New Britain herald., 1926-12-20

to be coming from afar off. Then the pressure against his knee re- faxed, The Girls eyes were yelled by the long flashed lids and things re- verted to normal.
 But even as his vision encompassed the scene spread out before him, a scene redolent of life and gaiety, there flashed across his mind line he had read few days before in a book of poems belonging to The Girl:
 'Love. like the opening of heaven to the saints. shows for moment even to the dullest man the possi- bilities of the human race"
 Love He wondered if 1t hit all men as it seemed to have hit him.
 A waiter appeared from nowhere and took their order. The orchestra swung into a lively fox trot and the open space in the middle of the great room was soon filled with dancers. It was sultry hot in the street but in the big palm garden the temperature was softly cool and delicious.
 Isn't 1t just grand?" breathed Rusty, and Betty echoed, "Grand." and then added, Its too perfectly spegashious. isn't if, Jimmy dar- lint?"
 Spegashious was right, whatever that was, Jim agreed and wondered vaguely, as young men are accus- toned to wondering sometimes un- der like conditions, if the check for this splurge would be "spegashi- ous' check. The two race track fol- lowers at the nearby table, and for whom Jim's companions seemed to have become the pivot around which all their conversation wagged, could have told Elwell that the check was going to be everything that was spegashious and otherwise.
 .Td be damn good an willin' to pay the bills of either of them two queens for some time to come, Muddy Waters declared with SOL emn utterance and his mild blue eyes took on a pensive look.
 "But that's the hell of it." he went on in a peeved tone, "a wise guy like me ain't got no chance nowa- days for anything but these walkin Indian signs It's always some DE Hoosier that cops off the classy lit tie hummin' birds"
 Muddy Waters and his partner were not the only ones in the big palm garden whose attention had been drawn toward the two girls from Indiana.
 At nearby table, to Jim's left and in front of him, sat a woman, strikingly dressed. She had been sit ting there when they came in and her eyes, only mildly curious at first, had lighted in surprise when they had encountered the ring which Dusty wore on her finger and which she now and then examined with elaborate ostentation.
 Jim had noticed the woman, probably because, sitting directly in his line of vision, he could scarcely help seeing her and because every time he looked her way she seemed to be looking at one or the other of the girls.
 He took note rather subconscious- ly that she was a remarkably hand some woman although presumably close to middle age. Her hair, be- meath the wide -brimmed hat, was rlack and her remarkable eyes were black too, or very dark brown.
 Jim observed presently, too, that she had stopped a waiter and seem- cd to be telling him something con- fidential, The waiter nodded, laid down his pad and pencil on the cloth in front of her and moved away.
 The woman wrote something on the pad. Jim Elwell between snatches of conversation with the twins noted idly that she frowned and then crumpled up the sheet on which she had written. A moment or two passed and then she began writing again. This time the pencil moved uninterruptedly, and when she was through she read over what she had written.
 A remark from Rusty drew Jim's attention away for moment and he did not see the woman beckon to the waiter again. When he ar rived at her table the woman tore off the sheet of paper, handed it to the waiter and then nodded casually toward the table where Jim and the girls were sitting.
 The waiter. with an inclination of