Evening star., 1921-09-11

-----------------
getting along? Poor kid! I expect
he is finding 1t lot different from
et."
About this time the Weeping Scion.
in muddy French sector, was finding
things very different, indeed, from
Broadway; but he had earned a cor
porars stripes and then a sergeants.
Matters continued to go forward
with Mayme-I beg her pardon. Mary
McCartney-too.
Better and more of it," she wrote
the Bonnie Lassie. They rang me in
on one Of their local Red Cross shows
got more flowers than hearse!
You've got to remember. though, that
they deliver flowers by the carload out
here. And the local stock company has
made me an offer. Ingenue parts.
There Is not the money that I might
get in the pictures. but the chance is
better. So Marie Courtenay moves on
to the legtt-I mean the spoken drama.
Look out for me on Broadway later"
In the correspondence from Sergt.
Berthelin there came long hiatus fol-
lowed by curt bit of official informa-
ton: Seriously wounded" The Little
Red Doctor brought the news to me.
1T doesn't look good, Dominic" he
said. Il was getting to kind of like
that young pup" he added moodily.
But In the end there came a scrawl
from David himself. He was mending.
but very slowly. and they said it would
be long time-months. perhaps-be-
fore he could get back to the front.
Meantime they were still picking odds
and ends, chiefly metallic, out OF vari-
Gus parts of his system
Thereafter the Little Red Doctor ex-
hibited, but read to us only in small
parts, quite bulky communications
from overseas. Some of them, it be-
came known. he was forwarding to our
little Mary. out in the far west. Came
her answer:
Some of the Grass and Asphalt
sketches are wonders; some not 80
II can find a poodle with enough In
telligence to support me. But you need
not have been so mysterious. Doc,
about your young amateur writer
who seems to have some talent Did
you think 1 would not know it was
David? Why. bless your dear. silly
heart, how could 1 know him as l did
and not recognize his hand? Besides.
told him some of those stories my
self. But how does he get a chance
side? Or is he invalided? Or what?
Tell me. I want to know about him.
You do not have to worry about my
well. my infatuation for him any
more. He was pretty boy. though.
wasn't he? But l have seen too many
spoiled for them. At that you were
all wrong about Buddy. He was a
lot decenter than you thought. only
he was brought up wrong. Give him
he don't come back Hero. I'm off'n
heroes too Excuse AGAIN."
Wars and exiles alike come to an
end in time. And in time our two
wanderers returned. but Mary first,
David having been sent into Germany
announcements in the theatrical col
umns informed an Indifferent theater-
going world that Miss Marie Court
enay, an actress new to Broadway,
was to play the ingenue part in the
latest comedy by highly popular
dramatist. Immediately upon the pro-
duction the theatergoing world ceased
to be Indifferent to the new ac-
tress; in fact. it went into one OF It's
occasional furores obtu her. MOI
genius, but she had a certain inde-
Unable and winningly Individual quail
ity. My prediction regarding the an
cestral potencies of the monkey face
were being abundantly justified:
No announcements. even OF the
most modest description. heralded the
arrival of Sergt. Maj. df you pleaseC
David Berthelin upon his native
shores. He came at once to Our
SQUARE and tackled the Little Red
Doctor. Where is she?" he asked
The Little Red Doctor assumed an
air of increduious surprise. Have Have
you still got that bee in your bon
metz" said he.
Where is she?"
Maneuvering for time and counsel.
the Little Red Doctor took him to see
the Bonnie Lassie, and they sent for
me. We beheld new and reconsti-
tuted David. He was no longer
pretty. The soft. brown eyes were
less soft and more alert. and there
were little wrinkles at their corners.
He had broadened a foot or SO. That
pinky delicate complexion by which
he had in earlier and easier days set
obvious store was brownish and
looked hardened. His manner was
unassertive. but eminently self-re-
specting, and me. whom aforetime he
had stigmatized as a white-whiskered
old goat he now addressed as sir"
"Perhaps you'll tell me where she
is, sir" said he patiently.
Leave 1t to me-" said the Bonnie
Lassie. who has an unQuenchable
thirst for the dramatic in real life.
And keep next Sunday night open"
+ X =
CHE arranged with Mary Mccartney
~ to giveea reading on that evening.
at her studio, of David's Doggy"
from the Grass and Asphalt
sketches which he had written in hos
pital 1t was a quaint. pathetic little
conceit the bewildered philosophy of
a waif of the streets, as expressed to
his waif of a dog. For the support
ing part we borrowed Willy Wolly
from the House of Silvery Voices.
and admirably he played it. barking
accurately and with true histrionic
fervor in the right places. After the
try -out Mary came over to my bench
with a check for q rather dazzling
sum in her hand. and said that now
was the time to settle accounts. but
she never could repay-and SO forth
and SO on; all put so sweetly and
genuinely that I heartily wished l
might accept the thanks If not the
check. Instead of which I blurted
out the truth.
"Oh, Dominic" said the girl with
such reproach that my heart sank
within me. do you think that was
fair: Don't you know that I never
could have taken the money!"
Precisely. And we had to find a
way to make you take 1t. We couldn't
have you dying on the premises" l
argued with feeble attempt at joe
ularity.
But from him" she said. After
what had happened! And his moth
er! How could you let me do it?"
II thought you would have gotten
over that feeling by this time" ven-
tured.
"Oh, there's none Of the old feeling
left" she answered SO simply that l
knew she believed her own statement.