Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-08-09

hats at least"
"She'd have to have a husband With
more money than l have to have that
many" commented Mr.. Montague
Stone. "Why, 1 don't believe my wife
Eel has more than four in a season.
OF course, some of those rich society
women you read about might have a
dozen or so. l suppose they do"
"If you knew a girl that Travelled
with twenty hats" suggested Mr.. Pen
dleton, 81 suppose you'd draw the con-
clusion that she was what you call a
society woman, then"
II suppose So"
Eli heaved a sigh.
"What's the idea?"
ut doesn't amount to much Mr..
Pendleton said. "But you see l
eled on from the West with a woman
that interested me a lot. She seemed
like such q sensible, matter-of-fact-
like the kind of girl l think my mother
was, and-well, she travels with TWEEN
ty hats. She gave the taxi man u
whole bunch of baggage checks n L
I w do 81 IllllC llOuo dhhC
.tiveness, I suppOse-and so
the fellow that runs the baggage ele-
vator over at the hotel happened to
put up at the same hotel with her
about 1t, and he told me there were
twenty hat boxes"
"Well?" queried Mr.. Stone, with a
laugh. "a lumber king like you
oughtn't to balk at a little thing ike
that. I couldn't afford a wife with
twenty hats, but you could"
The next morning at breakfast MT.
Eli Pendleton received his apple pie
promptly and without comment, n
then as he was eating 1t the waiter
said in a subdued tone very soiemniy
There's another party in the dining
room as ordered pie. It's a new hidea.
But we'd got it on and for you so we
just gave this other party some OF inc
one we got for you, sir"
MI. Pendleton smiled his pleasure at
this announcement.
you 90 tell that party there's an
other ~pie-eating Yankee here, and II
he hasn't any objection he'd like TO
make his acquaintance. Here, TAKE my
card" and MI. Pendleton slipped a
dollar bill in the walters hand when
he gave him the card.
"She took the card" said the waiter
when he had returned a few minutes
later from the other end of the dining
room. "She laughted quite a lot, she
did, and she said has 'ow she'd like to
meet you She said she was always
glad to know a real Yankee, and would
l show you over" !,
'Well, I didn't know 1t was a lady"
commented Mr.. Pendleton, "but a
Yankee is a Yankee. Show me her
table"
The girl eating pie at the table IN
the other end of the restaurant was
none other than Miss Lancaster of the
many hats.
"Say, get me another piece of pie"
Mr.. Pendleton told the waiter. when
he had taken the chair offered to him
by Miss Lancaster. II happen to be
acquainted with Miss Lancaster-Ill
finish my breakfast here"
Pendleton's business in New York
had peer completed the day before,
but somehow he decided to remain
over another day, for the following
day Miss Lancaster was booked to re-
turn to New England.
1t was three months later when Ell
Pendleton again returned to New York
and dropped into the office of Mon
tague Stone.
'Did you ever find out any more
about the lady with the twenty hatsT'
asked Montague Stone. II was ask
ing my wife about it-she wants to
know the rest of the story"
"Why, that was Amy Lancaster
Amy Lancaster Pendleton now. I was
Just going to tell you to congratulate
me. And l want you and Mrs. Stone
to have dinner with us-we're at the
Metropolitan. She came on with me-
sort of combined q business trip with
our honeymoon"
"Fine work, and many congratula-
tions," said Montague Stone, with a
hearty handshake. at always takes a
plain old Yankee like you to win a
society girl"
Society girl, nothing. Those hat
boxes-well, Miss Lancaster was a
pretty shrewd business m She
was saleswoman for one of the biggest
millinery concerns in New England.
Those hats weren't hers-they were
samples. And now she's married me,
she's through with the hats. I told
her to bring as much baggage as she
wanted, but she said she'd only bring
one hat, and that's the one she wore
on her head"