Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-30
TIE DAILY NOVELETTE,
The Toss of a Coin
n, FREDERICK HART


:, The privacy Of her little room Mar
,.ret Sears was giving way unre-
straincdly to grief. rAf
Tbe cnuse of her tears lay on the
,.oa beside her, tumbled mass OF tuile
IA silk and satin. II, was Pierrette
.s.trme, dainty, alluring, crisp ana
t,s.B from the hands of the dress
a,okcr: beribboncd and beloved, with
nompons on the slippers and tall
rointed hat, also decorated with pom
no,s.-a costume which any girl might
~ proud to wear at the last and best
foncy. dress party of the most exclusive
slrb Dress. stockings and hat alike
.ere of delicate shade of pink. -,
""Pink :" moaned Margaret to her
Z ,aI,ow. "Pink! And told him dis
,inctly that It must be blue, and now
NJ too late, and Billy will go away
and never see me any more!
ATbe explanation of this somewhat
.,iematic remark was contained in a
rats, crumped from much reading,
which lay on the dainty dressing. table
NJ Niargaret's side. 1t contained only
few words:
"Peggy: l realize that I've made a
fool Of myself and I ask your forgive
rsss. I am called away to Canada to-
nieht to be- gone for two months; no
to1ide where a letter will find me. l
won't have time to see you before 1
70: but I will get tomorrow mornings
naper on the train and read about your
costume. II you wear blue I'll know
that I'm forgiven. Ever, ,.,
That note had arrived the day be-
,ore. Billy was far on his way now,
md she had no address of his; she had
AZ once ordered a blue Pierrette cos
tnme at the last minute; 1t had ar
rived too late to change, and Ii was
mink! There was no evading the dance
III was social duty to go, and she
bad to 60 in costume, and she had
searched the house in vain for blue
ribbons, blue tulle, blue anything. There
was nothing Of the chosen color to be
had--and now Ii was too late!
She heard ring at the door. A
moment later her maid announced the
youth who was to be her escort.
I"Tell him to wait" she said DULY.
"I'n be down in q minute"
She put on the pink Piettette dress
with hands that trcmbled at the hooks.
There was nothing to do but 60. Billy
would see the next morning that she
had worn pink, and would think that
be was unforgiven, and he would not
be back for months! Her eyes brimmed
with tears. Fate had indeed treated her
badly.
At the club that evening It was no
ticed that Peggy Sears was not hel
usual buoyant self. She did not seem
to enter into the spirit of the occa
ton, and there was some gossip
bit of tongue wagging-to the effect
called away so suddenly Peggy's smiles
might have been more visible. Blu,
Peggy seemed as immune to gossip al
she was to the gayety Of the party
Even when some dearest friends
tried to whisper few pointed re-
marks into her ear she was unimpressed
She had yielded to fate. To make
matters worse, there was Helen Travis
clad exactly as Peggy was-in O be-
witching shade Of blue! If It had beer
anyone else but Helen Travis, Peggy
would have asked her to exchange; bu,
it was over Helen that she had quar-.
relied with Billy!
The society reporter put the last
touches to his copy and handed 1t Z
the night editor. I'm goin' home,
he remarked. Then he added: Funny
thing about that party. There wert
two girls there dressed exactly alike
except one was pink and the Other
blue. l couldn't tell 'em apart. excep,
one was peppy and the other seemed
to have something on her mind. got
their names, but ! Tipped penny tc
see which name I'd put for blue and
which for pink"
"Oh, well, 1t doesn't matter" sale