Evening star., 1922-07-16
Mr.. Flint of 1.-THE FOotlight"


the first girl made up sweet
heart; but whenever 1t was.
L girls in books and plays have
been doing it ever since. 1t has at last
become altogether too trite to be tired
anywhere but in real life. 1t came TO
Janice, however. with all the fiame-trail-
ing thrill of a brand-new inspiration
one Sunday afternoon when she discov-
cred her fiance reading Lawrence Bal
lard Flint's department in the Foot
light. Janice was assistant editor OF
the Footlight. and so the latest copy
usually appeared on the living room
table of the apartment she and Betty
Hood shared some time before it was
seen on the newsstands.
1t would seem that Janice, already
having one f'esh-and-biood lover. had
little need to resort to the ancient trick.
Only Janice, however, knew how badly
she needed another.
'.Oh. Bob. / want to present you to
my little cousin, Janice Kendall And
you're not TO vamp her. She's prairie
daisy. fresh from Farwell. N. D., and
not used to wicked New Workers."
This was the way Robert Dodgson
had come into. Janice's life. She had
looked up into his straightforward blue
eyes and known that though he was a
New Yorker he was not wicked. One
may have seen human nature even In
Farweli. n. D.
I'm going to vamp you" he had de-
clared. looking down at her, Just as
hard and fast as l dare
He had taken Janice home that even-
ing in taxi--his careless ignoring OF
the existence of such vehicles as street
cars and busses was part of the domi-
nant, conquering way of him; and II
was only a month later that Janice had
taken the apartment with Betty, mainly
so that she would have place to in
vite Bob to dinner and have him cal!
on her several times week.
In two weeks more they were en-
gagged, although they decided to wait a
year or SO before being married.
I'm not going to have my wife living
in some stuffy boarding house or wash
ing dishes in a three-room-and-ki kitchen
cite apartment :" Bob had declared with
fond pride. Inside of Il year I'll have
Denswood booming and be able to give
YOU a regular establishment.
JANICE. thrilling to the daring my
! wife," had time for a moments
flash of certainty that Bob's business
promise had been no idle boast. Bob
would succeed: it needed no corre-
spondence-course graduate in charac-
ter analysis to tel that. 1t was not
alone his keen, intelligent eye and
frm-set chin that promised; there was
about him a sureness. a strong. con-
fident poise, that was of the very
stuff OF which young success is made.
The idea Of asking any further boon
from the prodigal god of love who
had given her Bob might never have
occurred to Janice If she had not at
tended one particular Sunday after
moons tea at the home OF his aunt.
Bob's Aunt Wilma was a stunning,
slim young woman of possibly fifty,
with shining hair done in the most
-marceled mode. a step like girls,
and a laugh that still had the ready
ripple of youth in It, She always had
young people around her, and that
Sunday afternoon she introduced jan
ice to some eight or ten of them. She
introduced her, moreover, as Bob's
fiancee.
Now. in Farwell. n. D.. an engage
ment is an engagement. Ones fiance
is expected to stay with one, like a
cup with a saucer. An engaged cou-
pie can be discovered in Farwell
gatherings as easily as a pair of
Siamese twins. Aunt Wilma's friends
did not play the game this way. Her
son, an easy-mannered young man.
brought Janice tea and cakes and
seated himself beside her; she saw
Bob being taken possession of by a
fiapper with a sleeveless yellow dress
and insolent young eyes.
Being an adaptable person. Janice
made herself as pleasing as posslbl e
to her hosts son, q pleasant enough
young man. 1t was q bit Of a shock.
though, as she and Bob were leav-
ing, to have the flapper, whose name
was Bea Partwee (the hook and eye
Pertwee), say casually:
Glad to have met you, Miss Ken
DALI Hope I'll see you again some
time" and then turn to Bob with an
equally casual, well, I'll expect you
Wednesday night"
Not for worlds would Janice have
asked Bob what Miss Pertwee meant.
Bob, however, offered the explanation
voluntarily.
Cute little kid, isn't she?" he ask
ed. Regular man-killer, Wilma
says. She loses no time when she
thinks she's spotted a prospect.
While 1 was getting her tea she said
I must come up some night and see
her chow. I made the usual polite
murmuring, and the next thing I
know, she says she expects me We'd
nesday."
Going" Janice inquired. The
casual Bea could have made a ques-
tion no more casually Indifferent.
"oh. probably not" said Bob. But
Janice was woman enough to realize
that the masculine vanity, Of which
even Bob had his share. had been
tickled a bit by being selected as q
rlan-killer's victim. It was right then
that Janice began to wish she had
another suitor.
She wished It more and more In
tently as the next few weeks went
on. Bob did not call on Bea We'd
nes6ay eyentnr but he was at his
Aunt wilma's a good deal, and there