Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-02

something peculiar about his face
but it was not till I had climbed the
stairs to his room that l was certain
then perceived that he had acquired
a black eye, which, though past It's
first bloom, was still Of an extraordi.
nary richness.
You aren't going to tell me your
nancee has biffed you in the eye al
ready?"
Have you heard" said Ukridge,
surprised. who told you I was en-
gaged?"
George Topper"
"Oh, well, that saves a lot OF expla-
nation! Laddie," said Ukridge, solemn
ly, "let this be a warning to you.
Never"
How did you get the eyer" inter
rupted.
Ukridge blew out a cloud of smoke
and his other eye glowed somberly.
THAT was Ernie Finch" he said, in
a cold voice.
"Who is Ernie Finch? I've never
heard of him."
He's a sort of friend Of the family
and was going rather strong as re-
CARDS Mabel till came along. When
we got engaged he was away, and no
one apparently thought 1t worth
while to tell him about 1t, and he
came along one night and found me
kissing her good-by in the front gar
den. The sight of him gave Mabel
a start, and she screamed; the fact
that she screamed gave this man
Finch a totally wrong angle on the
situation, and this caused him 70
rush up, yank off my glasses with
one hand and hit me with the other
right in the eye. And before ] could
get at him the family were reused
and came out and separated us ana
explained that / was engaged to
Mabel or course. when he heard that,
the man apologized And wish you
could have seen the beastly snirk he
gave. Then old Price forbade him the
house. A fat lot OF good that was!
rye had to stay indoors ever since,
waiting for the color scheme to dim
a Bit"
help being sorry for the chap, In
Il can" said Ukridge. promptly.
You sneaked his GIRL" pointed
II don't want his beastly girl" said
Ukridge, with ungallant heat.
Then you really do want to get out
"Of course I want to get out Of It. 7"
But IL you feel like that. how did
you ever let it happen?
IT simply couldn't tell you, Ola
horse" said Ukridge. ITS all a
horrid blur. It came absolutely out Oh
a blue sky. All I know Is that we
found ourselves alone in the drawing
room after Sunday supper, and all OF
a sudden the room became fun OF
Prices of every description babDnng
blessings. And there ! was!
"Rut YOU must have given them
something to go on.
II was holding her hand. admit
that"
"Ah."
well. my gosh, I don't see why
there should have been such russ
about that. What does bit of hand
holding amount to? The whole thing.
Corky, my boy, boils down to the
question, Is any man safer
well, you must own that you were
asking for it. You rolled up In new
car and put on enough dog for
dozen millionaires: And you TOOK the
family for rides, didn't your
Perhaps couple of tines
And talked about your aunt, ex-
pect, and how rich she was?"
II may have touched on my aunt
occasionally"
well. naturally these people
thought you were sent from Heaven
the wealthy son-in-law." Ukridge
projected himself from the depths suf-
ficiently to muster up the beginnings
of faint smile of qualification at the
description. Then his troubles swept
him back again. "All you've got to
do, If you want to get out of it, is tc
confess to them that you haven't
bob"
But. laddie. that's the difficulty.
IT'S a most unfortunate thing, but. as
1t happens, am on the eve of making
an immense fortune, and I'm afraid
limited as much to them from time to
time"