Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-08-31
A SWEETHEART AT THIRTY
n 0ooey Of Womon's Translbematiou.
BIZ MARION RUBrNCAM.
vi FACES A PROBLEM.
Chapter LXVIII.

vi FACES A PROBLEM.
Chapter LXVII1.
"Well, after that Bud went on, de-
fensively, IL had to 60 out to parties
with him. Lord, can you take . mans
money, and take tips on the market
from him, and then chuck HIM
''No, of course not" vi said in sooth-
ing tones. But / knew from the express
. sion in her eyes that her thoughts were
not AS calm as her voice
$50 we simply ran around lot, that's
all" Bud said. "Of course ! had money
and Pete knew it, 80 / couldn't pretend
was too poor to CO."
"lf you'd said you wanted to save
it." Vi insinuated gently.
''And he laughed at! The way TO
get rich isn't to spend less, it's to make
more" Bud said
Pete had often said this, it was his
PHILOSOPHY. 1t is one of the most dangerous
PHILOSOPHERS have ever heard. 1t leads
sometimes to greater effort and more
work, but more often to a blind relief In
the future, and topresent extravagance:
'You might combine the two little,
vi remarked-another of the prema-
turely wise thoughts that she so often,
these days, gave voice to.
well. anyway" Bud went on impa :
tiently. pete and Toots and some other
people and / went around lot. 1t WAS
pretty lonesome anyway, vi, with you
and Aunt Enid away. A long hot eve
ming in the city isn't much to look for
ward to at the end of long hot day
of work"
"Poor boy!' vi was all sympathy:
II was she now who reached forward
over the table. She took Buds hand,
and pattcd it gently.
And Pete's fond of me, for some
reason" Bud went on. Besides, he
was pretty lucky this summer. lie had
a thousand dollars when he got that
tip on the mining stock, and where 1
cleaned up 700, he cleaned up nearly
$1,000 He bought a car, peach, and
almost every evening we'd pile In that
and drive somewhere. 1t was cool, ana
YOU don't know how nice after hot
day in town. Sundays we'd drive to
the shore and swim taught Pete how.
But why didn't you tell me-" VI asked
Il meant to, as soon rs you came
back-and you see | aim telling you. |
didn't honestly know that you already
knew | was going about with the gang
Buds tones were pleasing. 4 knew
that whatever he was working up to-
was forgiven in advance.
Bud was the sort of man that every
woman always forgives. No matter how
grave his transgression. he has that III
his eyes-some sort of pleading look
that oftens every womans heart. tic
was a fine looking lad; / could not helT
but admire him as ] looked at him
Even | would have forgiven him any
thing-except some hurt to my nice
His profile was excellent, the forehead
high. and made apparently higher by
the wav his head brushed straight back
10 be rather attractive, his chm was
perhaps a little weak but well shaped
And his present thinness made him still
more appealing.
ANYWAY. we ran all over the coun
try around here with Pete and the girl'
and some other fellows, all messenger
for some of the Wall Street firms That,
all there was to it. We dined at road
houses and danced there, but we never
were out late. 1t was sll pretty Harmless:
fit wasn't at least it was harmless enough
IN comparison to most of these parties
Bud was talking rapidly. He was
evidently working up to the climax Of
his story and he dreaded it.
Towards the latter part of the sum
ner. Pete brought along a man named
Simons. an awfully shrewd lawyer down
in Wall Street He had lot of money
oh gee, we did have some partiesl
do wish YOU'D been along. you woulc
have liked them In spite OF your preJu
dices.
N frowned little, but we waitec
for the rest of the tale.
Anyway, they cost lot OF money
| had to get dress suit, that was more
than a hundred-anything decent thest
days And pumps to dance IN, and goot
looking suit for other times when We
weren't so much dressed up. And then, o
course we men shared the expense o.
running the car, and one night he let m,
driye-I know how now-and | turned {
wheel and paid to have it fixed. Anyway
the $500 didn't last long.
You mean'-Vi said slowly-''tha
after YOU made 500 you spent it all
INST on gasoline and repairs and $l0t
suits and silly roadhouse parties?"
II mean it," Bud said, dehantly, "ane
IL didn't last so long either"
knew what was IN her mind. We
had few hundreds left ourselves, only
a few, and on them we were TO live hal
A wear, vi WAS TO go to college and sucf
clothes as we needed were to come from
them too. Seven hundred meant man,
more months at college for her, hours ane
weeks in delightful studies, opening hel
mind, increasing her culture. 1t meant
months in this inspiring environment o
the city-and in a few weeks Bud hae
eaten and drunk and wasted it.
That was what that amount of money
meant to her-and to him. If we has
had 500, TO what uses would we no
have put 1t!
sThe worst Is" Bud said, ''that
found out how Peter got his first thou
sand to plunge. He took out some casl
he was carrying TO the bank, used it Z
Al. i a -
he fixed the bank book coming hom
to the Office so the bookkeepers didn'
know the difference, and next day h
deposited the thousand dollars, but SAT-
he'd forgotten the book, and got slil
as receipt So it won't show-ant
it's honest, since it's paid back-but In
afraid he'll do it again-or be caught
And I'll have to be witness"
His voice broke off miserably. We sa
and stared at him in horror.
Tomorrow Associations.