Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-02-16
ALICE DEVINE
V. lContinued.l
Bv EDGAR S
1915 BY The Bobbs- Merrill Co.

Eu"aE-G ASAS
Conversation before cards for me,
Herbert" 1 said coldly; and went on
talking to Miss Maynard.
She seemed all right, she looked a
nice girl, and she talked a nice girl.
But you never can tell; and the Direc-
toire frOcks of the two girls were about
as direct as they make them. | was
really annoyed by the n the ghost
girl was wearing.
l went on talking till l felt that Her.
bert was champing the bit sadly. When
I grew afraid that at any moment ne
might snort, l said:
well I'll go and flutter for a while.
i sat down on the farther side OF tn
table 30 that I could watch Herbe :
and Miss Maynard and as I played
began to size up the gathering. IL
seemed harmless enough. Morr1sdale
was banker = a fifty pound oar -
men were stalking flyers and n
l knew most Of the men playing; halt
a dozen of them were serious gam
blers, the others were young ones on
the racket. did not think hat the
game would stay so gentle as this all
the evening. AS I played l watched the
ghost girl and Miss Maynard. l die
wish those Directoire frocks were not
SO confoundedly direct.
Miss Maynard was talking away to
the solemn Herbert, and he was talk
ing to her. But presently l grasped
the fact that she kept looking toWard
the door. Three more men came in,
one Of them that hulling brute. Sir
Theobald Walsh. They came to the
table. Miss Maynard still kept looking
at the door. Then in came Freddy
Gage. Herbert's private secretary. l
saw the look he and Miss Maynard ex-
changed and 1 knew whom she had
been looking for.
Freddy had been Of my fags at
Elton and / had always liked him. l
have always believed that he wrote
Horbert's speeches and articles for
him. To speak roughly, he has four
times as many brains in his little finger
a Herbert has in his capacious bullet
head. He won't to Herbert and the two
girls and began to talk. l went on
With my game, considering things. 1t
was all very well, but however much
she might look for hts coming, I did
not think that when 1t came to ser1-
Gus business, Freddy, with his brains
and I'VE hundred a year, besides his
salary, stood much chance against Her
bert with his sever thousand. Several
times / caught the ghost girls eye; she
was looking at me in a puzzled Ill
Of way. Evidently she had not yet
crown used to my not being a simple
commoner; she was r~earranging.
Then Otto Steiner and the piebald
duke went to the couch and began to
talk to the ghost girl. Freddy Gage
seemed to do a little r~eadjusting, for in
about two minutes he carried off Miss
MAYNARD through the window on to the
balcony: and Herbert came acros to
the table, looking rather puzzled and
.hegan tn-Fzy.
The piebald duke went on talking to
the ghost girl; but his eyes kept stray
ing 10 the table. Then he came to it.
At once Walsh rose and went to the
ghost girl, pulled a chair up to the
couch and leaning over her in a propri.
etary sort OF way began to talk in her
ear. I was annoyed. Walsh is not the
kind of mar whom one likes to see
within a quarter of a mile Of a decent
girl.
Steiner took the bank and made it a
three hundred bank. Miss Maynard
and Freddy Gage came back into the
room looking very pleased with them
selves, and. coming to the table, watch
ed the play. It vas higher, men were
betting twenties and ifties. Then
saw the ghost girl was sitting up very
stiffly and frowning and her eyes were
sparkling angrily. Walsh was smiling
In an ugly way.
/ got up and went across to them.
fae tSV~,, 11oly nc 10 vn,v found thu hoof
Of the room rather trying, Miss Devine.
Wont you come out on the balcony
and get a breath OF fresh air?" l said.
Walsh scowled at me and said some
thing about her being very we'll where
she was.
She rose quickly and said: "Oh, yes,
! should like to-"
'Disagreeable brute, Walsh" | said,
when we had settled down into two
easy chairs among the plants.
IL don't like him. I'm very glad
you took me away from him." she said
IN a hesitating way
go on disliking him - hard" I said.
"You know what these baronets are.
They shouldn't be encouraged. When.
v you come across a baronet sit on
him"
She laughed softly; then she said:
Its all very well; but what if they
won't be sat on
"Walsh Is a pe%rtinacious beggar," I
said. But keep on sitting on him. and
in time he'll understand what's happen
ing"
II do what I can" she said. But he
doesn't seem to understand yet"
Never mind; keep on. It's the only
way" / said.
She leaned back in her chair and
across the gar1ens. Then she
looked at me and said rather quickly:
why did you give me a false name?
1t wasn't fair"
"Oh, all my friends call me Garth.
don't you know. And it might have
made those children uncomfortable to
know that they were with a lord. I've
it work that way with people:
GOODNESS knows why. Besides, peers
have such a bad name. You might
have got straight out of the car and
run for your life, if you had known that
| was a peer"
uAyo vou eyer at q 1oss for an or. |