Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-02
CHAPTER XNNIL
No. q ,:nI

~AIL'S choice of a hotel had been based
Y on some advice given to her by the
president of the Dalesburg First Ma
tional bank Gail had unconsciously con-
fided more of her plans to him than she
had intended, and, with twinkle in his
eye, he had tactfully mentioned the hotel to
Gail as one he himself liked very much.
Alec Garfield was not the typical small
town man. He had ample means and he
had been abroad a couple of times. When
news of Calls decision to spend her money
had swept Dalesburg he had admired the
girls spirit He himself thought the prob
lem of the girl caught in the trap of a
small town was a grave one, and he was
one of the few who did not think Calls ex-
pertinent mad escapade
And so it was through Alex Garfield that
Gail went to the fairly small, but quite en-
elusive hotel on Thirty-frst street, and,
though she was inwardly pancl1y as under
the eyes of the superciious clerk she
signed her name, in the register, she was
outwardy quite calm and composed. AL
ready she was absorbing much from the
caaseless rush of life all around her, and
now as she turned away from the desk she
looked up suddenly into the eyes of a
woman who was standing near her There
must have been something appealing in
Calls glance, for instantly the woman
smiled, and Calls impusive smile back was
irresistible.
Later Gail learned that the woman who
in the city was a Mrs Marjorie Macdonald.
She a newspaper woman and in addi-
ton to her work, handled the publicity for
the Hotel Thornton.
In the elevator going up to her room
Gail looked at herself with dlsapproVlng
eyes in the full-length mirrors that lined
the small cage. How dubby and uninterest-
ing she looked. Something was wrong with
her clothes; she looked exactly like what
she was, a small-toWn girl; she hadn't the
slightest particle of style about her.
The woman who had smiled at her; how
smart she had been! And yet her clothes
were very simple, and unassuming. 1t was
the way they were put on that made all
the difference in the world.
Alone in her hotel bedroom with its shin
ing little bath opening from 1t, can sat
down and reviewed the situation. She had
the whole day before her. This fa1ry-tale
life made possible by Aunt Debbes legacy
had begun, and all that was necessary was
for her to decide what to do first Her
eyes leaped suddenly to her pocketbook
lying on the bureau. Her draft First OF
all, before she did anything else, she must
deposit her precious money. Afterward she
would have lunch, and this afternoon she
might wander through the shops.
Clothes! Was it possible that at last she
was to buy what she liked? Up to this
time there had never been any tnrlil aoou'
buying clothes Mrs Martin had superin-
tended everything and there was always
just so much money to spend. Calls selec-
ton had always been limited by what she
actually needed, and what suitable and
would last longest. Now everything was
changed. Not only was it possible for her
to buy clothes that would express her per-
sonalty, but for the first time in her life
she could spend money for things that she
did not actually need. Gail trembled be-
fore the actually of such thing. and yet
there was doubt in her mind to whether
she would know what to buy. She must not
spend her money without making eye%y
cent count and how she to cultivate
the personality that she SO much coveted
without help?
Standing before the mirror, Gail studied
herself from every angle. There was some
thing wrong with her, but what was it?
What gave her that hOpelessly cOuntryfied
look and what was needed to transform her
into radiant creature like Fay Morrison%