Evening star., 1923-12-09

lpenuentS, and when Jim was under
the weather suffering from alcoholic
blues. Hypo saw the visitors and
turned them away with gentlemanly
and skillful lies.
During the summer Hypo Jones
peeled the reluctant hide off enough
potatoes to make a necklace around
the world at Panama and, while he
was forced to cook for Mrs. Hene-
shaw and the children, he was not
obligated by law to eat with them.
x Xxx X
IMR. JONES avoided the Heneshaw
dining room and when assaied
4 by the pangs of hunger he hurried
out of the grounds entirely and wan
dered into the nearest public eating
house, which masqueraded through
life under the name OF Klotz's Quick
Lunch.
!, Therein he encountered Muriel
Moore. the youthful and ornamental
cashier He strolled into Klotz's
Quick Lunch on Monday morning,
ordered a fried egg sandwich, took
/ a startled look at Miss. Muriel and
! decided to be married in the fall.
| On Tuesday. being a quick worker,
he spoke to the damsel about it, ,rand
| that's the first time he ever heard
her laugh.
| My" she said, smiling. How
sudden. What's your name?"
| 'Hypo JONES'" he told her. Sub
tracted to that from Henry, by a
II ryo Nf poIt
| How much do you earn?" she
asked. still smiling.
Fifteen a week"
Not enough" Muriel stated firmly.
! What do you do?"
| Light domestic housework and
plain cooking, with a side line of
parachute jumping" he explained
| Jobs of all sorts done with care
I've heard of people getting married
on eleven a week. You have one of
the incest noses SO far published"
oh" she exclaimed. you are the
balloon man. I thought his name
| was Heneshaw."
1T is," Hypo admitted. Il do his
ballooning for him. Would you pre-
fer being married in a square, red
church, or behind the bookcase, with
\ the minister's wife looking on and
| the little boy next door as Wit
ness?"
$50 you are the real balloon man."
! Miss Moore continued with deep in
terest. How funny"
when my old man dies" argued
Hypo, Il drag down $500 legacy-I
and my five cousins"
! From the very beginning Hypo
failed to make amorous progress
| with this young and alluring money
changer in k1otz's Quick Lunch, but,
as he told himself repeatedly, she
was prize worth striving for
To begin with, Muriel was small,
select and sample specimen Of the
sex that has caused all the trouble.
| She clad herself in a natty blue suit,
with the very neatest Of white cuffs
and some white, frilly lace about her
throat. In her family auburn hair
| she generally wore a rose, so Hypo
brought her one each morning He
used to sit behind a table of contents
and stare fixedly at Muriel in a pet
| rified condition, while both his eggs
and his feet grew cold. Just by
glancing up at him from beneath her
bang. Muriel could raise Mr. Jones'
temperature degrees above normal
on the most normal morning
From the Introductory meeting Hypo
was in love and at night he would
lie in his tented couch and think of
heroic thoughts. He held daily in
sistent and futile conversations with
the girl. all bearing upon the single
topic of matrimony, and day by day
he grew more serious and thin, while
Nuriel only smiled. She was not a
flirt One heavy-jowled villain un-
dertook to get familiar with her, and
when he walked sheepishly out Of
Klotz's Quick Lunch the little icicles
were clinking.
On the tenth day of Hypo's violent
love Muriel introduced the subject
of her brother. George wants to
meet you," she announced, as Hypo
stood beside her at the cash register
trying to pretend that three nickels
were hard to count and took time
1--WE told him all about YOU
That's fine" Hypo assented alb
sently. wondering how it is that one
girl, having the identical set Of fea-
lures distributed to all girls, should
yet be so vastly different.
And" Muriel continued reflective
ly. George thinks he would like to
go UP in your balloon"
'iOh, does he?" said Hypo, coming
back to the restaurant suddenly.
HE thinks he'd like to go up. Has
he ever ballooned much?"
Not any, said Muriel But his
! mind is set on it. told him 1 would
speak to you about it,
"And you did," Hypo remarked in a
kindly tone. when you go home,
| tell George that you spoke to me and
I spoke right back. The answer about
George is, nothing doing"
"Hypo," Muriel said wistfully, II
| thought you were a friend Of mine"
She then smiled one OF her rare. Pc
culiar. and personal smiles. Muriel
| had been endowed at birth with light.
blue eyes and red lips. and when
she combined these in a smile, and
glanced directly at a man, he forgot
| his Christian name, the size of his
| shirt, and how many states in the
Union this year.
NO." said Hypo weakly. Its RI
diculous. What for does George want
to go up in a balloon?"
Because he is writing a book. He
wants to know exactly how 1t feels
UP in the air. His hero is a balloon
man. like Mr.. Heneshaw. and George
wants to have everything in his book
just right"