The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-04-09

III silence Until we IedCIl6u CAS near
by park.
The flowers, too, were aware of the
pristine loneliness of dawn and had
opened wide their petals in a spirit of
happiness, derived from the frolic
they had had the night before with the
fairies, brownies and elfn sprites!
By common consent we seated our
selves on a bench beneath the sun
f1ected branches of an avenue of
planes.
knew when Curtiss spoke it would
not be to refer to the unpleasant mis-
understanding through which we had
passed. He had the splendid faculty
of net repeatedly returning to I'M
happy events.
Finally in a calm, steady voice he
broke the silence.
"Sallie"
eyes, Curtiss."
"I'm broke"
l looked up quickly from the dew
drenched grass. "What do you mea
please, Curtiss, don't joke"
"I'm not, and for your sake wish
to Heavens | were It's true. Riley
from the company had dinner with me
last night He rought in the last
straw that broke the camePs back.
You see, I'd been receiving warnings
all along that the Riviera investments
were heading towards loss but | had
no idea that things were so bad until
Riley came last night with a minute
report of the facts"
''But honey, l don't understand"
Sympathy now replaced any re-
sentiment / might have felt for his
harsh behavior when / had returned
from the DeWights.
"Well you see sweetheart, we had
invested heavily in property along the
Riviera. Hotels, apartments and even
villas with modern cOnveniences and
such. 1t was a tremendous expendi-
ture but l had faith in its returns
and invested heavily myself. There
was one reason only that kept it from
making US a million once the season
was at its height A condition that
it was impossible to figure out"
"What on earth could it be-" l ask
ed.
Florida" he replied, "you see the
of exodus to Florida has left
the Riviera as desolate as Main
street Our hotels are waiting to be
leased. The shutters of cur pretty
pink villas are closed tight, the rich
are in America this year
and are apt to be for several years to
come or at least until the novelty
wears off. 1t isn't smart for them to
seek the Riviera anymore. From past
when Nice, and Monte Car
10 and Cannes were the most fashion
able watering-placeS in the world, we
estimated that we could work up a ire
mendOus business with a chain of
modern hotels. And we could have
done it if Florida had stayed putt"
"Do you mean that you haven't any
money at all? Curtiss why didn't YOU
tell me last night ?"
"Oh, didn't want to- tell you at all
but after thinking it all over all night
| decided that it wouldn't be fair to
keep you in the dark. Besides" he
was slightly embarrassed, ct will
possibly make a great change in our
plans"
"Of course it will, Curtiss l feel
perfectly terrible about not being
there last night when you came home
with no one to share your troubles
with at all. Don't worry though, dear
because Dad will help us out"
That's fine Of you, Sallie, to think
of soliciting his help but I couldn't
stand that. l can't even let him help
you and maintain my self respect.
cure so used to luxury though, that
1t Is going to be hard sailing for you
at first"
You mean we can't have our lovely
great big beautiful house in Florida
when we get back? Has it gone that
far" l asked.
He smiled. 81 knew you couldn't
understand anything about finance.
Well have very little until I get on
my feet again and you'll probably
have to economic for the first time in
your life. But if you love me YOU
wont mind living very simply for a
while will you Sweetheart ?"
He looked searchingly into INV ewes
as if his very life depended On the
No, indeedl" l exclaimed, "well
just change the plans for our house
and have an adorable small one, and
not as many servants, maybe lust two
or at the most not more than three
and | wont get that lovely mink coat
when | return to New York. I'll pet
the .quet simple one a squirrel. Oh.
Ia just love to economic Curtiss. II
will be fun'
PerplexitY covered his fee
But Salfle, I'm afraid it will have
to be even more meagrey than that.
Know 1t is hard for GU to understand
right at first. You see we'll have to
stoop to the ruins, as it were. and
build again but it will be easv with
your help"
tell you what let's dol" | sug
geSted, get sketches of Marie Anton
ette- s play house in the garden of Pc
Ut IrlanOn and have it copied for our
nome. You know that's where she
used to go and pretend that she, too.
was poor. Well have to STAY here
longer though f we do that and we
can't go on to Venice as we had plan
Listen, Sallie," said Curtiss, cts
breaking my heart to tell you this.
put we can't copy Marie Antoinette's
mousse or anything one-half so elabor-
ate at that and we can't even 90 to
venice, I'm afraid, because it's abso-
lutely imperative that I return to the
states. have an offer from a firm
IN Birmingham and so I've decided to
60 there and start all over again. It's