The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-08-22

quite q calculating manner the next
day to have his nane proposed az the
I Founders club By a friend who BE-
looEed- Needless 10 say. no one op-
posed his sdnlsSion- He was perfectly
eligible. and unattached, gooi-looking
bschelors we're st a premium Then
began the really hard part q the men,
bership-thzt q securing sn in;rod1c-
tiol 10 Martha Bovdsl attendsi ev-
ery eTenins function AZ the ciub. and
as many afterucon ones as he could
manage 20. without actually giving I'd
his business czreer. The three hun
dre-i and ffty-fve dollars that be hsd
ssstiLnsie-1 wo1ld covsr hls exE-e-Ses for
the first year q cOUrse fel far below
the 2ctnaiIiy. This did not Include
tickets to the vars0zs beae1i eater1sin-
Deuis he'd az the ciutroo-as. nor did
Il inclEde meals and resreshrneuts
there. nor tips And all the tine that
BOwdsn was spend!ng hIs rnoasy there
were 10 signs Of Martha
one day he dropped In the oiubrpo-1s
On his way from bis osice-1s a mat
ter Of fact TO try to recover an I'M
brslla be had left there at the last eve
ming entertainment II was dark In
the eniraDce hall where the check boys
sat ard IL was not un,'l he became &C
castoned 20 the suhduea Hight that be
recognized Martha sitting there. She
was alone. and she was lingering the
pages Of q small note book. Bowden
found it imperative for him 20 take s
seat on the other side Of the hall 20
look over some notes IN his own pocket.
Prom tine TO time he looked up at
Martha She was the sane delightful
Eirl and there was the same air Of per-
feet grooming about her. He would
never have noticed the blenish IL .he
grooming. had IL lot been fOr her quick
effort TO cover Up the wrists Of both
her hands az the same time. Then he
saw that over each was fastened. and
kept In place by a metal paper clip. a
large sheet Of colr paper. such ss his
own stenographer used to keep from
getting Office CRIME on a fresh blouse.
Martha had removed her cuffs in haste,
bu: Bowden caught the movement.
Then the check boy. who was al the
telephone, spoiled Martha's aitle game
ot preiensiOn. Here's a message for
Mrs snodgrass' secretary he said.
and Martha had TO take Il. In her
confusion az doing so she let fall the
little notebook that she had been fin
gering. Bowden seized II. and On the
absurd pretert Of wishing to see to
whom II belonged. he read the name Of
Martha Tufie. II vas absurd that he
did not restore II to her until she had
left the clubhouse and he had followed
her half block down the street.
Il have seen you before ne said.
And She did not deny that she had also
the coincidence Of the frequent
meeting. -And / thought you belonged
to the Founders club"
Il pretended did" she said. "that
first day. wanted you TO think did,
and now you'll dislike me because I've
posed to be something / was not.-
"Anf have been pretending, too"
he said. "Tve been pretending that
could afford 10 belong to this club,
when / couldn't. wanted to know you
and wanted you TO think that / Rad
as much money as the other men who
belong"
Then we're both pretending" she
said.
But II we hadn't pretended he
said, Eve would never have met" II
seemed as they walked along in the
spring dusk, that they had always
known each other, and Bowden Pain
was already feeling relief at the
thought That his annual dues aud other
incidentals would not have to be paid
for next year. He also looked with
more specific interest at the objective
of his savings. He took the girl be-
side him into his confidence. "And II
is better-and more like the Pains
not to marry a woman with money.
You knew from the first how II was to
bel-
And Martha's low answer In the
deepening dusk satisfied him.