Daily Kennebec journal., 1924-03-25
WHO'S WHO I'M THE STORY

in his mid-twenties! This MOOD pre-
,Sinss as until from he some Sraa villains
LUCY 10Y. good-looking. piquant,
poised. She has won q big prize in
the ''prettiest English girl contest
and is noted film actress. Archie
SEYMOUR, movie man. her admirer.
FRANKIE, Lucy's half-grown ire
pressible brother. q naval cadet.
THE ADMIRAL, rubicund, choleric OLD
officer, who dotes on Lucy.
MRS. JOY, gay, charming. almost as
Mr.. RiCE-MATHEWS. ancient inva-
lid. tired of being tossed by women.
MAUvE. his granddaughter. SLIM.
lovely, poised and cool, who rather
ignores the Rover.
He Contrivsd to Be Attractive
There was Basil, that man In the
Past. = But surely all tnat which
had been her life Surely that
all remained the same.
Then there was Archie Laverock,
this man of the Present. Why did
he loom so Importantly, these days?
Certainty he was better than she
had anticipated. When the
| firm" had ANNOUNCED that they were
sending down young demobilized
officer. an eX-captain, called Laver-
ock, she had not expected such
| pleasant young man, so companion
able, so amusing, such an acquisi-
| ton. Quite presentable, though not
exactly good looking. For here
Mauve differed from Lucy Joy, from
| Megan the maid, and from u score
f, of her sex who had found Archie
| Laverocks the handsomest face
! upon which they had set eyes.
| Mauve Rice Mathews was of those
! who find beauty in one type only.
| Men she required to be squarer in
| build than was the graceful Rover;
| she looked for features more deter
mined, of the hawk-cast. Eyes, to
| be fine, could only show one color;
blue as the eyes of Basil!
! Still, even as he was. this Archie
| Laverock contrived to be attractive.
! Especially when he was there.
Absent, one realized his flaws.
True, he had been wonderful at the
| moment when he saved Grandfather
| from dashing himself TO pieces
against n stone wall. If it hadn't
been for Archie's nerve and quick
! ness-But on the other hand, If it
hadn't been for Archie's driving les
| sons Grandfather would never have
run into danger at all.
| Grandfather. of course. adored the
| young man. Yet how long had
he been here? Three weeks. What
| were three Weeks.-Compared TO
| the years in which Mauve had. lived
only to dream about Basil! It's
true she expected that she would
miss Archie Laverock when he went.
But surely-surely not for very
| long
Last night she had been dCtermin-
ed to explain to Archie that if he
imagined she, Mauve, was attached
to the man who had sent her a
silver perfume sprinkler from Persia,
he was entirely wrong.
This morning she had thought.
! why should l, after all, say any
: thing about that? What has it to
do with Archie Laverock?" Now,
again, she rather wished she had an
| excuse for mentioning it and for eX-
| planning Iaffaire Lionel to Archie.
! &S
| For: thirdly, there was Lionel on
her mind; Lionel, the man who re-
fused to be refused. Lionel, whom
she had not seen since 1915, but
who was now on his way home. All
these years she had taken numbly
for granted the devotion of Lionel.
/ 'S opoSH' NSlh always De taken 1Or
granted. put off with brief
friendly note, or Christmas card
with a view of Rios in the snow.
why was she beginning to wonder,
now, how she should feel toward
Lionel when he came, and what she
would say?
| Meanwhile why could she not
make up her mind exactly what she
| felt, about Archie Laverock? Why
| dld he, Archie, make her. who had
lived in the same place with him
for nearly a month now, suddenly
shy, disturbed?
Impossible to mention yesterday to
him now, or anything she really
meant. Anything else, any trifle
| seemed preferable y
| so, with a gayety just too
| emphatic to be natural, she admired
the pattern of the numnah on the
divan, and the small plaster cast of
a girls head upon the bureau, and
the brilliance of the windows form
ing the picture of bayfield, and elms
outside, and all the housewifely con-
tr1Vances that made of this hut
upon wheels Il wanderers paradise.
! Meanwhile Archie, doing tho
| honors, remembered in distrait
manner the remarks of some Amer
ican visitors, who, being introduced
10 The Navarac' while it was on
| snow in London, had cried, "Say.
young man, who is going to quit
living in place like THIS to settle
INTO mere home? Why you're pre-
Iaring ii deathblow to marriage. :"
me Arrant Rover had smiled and
Lad said, "Well ." in his
gentlest. his most defiant tone. a
home breaker" was IT? Tant' pis.
just now the thing that filed his
mind was by Jovc. imagine setting
or in this for honeymoon."
upon his thought broke in the
VOICE OF Mauve. ut seems to me
you've absolutely everything here
tnat you could get in three hum
ofea year fiat, but for one thing"
ana that--?" he asked-won-
dering If she could have guessed
what he'd been thinking. sss
But she answered with tbnt
emphatic brightness, You haven:
Haven't ~" he retorted, and pro.
duced from it's hiding place an
ia-rubber bag about eight inches
square, containing tho folding can
vas path that was filled each morn
ing from the huge kettle which now
| ooileu inc water Tor tea.
a., On, DO let US have tea sitting on
the steps. was Mauve's suggestion
Its go lovely outside just now. and
we can use all this floor for the
90 they. sat; she now on the ton
step OF the caravan and he on n
ioWer step. facing her and looking
Up al her. She poured out the tea
s s,nce sne was near the things, and