The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-10-23
HE. DAILY
81 Lo.RT STORY
IN pWlaAT TINeLE scoTT.

BY bfNlAEIl hHNS-G $780,
lcopgright 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaper syndicate.)
ND all that rogue and those
eyebrows and that pair OF
4 black errings- say, girls, 1
don't see how Theda Bara holds her
JOB atEall.
And do you know" interpsed MISS
Prentiss, ot the cost department Ssne
smokes like a chimney? Mrs. Dean
lust missed catching her with cigar
Cite IN the rest room yesterday"
..And how the men hang around her
+ desk have you noticed it?" TINS
from, Miss Brady, the office cashier.
iEyen Mr. Dart, l passed his desk
this morning; she had finished dlcta-
ton and was sitting there talking.
Heard her say, III you're fond OF reg
mar music, you ought to hear two
new rolls have for our piano. They're
20 jazzy they Just make your toes
tickle. And say, the big draught
hasn't hit our house yet; why don
Won come over some night? And MI.
Dart laughed and said he would be
there, with bells on /"
"aet that, ElsieY cva1led Clara
Forrest, Of the billing department
you'd better look after your MI.
Dart, or the new 'stenog. will be
running away with him"
Elsie Hastlng bit ner lip and col
ored to the tips Of her pink ears
Really, girls, Mr.. Dart and ere
only good friends. He is free to. DO
as he chooses.
Bravery enough pretty little Elsie
said It, but there had been crue;
Juggling at her heart as she watched
the office vampires bold oSertures
toward Phil Dart. Quite true, the
status of Elsie and Phil had been only
that of good friends, but Phil had been
coming to see her every week Tor tne
last six months.
He was fond of mrsic-the light
classics, WHICH Elsie played so well.
Their tastes were alike in books and
pictures. Without a word passing
Elsie had come to feel that Phil only
awaited the time when his future
might be little better assured to turn
their comraderie into something more
serious.
ONLY this week he had gotten the
promotion for which he had been
working. So Elsie had been looking
forward with more than the usual
amount of happiness to Friday night:
Then came Wayne Debussy, and
things changed.
How could Elsie attribute to any
thing but this Phil Darts apparent
abstraction that morning when he hac
dictated to her Certainly his mind
had been far away, for he mad faltered
and revised and repeated himself in g
way foreign to his usual confident
manner. *.
SON." Nays ,Debussy stopped dno
perched languidly on the corner OF
Elsies desk. -.
The noon whistle had sounded, but
Elsie was Fastening to finish bit Of
work before going to the lunch room
II was like sudden challenge-this
direct mention of Phil's name. Elsie
felt herself color. She wanted to look
Nayme squarely in the face and an.
swer indifferently. Instead she heaFu
herself stammering:
ayes, Mr.. Dart is nice"
mi say he is You know, and
Mayme smiled down at the other IN
4 patronizing way, Il don't see why
come of you girls don't go after him.
mt ttSll take real class to get him,
think / could learn to like him pretty
much myself"
heightened quickly. Il don't think
Mr.. Dart is the sort who would care
to have women go after him. !"
The new stenographer laughed
mockingly. "Pshaw, you don't know
much shout men. They are all alike.
They like to be Vampeds'
And Wayne DebuSsy slipped down
from her seat and moved toward the
tiinchToom with q superior and world
ly-Yise air that set Elsie to pounding
tie keyes Of her machine furiously.
Ceuld It be that Phil Dart was like
that? Before Friday night Elsie fell
snra. that he waS. MoreVoTe deep IL
her heir she evolved pt&n-a plan
70 beat tlliR naStly rival 1t her own
fnFinf tho few days Wayne mad
bean "a the office Elsic had studied
ier carefully. She had made note Of
her slangy talk. her vapid manner
AZ a first step, Elsie called at the
store where she had just bought
u simple little evening gown. Thinking
Il TOO extreme at the neck, she order
Cd it altered. This alteration she can
celed, Next, she went up to the 70:
tloor al. -
Here, to the tangling Of a thin-ton'
cd plano, a young man, through
naegaphone, improyised from shee
music, proclaimed in syncopatet
Just, take it from me,
Just take it from me,
You can't shimmy all night,
On q cup Of tea
This musical gem and others Of
iike nature she bought, and when sht
81 Lava oha had also aH0ulre(