New Britain herald., 1923-04-19
The Annoyed Questions Dicky
 Asked af Madgc

It was not until Alfred, Leila and l
 came out Of the gtrangc restaurant
 where We had eaten such a delicious
 dinner but had hardly relished q
 single mouthful because of the com
 bination of events and had looked
 for Dicky, who had preceded us to
 tho street in search ot taNi-cab, that troubling thought swooped down and clutchcd me as with talons of steel For look up tho street and
 down the street as far as our eyes -ould penetrate the darkness scarcely relieved by the infrequent street lamp, wc could not see Dicky.
 Was that iess Dean, after all ?" l asked myself Did she leave the restaurant after Dieky left? Why didn't 1 look at her table as we passed? Is Dicky talking with her round the nearest eorner""
 With d jerk of the mental rens, pulled mp my thoughts so short and So sharply that l felt hot flush sweep over my cheeks. To think l told myself, that within the very day l had vowed never again to give way to an unworthy thought about Dicky, l should give way to such crude, cruel idea which could not possibly have the slightest basis in reality
 Glad indeed was I that this saving thought had come to me, for almost with the thought. a taxi-cab swept round the nearest corner curved in 10 the curb where we were standing and stopped to disclose Dicky.
 Jump in :" he cried with the air of one who has accomplished the inn possible. Permit me, Leila, to aid your fatering footsteps, and you Madge"--his lips were close to my ear as climbed into the car and he whis- pered: You look stunning tonight. my own"
 Leila is Troubled
 The pressing of my cheek against Dicky's lips was my grateful reward to him. but perhaps Dicky would have been better repaid if he could have read my thoughts and appreciated the mental fiagellation I administered to myself for the suspicious which had entered my mind. But had little time for introspection because. just as the clouds had lifted from my spirits and Dicky's, shadows had vanished from Leila's face. The tempo of the rest Of the evening was being set b,, the badinage flying between Alfred and Dtcky, and in it even Leila was whirled to gay laughter.
 pprhanQ if fi,ic odiroI cho ,,, in her spirits which caused Leila to fit so closely into every mood of AL fred's all the rest of the evening and made it impossible for us to have to- gether the word she had begged alone with me when first we met. Even in her gaiety, l sensed hysteria. That Leila was face to face with some seri- was patent in every glance she gave him.
 Her eyes brooded upon Alfred with ! the tenderness of mothers, even while her mouth quiyered like that of | a hurt child about to burst into tears.
 "WilI You Waltz With Ne?"
 Memory flashed back to those days Niltil JuSt DtjoiV lrl NSuuiuS lStlld f had almost renounced Alfred because of what Rita Brown---potting to bring about break between Leila and ! Alfred for her own advantage-had | told hem and Leila had believed. And l gripped it and swung my thoughts back into the channels l wished them to take--told me that Leila is the sister of Edith Fairfax who, on more than one occasion, has brought me perhaps the most poig- nant sorrow, for 1t was so needless than any of Dicky's friendships have caused me to endure.
 Was there something in her knowl- edge about Edith which Leila felt l ought to know? Or--I thrust the thought from me just in time, for heard Dicky's voice-the annoyance in it was ample demonstration that 1 this was not the first time he had spoken to me--saying:
 For the love of Mike, Madge, wake up This isn't thought seance. For the fifth time more or less. will you do me the honor of dancing this waltz with me?"
 We were in the after-t -theater res taurant to which Alfred had insisted on taking us after the commonplace