The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-08-27

~ tell YOU Cal" she said, =
can hook him and we shake
him for roll"
. !. ! |
saa "a Maybe. But 90 easy-hs
~ III amt been around the Main Drag
UM W oil these years for nothing"
M -. al "a Hbosier ia a Hoosier CAL
8h IA all or why did they put heads On
W& III at good grfters?"
3#@ NJ Dick pussyfooted after them,
7zM41 80 not TOO near. hurrying along -
@XN 4#9 the shadows OF the buildings
4 ESM Gel his head down They stopped
E at the corner, waiting He
&a5& ducked into doorway. He
W could hear again. The man was
;d%nMe ''As for his being Hoosier,
NJ MX so are you, sweetie. But well
|s4 IA. a33sfs.xAsM pass that-ll say you're one
E that outgrew II. But what makes
Is o. WA you think he fell for your Say
kNz& he's the prettiest ham on
Broadway and a million danes
49, - NJ must office him. So, why should
TeM he topple for a bim from ths
"a home tank, II shs's your"
~ "Ask rue why. But he did. I've
been shot at and sniped at and
~ {ss&xs ~ potted at and stabbed at AMI
49, sSz hshed for and chased after
~ long, l guess | know when a
] ! |:
sSM ~ chump does the Harry Carey
~ on his own loyebeams. tell
go you, Mertin Topped for me. And
# played him. Boy, gave him )
the whole arsenal; slick stuff
never 'phone number, never
house number; just slipped into
II his life and made q bum out Of
~ T" It and eased out again."
"All right take your word
~. for 1t. Now what? Give us .
z blueprint OF the racket"
(L1 well, tonight l write him q
ME"tf little letter to the theatre-one
&c. of those l sure would love to see
~ you again-alone this tme--so
e. we can have real talk about
81 old times-a real hearttoheart
schmoos. You know, ! hardly
knew he was sick back IN Coal City. But now
he's got the brain, and he probably mas
It all figured out where he always loved me and
didn't know IT, After all the tramps and the flap
pers and the business mems matinee wives and
the hardboiled babes and the mushy maidens OF
Manhattan he probably ia good and sentimental
about dear old Fan from the old home town--Jou
. know the stuff. Well, I'll get him wholesome and
A trusting or what the movies call mad with de-
~ sire just silly and sloppy. Anyway III get
him In my hat-here up the street-tomorrow
after the show Then you bust in and
"Say-you don't have TO go through the mo-
tions You get him that far and Ill put badger on
him that has all the techpique, skill and workman
ship in the blue book Has he got anythingr
HAS he? Don't be a dumbbell. He's been drag
ging down q grand a week-not less than that, and
maybe as high as twelve and"a-half-for years Ana
Hooser is Hoosier-his early training and the
Indiana in-breeding wouldn't let him blow the best
part of that. Believe me- that bird has jack. A
trip to Europe, anyway"
touring with the top up drew to the curb.
The greeted the driver with a curt hello, Fan
ME bowed, and they got in and the car whirred
up the street.
Dick Mertin walked all the way home to his apart.
ment in the upper Fifties He thought hard. he
ached bitterly.
He hadn't lost anything He hadn't had anything
to lose. He was in statu quo If he just set his life
back few days The girl had never been any.
thing to HMM Coal City or in Greenwich Village
She might have become something, and that might
have been very nice, too-but his life could 60
ahead and be very complete without her. couldn't
It? 1t could He not only thought It could, he
knew It could In few days it would all be fov-
gotten But It was humiating. The world
shipped him. women almost idolized him--women
OF New York and Paris. Fifth ave1fHe and Broad
way-and this little snip-nosed upstart from the
dust piles OF Coal City alone saw IN him victim,
love-sick yokel ripe for the rummy-roe IN the
rawest and crudest stick-up known to penny-ants
thieves Ugh--it wasn't pleasant; It wasn't edfy-
ing II was far from soothing He had only lost
something he hadn't ever had. Neno he had lost
something he had for years fancied that he had
that supercious satisfaction that We all cherish
when We hear OF mug being taken a weakling
yielding, even stout oak crashing-that SNUG
and smirking conviction, They would never try
that stuff ME-"
By freak coincidence he had escaped For no
si5- tast hs1 S- not heard what hv iui ncsru
he would have walked, with a beaming glowing
Joy. into Fannie's fat. Now, OF course-
The letter awaited him at the theatre next day
He spotted It instlnctvely and Immediately In the
pile. He slit II open and read
Dearest Dick: After ALL there is something TO
the old home ties. Surely, brief meeting a
few nights ago was commonplace enough-one may
meet anyone in New York. and one does meet every.
one In Greenwich Village 1t had no Significance
beyond that TO me for time; and perhaps has
none at all to you now. But began feeling-now
don't laugh at the little girl whose pigtails you
used to pull-that ! would like to see you again
Just you, alone, for little bite somewhere so
we could really talk of mutual friends and relatives
i couldn't go into those things when we ware TO-
gether, because they wouldn't interest strangers
But | was back In dear old Coal City a month or
so ago. and | talked with your sister Effie and
but must leave II to tell you
We're 1t not that we are such old. old friends, I
would never dream OF sending you such an uncon
Ventional invitation. AS II is though I feel that