Evening star., 1927-05-11
CHAPTER III.
Edgar and Jill.

Z gTHE other girls in the office, and
there were four of them, had
often cast longing eyes at Edgar
Simpson. They. too, had often won
wered what it would be like actually
to know a man who went to Yale, and
to be invited TO prom.
Edgar had never shown the slight
: est interest in any of them, but he
, did show a great deal of interest when
Z: his ewes first lighted on Jill. In fact,
he stared so hard at her that his
. father noticed it.
Mr.. Simpson turned his head to look
: at the girl
Her desk was placed directly before
! the window. The sun streamed over
her shining hair which. surprisingly
/, enough, was straight. She wore 1t out
( IKE. the hair of a medieval page with
"a bang that touched her brows. 1t
was dark, but her eyes were blue
under very dark lashes.
Mr.. Simpson liked Miss Anderson.
He rather liked to look at her himself.
He liked the way she dressed. He
liked the fact that she had straight
hair because he abominated frizzes.
He liked the absence of fussiness
about her. She understood so quickly
and never asked questions.
Miss Anderson" he said suddenly,
"will you please make out check
for me to sign. make it payable to my
son. Edgar Simpson"
She rose to take the check book
from his hand, and he said evenly;
This is my secretary, Edgar, Miss
Anderson, my SON.
He watched her closely as he made
the introduction. She might be a
stenographer. hut she showed more
breeding than most ofythe young peo-
pie he met today. She bowed with
/ coolness and self-assurance. And as
! she made out the check, Edgar con-
+, tinued to stare at her.
One thought followed another
through his brain
What class this girl had! She might
be a stenographer, but she looked and
acted like duchess. The old man
had been decent to introduce him, but
he wondered what he could do about
J it,. He wanted to see her again.
He even had visions of flashing her
on the other fellows at one of the
dances. Too bad the foot ball season
was over! He might have asked her
to one of the games.
& Jill made out the check with neat
ness and precision and carried it over
To Mr.. Simpsons desk. Then she re-
snfned her work.
while his father signed il. Edgar
watched the girls flying fingers. She
didn't seem the least bit impressed
with him. which was strange. 1t oc
cured to him to waylay her when she
went out to lunch, but suppose she
happened to be lunching with one of
the other girls? That would never
do. He could try it, though.
In .Iill's mind the same thought had
been born, and, inasmuch as she rare.
lylunched with any of the other girls,
prefefTing to go out early, she was
not surprised when she emerged from
the entrance of the building to have
Edgar stroll casually up to her.
In the dazzling sunshine she met
his eyes full. There was something
dtsconcerting to the boy in the di-
fhctness. of her gaze. It absolutely
disarmed him. He hardly knew what
To- say.
and so he put his request quite
plainly
"Will you have lunch with me?"
Jill smiled "Inasmuch as | have to
eat we might as we'll eat together"
Edgar didn't quite like that remark.
but just the same he was intrigued
by IT. He thought she ought to show
more embarrassment. He felt that
she ought to be more impressed by
the fact that he had asked her After
a3I, she was his fathers stenographer
and he was doing her an honor. In
stead of that. she made him feel that
she was doing him an honor by
lit4ching with him.
SAs they walked down Broadway he
rIoticed that other men stole covert
looks at her. The fact elated him.
He had thought her attractive, but
he hadn't stopped to realize that other
men would also think so. Once more,
the idea Of inviting her to a dance
occurred to him. No one need know