Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1916-03-09

I Adu gDu N3A4c " uIAlCI EIiJag
have an extra girl. ana as Usual
need a man. Conaic. dear. don't
think I'm asking you for the tenth
time this season Just because I am
so fond Of you: such of course we all
are. But it Is because you are such a
darling 70 fll in. What would we do
without you?
Faithfully yours.
Belle"
"P. s. Don't tell the story about
the flamingo. I simply can't laugh at
IL again. can say il backward ia
my sleep. Hunt up a new supply"
We'll. like that" laughed Connie
Collins good naturedly 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. Relle, got your note.
I Count en- me. Yes. sure. No. I'll not
tell the famingo story another-what's
that? Oh she's pretty, is she? That's
encouraging. Say. Belle. have some
Of that crab meat again, viii you? All
| right-good for you. I'll be there
sure"
I When Friday night came and Con-
ME vzs presented to the young per
sen be was 10 take IN 70 dinner, his
, first impulse was to hunt up his hos
I tess and weep tears Of joy and thank
fulness upon her shoulder Miss May
weli-such was her nane-was
vision of sweet delight
| At dinner his hostess kept nodding
and smiling at him as much as to say.
TITS your reward Connie. for a long
period of martyrdom."
Then gradually-so imperceptibly
that no one noticed it for a while
the air, 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" a woman breathed con-
vulsively and the guests sprang to
I their feet. Bellies husband. Max
Wells, threw open the door into the
hall There was solid wall of white
| smoke.
! Dorothy MAXWELL laid a hand on
Comics arm. do you think it's up
stairs?" she whispered. live got
, TO go up and get some things II It
| is"
You mustn't think of that" he in
sisted kindly. Lives first. you know"
! He laid his hand reassuringly over
the one resting nervously on his arm.
but I've got to. Doesn't anyone
know where It is?'
Then. before he realized what she
was doing. she dashed glass of wa
ter over napkin, caught it up to her
face and was out of the door. through
the wall of smoke and tearing up the
stairs.
Connie was at her heels, but he
could not stop her. There had been
no time for him to protect himself.
and the smoke in his eyes and lungs
strangled him. but he kept on.
Upstairs the smoke was less dense.
Dorothy ran along the hall and into a
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 you
want. But for heavens sake hurry"
She flew to a bureau. opened a
small top drawer. got something that
looked like a card, slid it into the
front of her gown and faced him r
I'm ready" she choked.
Comics eyes were smarting so he
could scarcely see. But they CROPPED
their way along the hall, keeping as
close to the floor as possible They
almost fell down the stairs. In an
other instant they we're outside on
the porch Just as the firemen arrived.
The men rushed into the smoke
filed house, upstairs, down cellar,
garretward-yet there were no flames,
only a dense, acrid smoke.
mo fire in the house at ALL" yelled
someone. ITS all coming out OF the
registers. Something wrong with the
furnace"
So to the cellar they went and found
a piece of damp carpet smoldering
in disused furnace.
Open windows soon cleared the
house sufficiently for the guests to re-
turn to their coffee.
AS Connie placed Dorothy's chair
for her. he noticed white square on
the floor. He picked it up and saw
his own photograph, with something
written on the back! In an instant
il was in his pocket In some way
he knew IT was what Dorothy had
been so frantic to rescue. II was very
puzzlingl Instinct told him, too. that
she MUST never know he had discov,