Evening star., 1921-07-24

WAS tclllnS lnez 0uly ycSs
~ terday. there is some use in hav
~ ing rich uncle. after all. even
"a = II he is one Of the disappearing
kind. For there We were just on the
brink, as you might say, of a financial
crash when up bobs her Uncle Nels.
buys this Greenwich Village joint out
right, and turns US loose With it.
That's service. I'll say. Course. he
walks out on US before any; one could
even kiss him on his bald spot. but
being co-bosses of the Cave of the
White Goddess is lot better than
having 'em give you the gate:
And then, We still have Barry Platt.
Nothing elusive or inconstant about
him. I don't know just how important
this newspaper job of his is. hut it GER
~tainly leaves him time enough to DRIFT
in here for an hour or so every even
ing Not that he tries to mix In win
the management or asks to paw over
the books, or criticises the manu-. NO.
He seems content to slip In behind
corner table and feast his eyes on inez
as she sits regal back Of the cash
register.
"How about it, Barry,",1 asked last
night. "are you representing Uncle en-. N.,s IL:
now. or is this merely a social visit
? "Oh. quite unofficial" says he. "You
don't mind. do you. Trilby May?"
Not a bit," says L. I'm fact. It's
rather cheering to have you drop
around" ::
ments.
Picking up right along" says l.
And l thought that by midsummer 1t
would slack off. Where all these folks
come from who are willing to walk
through a back alley and into cellsg
to pay one seventy-fve for cold
storage chicken and spaghetti dinner
is what gets me-"
Its the publicity from those raids
= and investigations that brings EN-.
Barry explains. why, the VillaSe
has been advertised from one end Of
ever a tourist strikes New York he
hunts up the district and comes
down here expecting to see all sorts
of wicked go!ngs on"
And what he really does see.'
says I. lis Inca. Eh?'
at that. 'I suppose some of these
birds try TO- get fresh now and them
I shrugs my shoulders. 1.-The male
of the species. Barry" says l. "is al
most always more or less frisky when
he's away from home. They even
have the nerve to chuck ME under the
chin when I'm serving them. But !
charge to the bill. and if necessary
can tell 'em exactly where they
"1 know. Trilby May says he
You're all right But-but how
about 1nez?'
"THATs worry you can cross of
at the start says I. OF course.
they nearly all hand her the line
of talk they've had success with be-
fore. and some of these small-town
cutups are fluent kidders. They call
her everything from Sister to Sweetie.
and about once a night some mushy
widower hints how he'd like to steal
her for his very own. But none OF
it registers with Inez. She displays
her dimples while the love barrage
is on. but as soon as they've passed
by she yawns and tries to remember
where she parked her gum. No.
Barry, joshing Inez isn't profitable
pastime. except for the house; and 1t
gets 'em just as far as tickling a
stone lion in the ribs. So We don't
need to fence her in with an iron
grill or anything like that"
: Barry shakes his head. though. II
hope no one tries to pull any rough
here" he says.
Il trust not" says I. for I'd hate
to see Inez start throwing em
around while she was wearing that
goddess costume. 1t would be just
like her to forget"
And yet 1t wasn't twenty minutes
later when I noticed this dark-eyed
Adonis with the wavy black pompa-
dour and the sutif, mastaobe draping
himself over fhen little caYntsr, ;, and
whispering chattynto IneEr Then I
remembered having seen ). him go
through the same. Performances only
a few nights before,. But this time
he seems to, have dressed the :. part
more elaborately,a for he, has. on
braid bound cutaWay, with ria, flower
ip his lapel. and he's carrying gloves
and q walking stick. Also he is pre-
senting Inez with a real orchid. AS
she Is ducking her chin COY and
doesn't seem to be trying to shunt
him along as usual l drops back to
Barry's table and nudges him..
.tOh, I've seen it ALL says ne.
who is this gay bird'"
"One of cur regulars" says l.
Must be some young plute who has