Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-17

door and backs up against IT,
1t shows plain in his pop eyes ana py
the ways his fingers is twitchin
well, well, for the love of Mike,
what's wrong now?' l asks. rs 1T bad
news from home. or have you swallowed
a tooth or is the buildin on fire? Come
on. spill it,
Say, Shorty ,he whispers husky,
'it-it's that woman again
Course. if | hadn't been fairly sure
that Swiftly had no particular past OF
that kind l might have suspected some
old scandal had come to life and was
wavin' bunch of faded love letters or
something at him. But Swiftly Joe Cal
lagher amt that kind. His face might
crack a mirror but it would never wreck
a home. And as for writin' love letter.
] doubt if he ever got that foolish Be
sides, he's about as skillful with pen
as he would be with crochet hook.
What puzzles me is his describin
somebody as that woman" for as
ule Swiftly is fairly consistent in speak
ing of the henna- using Sex. Startin' at
the bottom. they're either female parties,
or skirts, or tufts, or just plain ladies.
This is a new term to me. though.
Hey, whaddye mean. that woman
! demands. (which one?"
'Ah. the one with the snaky motions
says Swiftly, land the misbehavin'
fingers. That Miss-Miss-''
GLADYS Tarleton?" says /, while he's
scratchin' his ear
That's her" says Swiftly. 1.-The
Tarleton woman
Say. where do You get that woman
stuff" says ]. She's young lady.
Miss Tarleton is; perfectly swell young
person. fine old family, and more or less
of a plutess. Wants to see me about
something. l expect. Tell her I'll be
right out.
Nothing doing" says swiftly de-
out in the front office and she can
stay there until you get ready to go
in. You'd better put on coat, too"
Say, for all he was born and brought
up in South Brooklyn. Swiftly can be
easily shocked. / expect in his day
he's lived as rough as anybody. he'd
be right at home on Sunday choHder
party or the annual ball of the Red
Hook Athletic Association, but still
he's got a lot of old-faShioned ideas
that would almost qualify him as "A
delegate to a Southern Methodist con-
ference. Just watchin' Gladys tilt
back in an office chair cross-kneed
and light up cigarette will give him
a jolt that he'll be the rest of the day
recoverin' from.
Not that this is all he has against
her. No. 1t was what she did that
other time. when she'd persuaded Mrs.
hCSdDe pTlnS HeT IN Tor a look AT
the Physical Culture Studio. / tried
to steer Sadie off from dom it, for We
don't encourage lady visitors. Some
of our finicky reg'lars might not like
it. But it seems Gladys was bent on
coming, and come she did.
AS it happens there was nobody in
the gym. but Swiftly. who was warmin'
up for the day with little bag
punchin'. It's an act he does well.
I'll admit. and in his trunks and low
he aiy,'f hol hal y,v,'
he is in his street clothes Anyway,
his performance brought the admirin'
squeals out of Miss Tarleton. She's
one of these gushy parties. you know.
and she simply cut loose over Swiftly
He stood for that fairly well, as
long as she was content to exclaim
about his muscle development and so
on. but when she stepped in and be-
gun to paw over his arms and Shout
ders he turns the color of ripe to-
mato. / thought for a minute there
he was goin' to dive under the wrest-
lin mat and roll himself up in it.
What really threw the scare into him.
though. was when Gladys suggested
that he must pose for a young lady
friend of hers who was sculptor aud
tried to lure him down to Greenwich
Village.
Not a chance, ma'am." says Swiftly
indignant. and stalks off to the dress
He couldn't talk about it for a week
after without blushin'. Say. Shorty"
he conf1des to me later, they're bad
lot, them Greenwichers, eh?'
Course, I has to smile at the way
he has Gladys sized up. Near as /
can judge the worst thing she does
is her actin. On the stage. you know.
That is, when she gets chance, which
amt often, thanks be. For Gladys is
one of the hundred thousand or more
that makes it profitable to run schools
of dramatic art. This is about her
one or the other of them near-actor
mills. and she's still payin' her fifteen
hundred or SO a course cheerful, also
she's still swallowin' the CUFF they
feed her that some day or other Be-
lasco will sign her as leading lady
And she's got about as much show to
be picked for that as / have to be
asked to sing a duet with CALI Curci.
This amt just hearsay. you under
stand. l wish it was. But didn't Sa-
die drag me down to one of them
plays done by the pupils as a season
wind-up. and didn't l have to sit all
through an amateur Hamlet" produc-
ton and listen to Gladys squeal and
rant around the stage in a white
nighte with her hair down and trim
med with parsley?
Say. she's just plain bug house"
i remarks.
"S-s-s-sh. says Sadie. She's play
ing the part of Ophelia. She is sup
posed to be mad, you know. So is
Hamlet"
It don't blame him." says I, with
her around so much"
I expect Gladys don't know how
awful she is. Anyway, she keeps at