Omaha daily bee., 1918-09-29
By BEATRICE FAIRFAX

The lady with the matchless CON-
plexion at the Atlantic City hotel
crowded the world war off the map
as a topic OF conversation.
The men would be comfortably
seated on the piazza, their hairs
tilted at just the proper angle 10 dis
cuss long distance strategy in win
ming fthe war, some one would be
holding forth on barrage-when
THE Lady with the Complexion
would come along. and the war as
an issue would fade away in a NUT
tered chorus Of: Never saw any
thing like it in my lifep ITS too
good to be true" Looks like one
OF the figures in the hairdresser's
Window
The women did not say much. but
hey looked at The Lady with the
Complexion" from every angle.
They made it a point to meet her in
broad daylight, under the scorching
sun that flooded the Boardwalk
They studied her under the electric
light. One OF them got a moonlight
vic and said the matchless skin
looked queerer than ever. And an
enterprising lady from Chicago got
snapshot, because, as she said. the
camera sometimes escaped things
that escaped the naked eve.
Bowed but Never Smiled.
The Lady with the Complexion"
bowed to everyone, but never
smiled at any one, never became
impatient when the waiter let
twenty minutes elapse between serv-
ing soup and fish, did not look dis
tressed when the sailing party was
four hours late and everyone sup.
posed they had been drowned. In
short. she never permitted herself
the luxury of looking human under
any circumstances.
As far as the milk OF human kind
ness vas concerned, or the vitriol OF
human anger, for that matter, she
might have been a statue of Bud.
dha. A statue, in fact, could have
taken lessons in repose from her.
And strange to say, despite the
milk and roses of her skin. rich,
bronzy hair and great regularity Of
feature, the lady was not al all good
looking. One Of the men said she
had a sort of embalmed look that
made her too spooky. And one OF
the women remarked: "She makes
me think OF one Of those perfectly
canned fruits that grocery shops use
as window displays"
And so i, wen, all day long. Then
one day a genially battered looking
woman, presumably in the late
forties, turned up at the hotel. In
repose her face was a network OF
lines, but when she laughed or was
interested she looked like a girl.
All Sparkle and Animation.
This woman was all sparkle-en-
thusiasm and, somehow or other,
when The Lady with the Com
plexion was in sight, motionless as
a piece OF bric-a-brac, everyone TN
consciously looked at that wrinkled
little woman, who was as efferves-
cent as bottle of champagne. And
some one said she made such an
agreeable antidote, after looking al
the canned beauty.
1t soon became patent to the
knitting cabinet on the piazza and
its male counterpart, the long-dis-
lance strategy-board. that there was
some connection between these two
women that were as the poles OF
femininity.
She of the complexion regarded
the wrinkled one with an expression
more nearly approaching terror
than she had yet displayed. And
the wrinkled one seemed to fash
back an answer to the others S. 0.
S. you have nothing to fear"
The mystery grew, the tension got
on the nerves Of the knitting cabi-
net and the long distance strategy |
board-it was like spending ones
vacation at a thrilling movie with
the denouement never in sight. The
Lady with the Complexion" was
beginning to lose some OF her poise,
and the knitting cabinet piled the
wrinkled one with toasted marsh
mallows and chocolate creams. but
she wouldn't say word, except |