Evening star., 1922-12-10

"Eh?' says he. whats a Handy
Andy? And why are you here?'
"Me?' says she. "Oh, I'm one OF the
firm and manager Of branch No. 1.
live gone into business, Harold.
with Miss Dodge. This is Miss Dodge.
She's the one who invented the Handy
Andy system. And we're going to have
a chain Of our shops. you know. extend
ing all over the country. Isn't 1t per-
fectly thrilling. Harold?"
| y x X \
IF Harold was thrilled he concealed
i It we'll. Actually. you would have
thought he was annoyed.
Listen, Efie," he commanded.
"You don't mean to tell me that you
have actually put money into crazy
scheme like this. do your
why, yes" she admits. But only
a li,tle-S10, ,00O you know.
.wha-a-a-t" howled Harold. Ten
thousand dollars-in-in this.
| INV own money, Harold she suS-
gested.
But you know nothing about ousi-
n... nothing at ALL" he protested.
| "Oh, yes, 90, odSS oi'e'
Miss Dodge thinks I do"
| Miss Dodge does" says he. BAN
| Much obliged for the compliment,
says I.
At which he simply glared at me.
/ "Efie." he went on, this Is the
; silliest freak I've ever known you to
indulge in. Why, when they told me
at the house you were off at some
sort of shop you'd started / couldn't
believe it. Oh. the butler knew the
! whole story. You had left a phone
. number where you could be called
and he'd looked it up. But I told him
he must be mistaken. Yet when 1
arrive here-well. find this!
Yes, Harold" says she. isn't 1t
nice shop?"
Bah" says he. DO you suppose
I'm going to allow this? Think I'm
chump enough to stand one side and
see you lose all your money in such
fool enterprise?"
Now, Harold" says she. don't get
excited and talk loud. Tell me about
your trip to San Francisco. What
about that jobber out there who had
failed? Could you make him pay you
! any Of the money he owed you?"
; "No, confound it," snarls Harold.
f., But what's that go to do
, There. you see" says Enie. You're
/: not always such a shrewd business
/ man yourself. And you haven't been
F, doing so well with china importing
lately You've said so yourself. And.
as you'll not let mo help in that, I've
. found a business of my own-that is.
mine and Miss Dodge's-and before
very long we're going to be making
Just heaps and heaps of money.
Aren't we. Trilby May"'
| Yes, Enie," says /. "At least. we
hope to.
Huh says Mr.. Harold Adshaw.
* 4 X
I0N other and more fortunate occa-
~ sions Harold might have been
quite a fluent converser, but just now
he could seem to think Of nothing
much to say. So he stood and glared.
first at me and then at Efie.
Now. don't try looking at me like
! that, Harold" said Mrs. Adshaw. tap
ping her desk with the end of a pen
| Gil. 1T isn't going to do the least
bit Of good this time. Yes, 1 know
| that's the way you used to frighten
me until I cried. But I'm much too
busy to weep now. See. must check
up all these orders and write out as
signments for the men. SO as to be
ready to send them out the first thing
tomorrow morning. You'd better run
along home and dress for dinner.
Don't wait for me If I'm a little late,
for I've told the butler to keep some
thing hot for me-
'Ye gods" groans Harold. HAS it
come to this? I'm to run along home,
am To-
We'll. you may stay here if you'll
be quiet and not interfere" says Efie.
you see. this is a business that you
don't understand at all, Harold, and
I'd rather you wouldn't make sugges-
tions. Probably they'd be wrong. any
way. Now be good boy and
| 'Woman" he roars. Don't you un-
derstand? 1 absolutely forbid you to
go on with this absurd affair. Do you
hear?'
"Of course I hear, Harold" says
she. "And I've no doubt people can
hear you all up and down the block
"Well?" says he.
| Efie threw her head back and gig
sled.
"See here" demanded Harold
What do you mean by that?'
"Oh. nothing much," says she. I'm
sorry. but 1 just couldn't help it, ]
got to thinking of something Miss
Dodge said ahout that Sort ~ <byno {,
1T must have been very humorous :
says he. What was it?''
why" says she. that's what she
calls blah-blah-big business blah.
blah. I suppose it works in certain
instances and on certain people. Per
haps I shall be doing that myself some
day. Wouldn't that sound funny from
me, HaroldT'
"Ya-a-ah!" says Harold, dividing
another glare equally between us be.
fore he dashed out and slammed the
door.
There" says Enc. Now that's
over, and much sooner than I ex-
pected."
"You think he's through. them"
asked.
"Oh. yes" says she, cheerful. "Har-
old never goes out and slams the door
unless he's beaten. But he was sur
prised, wasn't her
IF he wasn't" says I, "he gave q
very good imitation"
Copyright, 1922. By seweu rord)
Pulverized Coal.