The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-08-16
BUSINESS KISSES
Continued From Page 81

What's the matter, Flossie?'
For Flossie was evidently upset
over something. She was frowning,
and suddenly she pulled away from
Mary Rose and stopped dead in her
tracks.
Il wonder" she said vaguely.
II wonder if that had anything to
do with it?"
What? 1 don't get you" Mary
Rose replied. What had anything
to do with me and John Manners?"
Something that l just r remem-
bered-something horrid that I did a
long time ago" Flossie faltered.
Look here, let's go into this place
and sit down. I feel faint"
You've walked too far, dear"
And Mary Rose. took her arm and
led her to a little table for two in
the sunny window of the tea shop
they happened to be passing.
I'm going to tell you something
- something that will make you
hate me forever and ever" Flossie
said to her, when Mary Rose had
ordered two pots OF chocolate with
whipped cream, and two orders Of
cinnamon toast.
But when they had drunk the last
drop Of the chocolate and had eaten
all of the cinnamon toast but one
small slice, her confession was still
unmade.
She fidgeted in her chair for a
few minutes-plaiting her napkin in
little folds and opening and shutting
the pierced silver top of her new
handbag
Suddenly, without looking at
Mary Rose, she began to tell her
what it was so hard for her to say.
do YOU remembef that time last
fall when you gave mother the
money for a coat and she bought
one for me instead? And you
wouldn't let me keep it and called
me the family pig'?" she asked.
Mary Rose barely nodded and she
went on.
Well / was furious with you. Re-
member I wouldn't eat supper with
/ you that night? And I made up my
mind to get even with you for it
and I did,
Mary Rose started She remem-
bered, suddenly, that it was directly
after the affair of the coat that John
Manners had become so cold and
/ formal and distant toward her-had
withdrawn into his shell, so to
speak.
The next moraing hurried down
to the Office ahead of you" Flossie
/ went on, speaking rapidly and
/ smoothly now. And l told John
Manners that you had told me he
was crazy about YOU"
But l never had told you any
thing of the kind.' Mary broke in.
/ shaking her head
Now, just let me finish my
/ story, Flossie begged Il know YOU
hadn't told me that, but 1 had seen
you letting him make love to you
that night, down by the lumber pile
at the corner. Remember"
Remember? Mary Rose knew that
she never would forget that cold,
| windy, star-studded night Of en-
chantment when John Manners had
/ told her he loved her!
| She knew only too well that she
would remember that night long.
long after she had forgotten every
/ thing else that had ever happened
to her.
Eyes, I remember perfectly" she
answered DULY. Go on. What else
did you say to him."
L told him that you were just
stringing him along-pretending to
have crush on him for the fun Of
the thing, Flossie finished her
/ shameful little tale, Il told him
that you'really were crazy about
/ Tom Fitzroy and that you expected
TO marry him, most any time"
She stopped and there was long
| silence.
Flossie began to wish that Mary
Rose would look up and say some.
/ thing. Scold her, revile her. get I'D
and walk away-anything. But she
sat perfectly still with her hands
/ in their darned chamoisette gloves,
clasped on the table in front of her.
Those old, mended gloves. Flossie
| Middleton's waking heart began to
ache a little at the sight Of them.
! She remembered how seldom Mary
| Rose had ever had new things-how
she had just spent almost all of
her salary, always, to keep the nttle
brown house goingl While she her
| self had squandered what money
she had on choker beads and new
/ hats anA crepe de chine stepins that
she couldn't afford.
/ She covered her face with her lit
Tie hands. MARY Rose" she said in
a muf1ed voice, I'D never have
done it-unless I hadn't hated John
Manners, too! 1 did hate him!
used to try to make him notice me,
the way the rest Of the fellows at
the works did, and I never could
make him look at me- He was wild
about you and I knew it could
see it," She began to cry.
And then Mary Rose reached out
across the table and patted her arm
gently with the fingers of the cheap,
Old gloves. Don't cry, honey" she
said softly. you mustn't at a time
like this, you know. You must be
happy for the next few months, you
know, until the baby gets here! eAnd
don't even think about John Man
ncrs any more, If he'd really cared
about me, he ldn't have believed
what YOU said about me, would he?"
Il don't know" Flossie shifted,
wiping the end of her little pink,
swollen nose with q small handker-
chief that was fragrant with the
smell of jasmine perfume. II don't
know Men are so funny!
When she left her at the door of
the honeymoon fat, Mary Rose
walked slowly home.