, 1922-01-28

NNeNtE3
~oet r." He Said. ~i'm out Rldinu
Don't Know When M Get Home"
/ thought they better not stay too
long, because ! was compromised
enough already. without being seen
in their company. and I gave EN-
something to help 'em out with the
movies. You can stny Mt movies an
awful long time, and II you've got
money enough to go to several Of 'em,
why you're fixed for as long rs you
please. A body ought to be able to
live a couple o. months at the movies
for nine or ten dollars, 1 should think"
He vas silent for a time. then
asked: II don't suppose your papa
and mama will be worrying about
you, Will they. F1orence7"
"oh, mol" she said quickly. "Not
In the leastl There was nothin' at all
for me to do at u house this after
noon"
That's good" he said, because
before we 20 back 1 was thinking some
of driving around by way of Texas"
Florence looked at him trustfully
and said nothing. 1t seemed to her
that he suspected something; she was
not sure, but his conversation was a
little peculiar-though not in the least
sinister. Indeed. she was able to make
out that he had more the air Of an ac-
complete than Of n detective. Never
theless she was convinced that far, far
the best course for her to pursue, dur
ing the next few days, would be one
Of steadfast eserve. And such'a course
was %congenlal to her mood. which was
subdued. not to say apprehensive;
though she was sure that her recent
conduct, IL viewed alphabetically.
would be found Christian. The trou.
BILE was that probably It would not
be viewed sympathetically. No one
would understand how carefully and
tactfIll2 she had prepared the items
of me- riole TO cad suavely up to the
news of Aunt Julia's engagement and
break It to Noble Dill in a name to
a v his reason. Therefore, on ac-
count of this lack of comprehension,
really the only wise and good thing to
do was to claim nothing for herself,
and allow Herbert and Henry to re-
main undisturbed In full credit for
publishing the Oriole. This involved
disappointment. 1t Is true; neverthe-
less she decided t. bear II.
She had looked forward to surpris-
ing "the family" delightfully."-. As
they fluttered In exclamation about
her. she had expected to say. "oh. the
poem isn't SO much. I guess-I wrote
1t quite a few days ago and I'm writ
Ing a couple e ones now-but I did
take quite a lot o. time and trouble
with the rest of the paper, because !
had to write every single word Of II, or
else let Henry and Herbert try to-
and course they'd just of ruined II.
Oh. 1t isn't SO much to talk about i
guess; 1t just sort Of comes to me to
do things that way"
Like so many other young unearthed
rehearsals. this one was never to be
played for an audience. Adults are un-
dependable. Thirteen attempts to ex-
ercise a great philanthropy. and every
grown person in sight, with the pos
sible exception of Great-uncle Joseph.
goes into wholly unanticipated FITS of
AoAAoAs Ouunc anu eitCt nave no re-
iation: Fate operates without reason
able sequence-lfke a monkey.
And while Florence, thus p~ensively
disturbed, sat beside fat Uncle Joseph
during their long. long drive. relatives
Of hers were indeed going into Ats; ut
least. SO Florence would have de-
scribed their gestures and incoheren-
cies of comment. And straight into such
q ftful scene did the luckless Herbert
walk when driven home. after the
movies. by thoughts Of food, ct about
six that evening. Henry Rooter had
strongly advised him against return
ing.
1t may reasonably be felt that It
required no particular gift of prophecy
to hazard the prediction that in all
probability a most unpleasant form of
inquisition awaited Herbert on his re-
turn to his home. And Henry Rooter
had tho wisdom (and experience) Of
thirteen.
You better not he said. wisely.