, 1918-04-11
Miss Mystery"
MIR. Stranger"
BY FRANCES B. LINSKY
1918. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)

You are cordially invited to attend
a dance to be given by the employees
of this hotel on Wednesday evening.
Dancing in the garage from $50 to
10 O'Clock. Please come with escort"
Anne frowned when she read the
little card. When school had shut
down very Unexpectedly for an en-
forced vacation, she had felt that she
must earn some extra money. The re-
suit was that she had accepted a So
called war time" position in one of
the suburban hotels, but that such a
position has its difficulties, and is
mighty different from teaching school,,
Anne was just beginning to find out.
II really can't CO." She told herself.
81 hardly know any of the people who
will be there. And besides 1 haven't
any young man to ask for my escort"
"Oh, there's Mr.. Stevens" as the
manager of the hotel came into the
lobby. "I1l ask him to advise me what
to do" and she hurried over 10 meet
him.
He greeted her with a pleasant
smile for he had taken great interest
in the girl who had come to him when
school had closed and frankly told him
of her desire to earn more money in
order to fit herself for digger things"
He listened carefully to the story of
her difficulty.
"Why I'd just look in for half an
hour, If I were you," he said, when
she had finished; "you needn't dance
II you don't want to, and your lack Of
an escort will give you sufficient ex-
cuse, but 1 think you'd better go If only
for a few minutes, so that the others
won't think you are trying to be diff
ferent."
Anne thanked him, and hurried off.
wondering why she hadn't thought of
that herself, and resolved that she
would look her prettiest, eve If she
didn't particularly care about going.
After dinner, she went to her little
room under the caves, to don her
party gown.
Goodness! How gay we shall be"
she exclaimed to herself, as she shook
out her dress. 81 wonder If 1 haven't
been to a party since the farewell ave-
ming that the teachers gave to the old
superintendent. Wonder what the new
man IL be like" and her mind wan
dered off to the subject that lay near
est her heart-school.
'They say he's young and quite fas-
chatting" she thought, land 1 suppose
that means that all the teachers in the
district will set their caps for him
But here's one that won't" And she
jabbed a hairpin in with extra force,
for Anne had ideas" on the subject
of Men"
The last lock of hair securely fas-
tened, and the last frill on the dress
alternately coaxed and patted into
place, Anne sailed forth alone to the
garage which had been transformed
into a dance hall for the evenings
festivities, quite surprised to find her.
self rather excited at the prospects of
guests were to be maids and chauf-
feurs. ,
II believe I'm going to enjoy 1t after
ALL" she told herself, with no little
amusement. II shouldn't be at all sur
prised If 1 find myself accepting an
invitation to dance with some tall
youth who drives a gentleman's car
and who probably"
Good gracious and Anne gave a
little scream as a big machine shot by
her, and came to a sudden stop u few
feet beyond.
my, but that was a narrow escaped"
and the girl leaned weakly against the
door of the garage. totally unnerved
by the shock.
81 do hope l haven't hurt you," call
out out a masculine voice from the
darkness beyond ; a voice In which an
noyance and concern struggled for the
mastery. 81 do hope you are not hurt"
and instinctively his cap came off, as,
coming into the light streaming out
through the door of the dance hall,
he saw the slender, dainty, girllsh fig
ure leaning up against the side Of the
building.
'4They told me down the road that
there was u dance In the garage up
here, so I was just running past look
ing for a place to put up my car for
u while. I'm most awfully sorry If
I've frightened you"
anne preSehce VI iuihu ny thiS tihue
had returned, and she took in lei
companion with one all-appraising
glance.
Mighty good looking for a chauf-
feur,' was her inward comment, and
aloud she said: 81 am all right now,
thank you. l really was more scared
than hurt. All the chauf-I mean
the guests at the dance are putting
up the machines in the empty lot be-
hind the garage. I'll show You the
way" she added graciously, 'for 1 sup
pose you don't want to miss any
dances. There goes the music now"