The Jasper weekly courier., 1916-05-19
DETECTIVE DORIS
BY JANE OSBORN.

me as if you were a detective" said
Doris Jones, as she was crossing the
campus of Dudley college with her
classmate, Lawrence Smith Doris was
unusually young TO be a senior, and
Lawrence, who had entered Dudley
on advanced standing only at the be-
ginning Of the last year, was unusually
old. That is, he was at least twenty
six years of age, and in his care-lined
face. his occasional nervous gestures,
no less than in the way he wore his
businesslike clothes, he looked more
like a successful young lawyer or
broker than a college student
Honestly, you do look at me in the
funniest way, sometimes Doris per-
sisted, although apparently Lawrence
did not care TO discuss the matter.
And l have seen you look at other
people that very same way. You must
be interested in human nature?"
Yes, probably it is that" Law
renee seemed annoyed or at least
little disturbed. Later. after they had
walked almost to the girls dormitory
where he left Doris, he said, Some
time l shall tell you why / am so in
terested in human nature as you call
it. You will be surprised, 1 am sure"
And then, lowering his voice-"ln the
meantime, little girl, don't even for
fun say anything to anyone about that
strange expression of mine"
There were several things about
Lawrence Smith that seemed TO make
him stand out from the other men Of
his class at college in spite of his OBJ
vious effort to mingle with the men.
In the first place, even the professors
wondered why Lawrence was doing
undergraduate work at all-there is
no postgraduate department at Dud-
ley. For in almost all his classes he
seemed, with no apparent effort what
ever, to surpass the other men in his
class--not so much through actual
studiousness, but because of his great
er maturity.
Another thing that puzzled his class
mates was this: Apparently, from his
manner and habit, Lawrence Smith
was never without money, still, from
his first day in college, he accepted
work that only the poorest students
usually would have considered worth
while. For instance, he acted as cash
ier during the late afternoon tea hour
at the "Cozy Corner" tea room where
the girls Of the college, and OCCASION
ally the men, dropped in for refresh
ments. He got merely a pittance for
Z ) work.
But these peculiarities were nc
stumbling block in the way OF Smiths
popularity. In fact, he was one of the
most active ofiiceholders Of his class
He had been elected treasurer at the
ilfst class meeting of the year anC
treasurer of the athletic association
though he had been put up for vice
!, president of that organization. Thai
was strange, too, that he should have
asked for the lesser honor when ht
had actually been elected to fill tht
vice-president's chair. His excuse wa!
that he liked to keep books and tha
} he didn't know the first thing abou
. presiding. Well, anyway, he made ;
good accountant and never had th'
books of any college class or any 9th
er years athletic association been bet
ter kept.
It was the evening of one of thu
first class dances of the season ant
|. Doris Jones and Lawrence Smith wer'
sitting out" one of the several dance
( that Lawrence had been permitted t.
: mark on Doris order. Doris sighet
) deeply.
( Il do wish you would tell me nov
all about yourself" she said. %
Y course l like you-yes, you know
;, love you-but it is hard not knowing
4 all about you. Do you know, | some
: times feel as If | didn't know you
8 name" She stopped suddenly an
n turned away from him.
r Suppose we finish out this dance.
t He tried to be at ease, but clearly h
;, was not
Wait a minute" putting out smal
1 hand which she closed around hi
v wrist Lawrence. in that book G
s Stevenson's that you lent me l foun
the initials j. r. really do some
:. times wonder whether your name
9 Lawrence Smith
v Cant you trust me-enough
Il know that it is all right-anyway?
Il Yes, yes, can. Promise that yo
will trust me, too" There was no sp'
cia significance in the words.
In fact, ii was the very next da
5 that Doris passed Lawrence comm
out OF the Office of the president {
ny the college. the latter following th
9 young man TO the door with a degre
. OF { ference that was not usually e.
tended 10 mere students.
Il shall cooperate with you
every way she heard him say
& understand your reason for not Ia
ing me into your confidence before
When Doris passed Lawrence
\ started with peculiar panied EXPIRE
z sion that she had never seen befor
p But he merely bowed cordially enoue
and passed on. That evening, aft
dinner. he called at the girls dorm
tory and asked TO talk with her
one of the small private receptlC
rooms Usually they chose a count