The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1916-05-12
DETECTIVE DORIS
Nv LANE OSBORN


| 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. HE occasional nervous gestures,
no less than in the way he were his
businesslike clothes. he looked more
like a successful young lawyer or
broker than 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 IL is that" Law
renee seemed annoyed or at least a
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
IL. You will be surprised, / 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" q tea room where
the girls of the college, and occasion
ally the men, dropped in for refresh
ments. He got merely pittance for
this work.
But these peculiarities were no
stumbling block in the way OF Smiths
popularity. In fact, he was one OF the
most active officeholders of his class.
He had been elected treasurer at the
first class meeting Of the year and
treasurer of the athletic association,
though he had been put up for vice
president OF that organization. That |
was strange, too, that he should have |
asked for the lesser honor when he
had actually been elected TO fill the |
vice-presidents chair. His excuse was |
that he liked to keep books and that |
he didn't know the first thing about |
presiding. Well, anyway. he made |
good accountant and never had the |
books of any college class or any 9TH |
er years athletic association been bet
ter kept.
1t was the evening of one of the |
first class dances of the season and |
Doris Jones and Lawrence Smith were |
sitting out" one OF the several dances |
that Lawrence had been permitted to |
mark on Doris order. Doris sighed |
deeply.
Il do wish you would tell me now
all about yourself" she said. "Of
love you-but 1t is hard not knowing
all about you. Do you know, some
times feel as if | didn't know your
name" She stopped suddenly and
turned away from him.
Suppose We finish out this dance"
He tried to be at ease, but clearly he
was not
Wait minute putting out a small
hand which she closed around his
wrist. Lawrence, in that book of
Stevenson's that you lent me found
the initials j. T. | really do some
times wonder whether your name is
Lawrence Smith"
Cant you trust ne-enough to
know that it is all right-anyway?'
Yes, yes, can. Promise that you
will trust me, too" There was no spe-
cial significance in the words.
In fact, ii was the very next day
that Doris passed Lawrence coming
out of the Office of the president of
the college, the latter following the
young man to the door with a degree
of Difference that was not usually ex-
tended TO mere students.
Il shall cooperate with you il.
every way she heard him say. Il
understand your reason for not TAX
ing me into your confidence before
When Doris passed Lawrence he
started with a peculiar panied express
sion that she had never seen before.
But he merely bowed cordially enough
and passed on. That evening. after
dinner. he called at the girls dormi-
tory and asked 10 talk with her in