Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1924-10-17
The Name on the
. Card
By ELAINE LIE CLAIR
(Copyright.)
(Copyright.)
&C A RlADNE DRASCOvIAC," the lit
a tie card read.

tie card read.
Becker looked at 1t for moment
and then stuffed it into his pocket.
"Queer, the way woman can't hold
on to thing" he unused as he plunged
into the traffic at Twenty-thlrd ana
West streets.
If even for one day he picked up
all the handkerchiefs, cards and gloves
that women-still, they didn't all have
names like that. She probably had a
right to drop her card. Perhaps she
was an actress or an
But James Becker was not a ro-
mancer; he was successful business
man Of thlrty-elght, with a wife and
two daughters. He did not continue
his day-dreaming, Immediately.
He lodged around an oil truck and
reached the opposite corner just as an
oblong of white pasteboard fiuttered
to the sidewalk. Becker, being gen
tleman. stopped to pick the card with
out first looking to see whether the
woman was young and beautiful. He
extended It between his neatly gloved
second and third fingers. He was about
to raise his hat.
Excuse me-" he began
But where was she2 He had no
ticed q gray squirrel coat. All, there
1t was, being ushered into Gleason's
through the big revolving door. Well,
1t probably didn't matter. He glanced
at the card: "Ariadne Drascoviac."
InstlnctIvely Becker entered Glea-
sons. There was no gray squirrel
coat In sight. Aimlessly he wandered
towards the leather goods counter.
All, that was pretty trlhel He
peered more closely at gray vanity
case, hexagon In shape, with gold 1T
tings.
"A woman who carried bag like
that couldn't lose her cards." he re-
hected.
only $780," pleaded the clerk. Just
the thing for someone who has a gray
costume"
'Tll take It," said Becker briefly, al
though he knew perfectly well that his
wife's coat was brown.
With the vanity box under his arm
he strolled out into the sunlight. 1t
was Just 4 o'clock. He could catch
the ALB II he hurried.
But suppose he did go homer In all
probability Clara would be at her club,
and since this was Friday, the girls
would be at dancing class They'd oil
come pillng In and rage while they ate
underdone chops and blue-boiled po-
tatoes.
II CLARA don't find a new maid
soon
Still, he might as well. It was grow
ing cold now that the sun was going
down. II he and Cheney put across
the business deal that they had dis
cussed at luncheon, he'd buy Clara a
new fur coat-gray squlrrel-possibly
Now and again on his way to the
station, Becker glanced down at the
sidewalk, but his search was not re-
warded The train was crowded with
women and girls who wore coats OF
raccoon, possum and muskrat, but not
squirrel. Becker scanned them, and
then spread out his paper and read
until the conductor called out some
thing which sounded like "See-nah
HILL" but wasn't.
With vanity box and evening paper
tucked under his arm, Becker strobe
along the station platform and out
into the street. Just then a rush Of
wind fiicked something by the bottom
Of his overcoat. Dropping package and
paper, he snatched at 1t.
Yes, 1t was the same name and, yet.
how could It be, here In this placer
The electric lights were still dim
against the sunset and, in spite Of the
cold, Becker thought that he caught
faint Whit Of that dampness so pecu-
liar to an early spring dusk. Perhaps
II was this thought which caused him
to pass his own brass-knockered door.
After three trips around the square,
fully convinced that there we're no
more cards to be found, he let himself
In with his latch-key.
Sounds Of rattling tins came from
the rear Of the house. In the hallway
leading to the kitchen he met his wife.
"Oh, don't come out here, Jim, dear"
she exclaimed "She came on the
4:06. Wouldn't II have been funny If
you had come out 1Ogether"
"WhOY
1.-THE new maid, of course"
did she wear thatf' He pointed
dramatically to the coat hooks In the
corner.
WHAT That fur cont7 And she
laughed. Don't get excited. It's fall
ing to pIeces-and it's imitation, at
that. And, oh, Jim, dear, It's the fun
nlest thing. She's dumb, and she car
ries cards. and you couldn't possibly
guess her name"
Becker thought that he could, but
somehow he didn't care. He let her tell
him.;
"Ariadne Drascovlacp