up new supply"
We'll, like that" laughed Connie
Collins good naturally as he laid aside
the note and resumed his grapefruit
"One thing about Belle-she's candid
He sighed. so I'm to supply again!
II seems to me I've developed into
regular married woman's relief corps"
He finished his coffee and went to
the office where he called up his pro-
spective hostess for Friday.
Hello, Belle, l got your note.
Count on me. Yes, sure. No, I'll not
tell the fiamingo story another-what's
that? Oh, she's pretty, is she? That's
encouraging. Say, Belle, have some
of that crab meat again, will you? All
right-good for you! I'll be there
sure"
When Friday night came and Con-
| ME was presented to the young per-
| son he was to take in to dinner, his
| first impulse was to hunt up his hos
| tess and weep tears of joy and thank
| fulness upon her shoulder. Miss May
| well-such was her name-was a
vision of sweet delight.
At dinner his hostess kept nodding
and smiling at him as much as to say,
ITS your reward, Connie, for a long
period of martyrdom.
Then gradually-so' imperceptibly
that no one noticed it for while
the afr, heavy with the scent of Amer.
lean Beauty roses, became pungent,
a blue haze began to fill the room and
finally an eddy of smoke trailed across
the low circle of light thrown by the
candles.
Fire." woman breathed con
vulsively and the guests sprang to
their feet. Bellies husband. Max
Wells, threw open the door into the
hall. There was a solid wall of white
smoke.
Dorothy MAXWELL laid a hand or
Comics arm. do you think it's up
stairs?" she whispered. 1--we got
to go up and get some things If II
is"
you mustn't think of that" he in
sisted kindly. Lives first. you know,
He laid his hand reassuringly ove1
the one resting nervously on his arm
But I've got to. Doesn't anyone
know where it is?'
Then, before he realized what sh,
was doing, she dashed a glass of wa
ter over a napkin, caught it up to he
face and was out of the door, through
the wall Of smoke and tearing up tn,
stairs.
Connie was at her heels, but h,
could not stop her. There had beel
no time for him to protect himself
and the smoke in his eyes and lung
strangled him, but he kept on.
| Upstairs the smoke was less dense
Dorothy ran along the hall and into
room at the right.
"You can't come in" she called
But Connie, with eyes alert for flames
paid no attention.
Hurry" he urged. Get what 70
want. But for heavens sake hurry!
She flew to bureau, opened
small top drawer got something tina
looked like card, slid it into tn
front Of her gown and faced him. e.
I'm ready" she choked.
Comics eyes were smarting so b
could scarcely see. But they grope
their way along the hall, keeping a
,, close to the floor as possible. The
almost fell down the stairs. In al
other instant they were outside o
the porch just as the f1remen arrived
II The men rushed into the smok,
, filled house, upstairs, down celia
, garretward-yet there were no fame
only dense, acrid smoke.
Z mo fire in the house at ALL" yelle
. someone. IT'S all coming out of tn
= registers. Something wrong with tn
, furnace"
:, So to the cellar they went and foun
e piece of damp carpet smolderin
q in disused furnace.
e Open windows soon cleared II
S house sufficiently for the guests to r
l. turn to their coffee.
& AS Connie placed Dorothy's cha
for her. he noticed a white square {
the floor. He picked it up and sa
his own photograph, with somethir
r written on the back! In an insta,
J. it was in his pocket. In some wa
/. he knew it was what Dorothy ha
e been so frantic to rescue. II was We,
s puzzling. Instinct told him, too. tn,
Il she must never know he had disco
u cred it.
J. This was what was written on Il
h photograph. and what Connie felt |
e was entitled to read before he put
" match to it at bedtime:
y I love his eyes. Hove the way Il
e hair waves over his left temple.
love the cleft in his chin. and his fir
strong mouth. l wonder if | sha
ever know him"
1t Connie went to bed too happy
sleep. After all" he refiecte
l. there's some advantage in being
Of supply. But I'm afraid Belle will no,