Evening star., 1924-10-12

! Chicago. smiled upon him almost
| with Difference. And Otto Brown was
| happier than he had ever been in his
| life.
By day he idled on the broad. sunny
| veranda of the hotel, or played golf
| by night he fox-trotted with the
| daughters of the rich. The only awk-
| wardness that marred the life came
| in connection with the hotel barber
shop. Each time he passed it's open
door and scented the hair tonics and
heard the gurgle of the electric mas
sage machines and the crisp voices
of the BARRIERS saying, Next gentle
man" he experienced distinct SEN
| sation of uneasiness.
But, taking the adventure all in all
he was getting away with it splen-
| didly. When the guests at the
Corona descended to the lobby each
morning they discovered MIR. Brown
in riding clothes. He had, he said,
| risen early for canter. Sometimes
he would sit around in equestrian at
tire all morning, slapping his boots
with his crop and talking enthusias
tically Of the joys of the bride path
but he had always just returned
from a ride; no one ever saw him
actually on a horse.
THEN toward the end of the first
week Gloria Lee arrived, and
straightway Otto lost his heart. 1t is
onl< fair to state that he lost il upon
gazing for the first time at the beauty
Of her hair and her blue eyes and
| her superb figure-bcforc any one
limited that she was an heiress.
That night there was q hop" in the
hotel ballroom. and he was duly pre-
sented to her. and without a thought
| of consequences fell instantly and
completely in love. Never had he
been privileged to know such a girl
Her soft, southern voice. he told him
self daZedly, was music-and when
she smiled
Gloria Lee, it must he admitted, did
not discourage his interest in her, and
though for the first three days every
man in the place raced in pursuit OF
her, after week the field narrowed
down to two: Mr.. Otto Brown, sup
posedly wealthy young man from
!,Chcago, and MIR. Felix Piggeusticker.
a wealthy young ran-from kala-
maZoo.
Felix Piggersticker was tall and
blond and good looking. He was an
excellent horseman tand in this h."
outpointed Otto, for Gloria Lee loved
horses and rode macnitcently). but
he was also a blatant egotist. Be
fore Gloria he managed always to
appear the perfect suitor And this,
in itself. is an art.
One morning, as Otto was standing
on the hotel veranda with Mrs. Bum
BILE and her daughter Annabelle. Pig
gensticker and Gloria rode up to-
gether, flushed from their canter.
looking for all the world like Il
n hN-
My" said Mrs. Bundle malicious!y.
/ Aren't they a han some couple"
What Otto lost in not riding with
Gloria he made up at golf. She had
never played golf, and he was teach
ing her; and the two Of them were
spending each day an inordinately
long time on the course. This was
Ott"'s inning. for Felix Piggensticker' 5
golf was atrocious.
So for 4 week Gloria played about
with each of them in turn and
seemed unable to make up her mind.
Sometimes she preferred Otto, some
times Piggensticker. and tn" affair
attracted great interest among the
guests Of the Corona Hotel.
Felix's attitude toward Otto was in
tended to be dsconcerting. When
ever they were face to face he treat
ed him as an inferior. and once. in
others. Felix contamptuously asks d
what business Mr.. Brown was in-in
Chicago. Otto, of course, had schooled
himself for emergencies of this sort,
and replied promptly that he was in
the steel business. feeling that this
was no grave untruth since the tools
in his profession were made of steel.
Where, the man from Kalamazoo
then demanded. was Mr.. Browns Of
flee? Being prepared for this, too,
Otto carelessly named the largest
office building in the city. He had
an unpleasant intuition that Piggen-
sticker suspected him; and when, n
second later, PiGgensticker asked
what floor his office was on. our bar
ber knew that war had been de-
clared.
IF you," he said, coldly, ARE SO
anxious to know about my affairs,
who don't you go up to my office
some time and make a thorough in
quiry."
1t was bold stroke, of course, but
temporarily victory was his.