New Britain herald., 1927-02-18
GIRL; s; !; E: &;
Y
| G. JOHNSON FEATURES

cheese and pearl onions, and with
two huge glass bowls of gin-and-
fruit punch. .. -'
Two men were ladling out cups OF
it. when Bobbie went out into the
room. Their backs were turned to
her, and she say that they had big
white aprons tied around their
waists. One of them wore a cooks
white cap.
He half turned as Bobbie came up
behind him, and looked at her., II
was Roy Schultz.
Happy days. Lovey," he said tc
her with nervous grin, and swept
the cap from his head before he
handed her cup Of the punch.
She saw him flush, and she won
dered If he was afraid she'd tell
Lottie about him. Poor Eottie, at
home alone with Jolly, no doubt, and
wondering what kept Roy at the
studio so late.
| Thanks, Mr.. Schultz" she said
smiling at him as she took the cup,
and then she turned away as soon as
she could and began to talk to Ted
Piper, who was somewhat the worse
! for drink already.
Gus came up to her with his cup
Of punch in his hand. Take a cup
and drink 1t up, and you'll feel as
slick as the dickens" he said, grim
ming at her cheerfully.
He stood very close to her. and
put his arm around her. He had not
done that for long time. Not since
she had forbidden him to. But now
she didn't care, somehow.
No one noticed them particularly
in the crowded room, where every
one seemed to be trying to take as
many cupfuls of tn pale yellow
punch as possible.
An Italian girl, who had married
the art director at Magnifica, was
doing a skirt dance at one end of
the room, but no one paid any at
tention to her and she seemed not
to mind. She went on singing, in
broken English, that 1t looked to her
like "a hot time IN the old town to-
night"
Bobble dimly remembered the
tune of the old song she was sing
ing. Hadn't her father sung it years
and years before. Then, as she
thought OF her father, she began b
think again of Andy Jerrold and the
cto
I'll have another drink she
cried, and Gus gave her a startled
look with his blue-gray eyes as he
started away to get 1t for her. She
never drank like this.
And when he came back to her
and turned her face UP to his, in the
crook of his arm, she let him kiss
her again and again-and again.
why not?" she thought. who
cares what I do?"
And that is highly dangerous
state Of mind for girl to be in
the state of mind where she thinks
that 1t doesn't matter to anyone
what she does.
They danced to the somewhat
scratchy music Of the radio, and
the floor seemed to slip and slide
under Boobies feet like the waves of
the ocean. She chung to Gus, and
laid her head on his shoulder as they
went slowly around the room.
The blond in red is getting ready
to pass out" she heard somebody
say with a laugh.
She wondered hazily II it were
true. She wondered what it would be
like to pass OUT after a cup or
two of punch.
She felt very unhappy just then.
All the lights in the room seemed TO
be dancing before her eyes, so that
she couldn't see anything else. But
she knew that Gus was right there
before her, and she leaned even
closer to him.
Lets get out OF this place, Gus
tavus." she murmured slowly and
thickly. She couldn't hear her own
voice above the din around her. But
Gus evidently did, and ten minutes
later they We're sitting in his road
ster, drawn up In Cahuenga street
under the lighted windows of Moni-
cas- flat.
The night air was cool and sweet
as well water. 1t came to her nos
trils in a rush and made her dizzier
than ever. She laid her head on Gus's
and spoke to him very
slowly and softly.
Nothing matters much really.
Nothing in the world--any more"
she said. Not to me. I must be get
ting hard hoiled.'
Gus laughed. You talk like an
melodrama, Bobs," he
lightly. That's what the
heroine always said just before she
threw herself from the railroad
trestle."
Then his voice changed suddenly.
1t was thick and hoarse when he
spoke again. Doesn't anything mat
ter to you, Bobbie?" he asked.