Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1917-03-08

Their one OF these girls would wish
you harmr
~None whatever" began Sidney We
hemently; and then. checking herself,
'unless-but that's rather ridiculous"
"What Is ridlculousf"
'Tve sometimes thought that Car
lotta-but i am sure she is perfectly
fair with me-. Why. X, she wouldntI
Il would be murder"
Murder, Of course" said K, "in In
tentlon. anyhow. OF course she didn't
do It. I'm only trying to find out whose
mistake # wnA."
Soon after TINT ahS aaih goodnight
and went out. She turned in the door
way and smiled TREMENDOUSLY back ut
him.
"You have done me q lot of good.
You almost make ne believe In my
self"
sThat's because believe In you"
With q quick movement that wns
one Of her charms. Sidney suddenly
closed the door and slipped back Into
the room. K, hearing the door close,
thought abe had gone. and dropped
heavily into q chnlr.
MY best friend In all the worldr
Said Sidney suddenly from behind him,
and, bending over, she kissed him on
the cheek.
The next instant the door had closed
behind her, and X. was left aloEe to
such wretchedness and bliss as the
evening brought him.
Joe Drummond came TO see Sidney
the next day. She would have avoid
ed him II she could, but Mimi had
ushered him up to the sewing-room
boudoir before she had time to es-
cnpe. She had not seen the boy for
two months. and the change In him
startled her. he was thinner, rather
hectic. scrupulously well dressed.
"Why, joel" she said, and then:
won't you sit DOWN.
He was stlll rather theatrical. He
dramatiEed himself, as he had that
night the June before when he had
asked Sluney to marry him. he stood
Just inside the doorway. He offered
no conventional greeting whatever;
but, after surveying her briefly, her
black gown, the lines around her eyes:
you're not going back to that place,
Of course?"
Ell haven't decided"
He stared ut her incredulously.
"You don't mean that you are going
to stand for this sort Of thing? Every
time some fool makes q mistake, are
they going to blame 1t on your"
"Please don't be theatrical. Come
In and sit down. can't Talk to you II
You explode Like q rocket all the
time"
Her matter-of-fact tone had Its ef-
feet. He advanced into the room, but
he still scorned chhir.
II guess you've been wondering why
you haven't heard from me-" he snid.
1--WE seen you more than you've seen
me-"
Sidney looked uneasy. The idea Of
espionage is always repugnant. and to
have q rejected lover always In the
ofing, as It were, was disconcerting.
IT wish you would be just little
bit sensible, Joe. It's 80 silly Of you.
really. It's not because You care for
me; it's really because you care for
yourself"
"You can't look at me and say that,
Sid"
He run his finger around his collar
an old gesture; but the collar was very
loose. BE was thin; his neck showed
1t.
'T'm Just eating my heart out for
you, and that's the truth. And It isn't
only that. Everywhere / go, people
say, There's the fellow Sidney Page
turned down when she went into the
hospital I've got so / keep OF the
Street as much as / can"
Sidney was half alarmed, half irri-
tated. This wild, excited boy was not
the doggedly faithful youth she had
always known. 1t seemed to her that
underneath his quiet manner and care