The circle banner., 1917-08-17
CHAPTER xVII.-Continued.

-12-
Rose, arriving promptly at the houl
agreed upon, had wait of fifteer
minutes before any of her sisters Of
the sextette or Mrs. Goldsmith ar
rived. 81 don't want anything JUS
now," she told the saleswoman. But
she hadn't, in these few weeks of CLARK
street, lost her air of one who will
buy if she sees anything worth buy.
ing. In fact, the saleswoman thought
correctly, that she knew her, and
showed her the few really smart things
they had in the store-a Poiret evening
gown, a couple Of afternoon frocks
from Jennie. There wasn't much, she
admitted, it being just between sea,
sons.
The rest of the sextette arrived in q
pair and trio. One of them squealed
''Hello, Dane!" The saleswoman was
shocked on seeing Rose nod an ac-
acknowledgement of this greeting, and
just about that time they heard Mrs.
Goldsmith explaining who she was and
the nature of her errand to the man.
ager.
The sort of gowns she presently be-
ordering put into the heap of possi-
bilities, were horrible enough to have
drawn a protest from the wax figures
in the windows. The more completely
the fundamental lines of a frock were
disguised with sartorial scroll-saw
work, the more successful this lady
felt it to be. An ornament, to Mrs.
Goldsmith, did not live up to its pos
sibilities, unless it in turn were dec
Grated with ornaments of its own !;
like the f1eas on the fleas of the dog.
Rose spent a miserable half-hour
worrying over these selections of the
wife of the principal owner of the
show, feeling she ought to put up.
some sort of fight and hardly deferred
by the patent futility of such course.
All the while she kept one eye on
the door and prayed for the arrival of
John Galbraith.
He came in just as Mrs. Goldsmith
finished her task-just when. by
process of studious elimination, every
passable thing in the store had been
discarded and the twelve most utterly
hopeless ones-two for each girl-laid
aside for purchase. The girls were
dispatched to put on the evening frocks
first, and were then paraded before
the director.
He was diplomat and he was quick
on his feet. Rose, watching his face
very closely, thought that for just a
split second she caught CLEAN OF in
effable horror. But it was gone so
quickly she could almost have believed
that she had been mistaken. He didn't
say much about the costumes, but he
said 1t so promptly and adequately
that Mrs. Goldsmith beamed with pride.
She sent the girls away to put on the
other set-the afternoon frocks: and
once more the directors appreciation,
though laconic, was one hundred per
cent pure.
'That's ALL" he said in sudden dis
missal Of the sextette. Rehearsal at
Five of them scurried like children !
let out of school around behind the set |
of screens that made an extemporane- |
Gus dressing room, and began chang |
Ing In mad scramble, hoping to get |
away and to get their dinners eaten |
soon enough to enable them to see the
whole bill at movie show before the
evenings rehearsal.
But Rose remained hanging about,
a couple of PAGES away from where
Galbraith was talking to Mrs. Gold
smith. The only question that re-
he was telling her, was wheth-
er her selections were not too-well,
too refined, genteel, one might say, for
the stage.
He wasn't looking at her as he
talked, and presently, as his gaze wan
dered about the store, 1t encountered
Roses face. She hadn't prepared it
FOR the encounter, and 1t wore, hardly
yelled, look of humorous apprecia-
lion. His sentence broke, then COM
pleted itself. She turned away, but
he next moment he called out to her:
Were you waiting to see me, Dane?"
I'D like to speak to you a minute"
The said, when you have time"
"All right. Go and change your
.lothes nrst." he said. II