Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-16

couldn't think of it,"
We'll. OF course. il you don't.
that's different" He pondered
gloomily this incomprehensible
freak. "Lis'n," he suggested. bright
ening: Tell you what. Mrs. bruce.
you go home and think it over"
Seriously, Mr.. Culp: if / should
think it over for a month my deci-
sion would be the same. But thank
YOU ever so much-and please thank
Mrs. Culp for me, too"
WELL" Culp said reluctantly.
holding the street door. "if that's
the way you feel about 1t . . well.
of course G'dnight, Mrs. bruce,
and pleas't'meet you"
Crossing to her car. Lucinda ex-
perienced a vagary of vivid remi-
~niscence. Just for an instant the
clock was turned back for her a
dozen years and more, she was again
a little girl, n child bringing dazed
eyes of dream from the warm AMI
scented romance of a matinee. her
thrilled perceptions cropping mutt
nously toward reconciliation with
the mysterious verities of streets
mantled in blue twilight.
That passed too quickly. too soon
she was Lucinda bruce once more.
grown III and married. disillu-
Notwithstanding that, she drove
directly home. pausing only to droo
Daubeney at his club and the Lon
taine's at their hotel.
The telephone rang in the boudoir.
The maid answered for her, and
came to report: Mr.. bruce had call
ed up to say he wouldn't be dining
at home that night, he was detained
by a conference"
Without looking, Lucinda knew
thai the woman's eyes were demurc,
her lips twitching.
Her just anger of that afternoon
required with strength redoubled.
On leaving her bath Lucinda de-
layed only long enough to shrug
into a dressing-gown before going
to the telephone. call Daubeney and
make an engagement for the even
ing
AT first glance the huge main
room of the Palais Royal seemed
less ~frequented by clients than by
walters. but the influx of the former
was constant, and when a gang of
incurable melomaniacs crashed,
blared and whanged into a jazz fox
trot. the oval dance floor was quick
ly hidden by swaying couples.
For some minutes Lucinda sat
looking out over without seeing
these herded dancers, only aware of
the shifting swirl of color and the
hypnotic influence of savage music,
her thoughts far from this decadent
adaptation of jungle orgies which
she had come to witness. And
presently a smile began to flicker in
the depths of her eyes.
. "Oh!" h said, rousing when
Daubeney uttered a note of inter-
rogation-"I was thinking about
this afternoon, remembering King
Laughlin moping and mawing in his
magnificent delusion that he was
conducting an orchestra.
You don't know about the hand
some offer Mr.. Culp made me. with
his wife's approval, just as we were
going away" she continued.
Dobbin frowned. What kind of
an offer?"
ITO become a movie actress under
the Culp banner. a sister-in-art %
Alma Daley"
DO you mean Culp actually had
n lmperllnence"
"Oh, come!" Lucinda's amuse-
ment subsidized. "Mr. Culp was most
kind, at least he meant to be. He
said he, his wife and his cameraman
whose opinion he values more
highly than any director's-all
agreed I had shown a great deal of
promise. and that, If / cared to try
it on, he'd be glad to give me a good
part in Miss Daley's next picture,
and If / made good in that he'd
form a company TO star me-"
What rot!"
every well. Dobbin. Let's say no
more about it."
The constraint that fell between
folds. was presently emphasized by
an abrupt suspension of the music.
When Daubeney could endure it no
longer. he broke it with a question,
the most impolitic conceivable: "You
didn't tell me what answer you gave
Culp. Cinda?"
Didn't I? But I'm sure it doesn't
matter"
But his manifest penitence earned
no more than a show of restor-
alton to favor. The heart in Lucin-
da's bosom felt hot and hard and
heavy with chagrin. she had banked
so confidently on Dobbin's sympa-
thy
Don't let's talk any more for a
Dobbin-I'd rather dance"
Descending the several steps from
the box level to the common, they