The Benson signal., 1918-02-09
CHAPTER XVlI.-Continued.

-12-
Rose, arriving promptly at the hour
agreed upon, had wait of fifteen
minutes before any Of her sisters of
the sextette or Mrs. Goldsmith ar
rived. 'I don't want anything just
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 a
pair and a 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
Rger.
The sort of gowns she presently be-
gan exclaiming over with delight, and
ordering put into the heap Of posi-
bilities, were horrible enough to have
drawn a, protest from the wax figures
in the windows. The more completely
the fundamental lines of frock were
mi q %
work, the more successful this lady
felt it to be. An ornament, to Mrs
Goldsmith, did not live up to it's pos
sibilities, unless it in turn were dec
grated with ornaments Of its own
like the fleas on the fleas Of the dog
Rose spent miserable half-hour
worrying over these selections Of the
wife of the principal owner Of the
show, feeling she ought to put uI
some sort Of fight and hardly deferred
by the patent futility Of such a 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 q
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
split second she caught gleam Of in
effable horror. But it was gone sc
quickly she could almost have believed
that she had been mistaken. He didn't
say much about the costumes, but he
said it SO promptly and adequately
that Mrs. Goldsmith beamed with pride
She sent the girls away to put on the
other set-the afternoon frocks; anC
once more the directors appreciation
though laconic, was one hundred pei
cent pure.
'That's ALL" he said in sudden dis
,uissal Of the sextette. Rehearsal al
eight-thirty."
Five of them scurried like children
let out of school around behind the sci
of screens that made an extemporane
GUS dressing room, and began chang
ing in a mad scramble, hoping to gel
away and to get their dinners eater
soon enough to enable them to see the
whole bill at movie show before the
evenings rehearsal.
But Rose remained hanging about
couple Of PAGES away from where
Galbraith was talking to Mrs. Gold
smith. The only question that re
manned, he was telling her, was wheth
er her selections were not too-well
too refined, genteel, one might say, fol
the stage.
He wasn't looking at her as ht
talked, and presently, as his gaze wan
dered about the store, it encountered
Roses face. She hadn't prepared Il
for the encounter, and it wore, hardly
yelled, look of humorous apprecia
tion. His sentence broke, then com
pleted itself. She turned away, bu
the next moment he called out to her
"Were you waiting to see me, Dane 2
''Pd like to speak to you minute,
she said, "when you have time"
"All right. Go and change YOU
clothes 6rst." he said.