Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-02

ing AT an explanation or the girl
She looks likes something or 9TH
las II she could do some one thing
well. She's straight or at least hon
est--couldn't tell much of n lie. She
doesn't want anything from me. just |
feels friendly. But she is certainly
In with queer crowd. Prize fix hters!
Maybe III have something to tell Ed
Johnson yet"
While she was studying the girl. |
the COW eyes came up again.
You spoke of your pardner," said |
Miss Wilson. Are you n business
woman"
The girl shook her head
'I'm one myself." Miss Wilson con-
tinued, by way of reassuring her. II
have II department In n New York |
store"
The girl did not seem much i'm
pressed with this. though she smiled
pleasantly. NO." she said, II don't |
know anything about business. BE
better off ii did. I'm dancer"
"Oh, dancer"
"Yes--one of the four Texas Twist
ers. We're in the review at the Par
Probably you've seen us in New York
Harper and Rainey, we are. I'm
| Adele Rainey."
Miss Wilson shook her head.
The girl was frankly surprised, AMI
a thought disappointed.
You've heard Of us, thought"
Again Miss Wilson, though swiftly
ransacking her memory, had TO give
q negative response.
| THAT so? ! just thought probably
you had. 1t takes long time to get
your personality across. Wills all the
time saying that" She sighed But
in moment she was chatterlng on.
You know they're wild over Amer
can dances in Paris. And rag songs.
At the Parnasse they have to have
twenty English chorus girls because
50 many of our American songs cant
be translated. Like Hitchy Koo, |
mean, the Some Boy. and Smoky
Ookums. Then we go on every after
noon at the tango tea. Funny-thcy
call it the
"Tay?" repeated Miss Wilson,
amused.
mo, not that. 'Teh'. more like. It's
pretty near time for me to be getting
around there She consulted the
nickel watch that was bound to her
| wrist with black strap. IN half an
hour. Wouldn't you like to come?
It's nice there in the afternoon
Miss Wilson found herself some
what taken aback. Thugs we're mov.
ing rapidly. The girl seemed to have
no reserve at all-nothing of that in
stinctive caution, that instant readi-
| ness to mask ones feelings and pit
| ones wits against a hostile mind shat
is dominant in all competitive bust
ness. After all, it was distinctly re-
freshing. Though how on earth SO
ingenious a child, knocking about in
the crazy underworld of stageland,
could last a year without being utter
ly smashed. all the time. Though 1t
occurred to her that a dancer, If she
really knew the job, would stand
much better chance than a mere an
trained chorus girl. 1t was the peo-
pie without training that went 10
pieces, people without a real grip on
something. 1t was that way at the
store.
II don't know whether ! can" she
replied. 81 have letters to write, and
after that ! ought to 90 back to the
hotel and lie down But thank you
for asking me-
The girls face sobered. 81 can't
really take you in," she explained
painstakingly. "Not in the stage door.
They wouldn't let you through. You'd
have to buy ticket and come in
the front. But it's only two francs
and two more for the tea, of course.
And you could come back and sit with
us in the artists corner.
"Weii,' replied Miss Wilson, may
be / will" She looked down at the
letters; then, with compressed lips,
picked up the one she had laid aside
and turned it slowly over and over in
her hands.
1t was a rule of her life never to
slight the work of the day. She priu
&c herself on a sort of healthy con-
tempt for mental philandering. Yet
she felt distinctly tempted to let
everything slide and go to this alb
| h.r I,nr In
teresting new acquaintance. The let
ter in her hands that she found such
difficulty in opening symbolized the
pressure that was driving her to let
go in just that way.
Il think I'll do it," she thought
Just relax for once, before ] get too
old and set to relax at all. It's eXoct-
ly what Joe Hemstead has been talk
ing, and Ed, and Martin. They'll be
thinking next that I've lost my re-
sliency, and that's just one more way
of saying l can't handle my job. They
do these things all the time. They
go to ball games all summer, while
I'm sticking close at the store. Every
fall they put on their old clothes anu
go hunting off in the woods and talk
rough and let their boards grow. And
it doesn't hurt their work. Not biz.
They keep efficient, and they keep
human. Why. even when Ed gets
drunk the men all look after him and
ease things off for him. There's
something men have among them
Iselves-and / don't believe ] shall
ever know what it is"
Then, with deliberate exercise Of
will power, she centered her attention
on the unopened letter in her hands.
1t was long letter, written in i'm
passioned language that seemed al
together unreal to Miss Wilson as she
read hastily through it. 1t was
signed, Stanley A"
Tell me this" ran the conclusion.
"If you did not care for me, why did
you permit me to become SO fond OF
you? AS 1t is now, the thing is be
yond my strength. I'm half crazy
with it. 1t wakes me at night II
depresses me, and rouses moods that
l can't control. 1t certainly isn't my
fault. Perhaps it isn't yours, either.
But this is a real love- You take 1t
lightly. You ignore me. You refuse
to answer my letters. You try TO
make me out a mere boy. You are
hard, hard. hard. You have let bus
mess deaden your feelings. For you