The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1928-12-14
The New Hat of
Lace
BY SELMA HART
t++++++++++4+++++++++++++.

ID ILL KEMP, the head OF the ex-
- change department, looked up
wearily from his desk Ii had been
day OF odd jobs-refunds, complaints,
exchanges. Everything had been rela-
lively unimportant and yet everything
demanded instant attention. Had Bill
Kemp been ten years older than he
was he would not have taken 1t all so
seriously, sand consequently would
have been as fresh at the end of the
day as he was early In the morning.
IL wanted" said "a pair Of violet
eyes, at least Bill Kemp would have
sworn that 1t was the eyes that spoke,
SO timidly and questionably did they
regard him, II want to know IL could
do something about my lace hat"
Bill Kemp sighed. They were such
marvellous eyes. And then to be mum
danely Interested In hat-a silly
lace hat.
"Well," he said gruffiy, "what did
you contemplate doing about this lace
hat? If it's been worn 1t cannot pos
sibly be accepted for exchange or re-
fund"
The latter words issued mechanical
ly from his mouth, and he wondered
subconscfously how many hundreds Of
times he had uttered that same SEN
tence-sometimes about gloves, some
times about hair goods, sometimes
about shoes.
"Oh Ii hasn't been worn - came the
soft voice again. The voice sounded
as though Ii We're full of tears and
Sure enough there were large tears
there.
Bill Kemp steeled himself. All
women used tears as a means to an
end and he determined that he would
not be taken in. "Well, go on, go on y
he said as testify as he could.
"You see | decided last Saturday
that | could take Tits q beautiful
hat. Oh, it was really the most beau
tiful hat in the whole world, | think, "
she said wistfully. Il looked and
looked at it-before, you know-and
on Saturday l paid deposit on it, a
deposit of dollar l was to take 1t
this Saturday, but" the lips that
were soft and pink closed firmly. 81
| believe that | shan't need II after
ALL"
"And so you want the dollar back
again, take it?' he said, tapping his
pencil against the desk and regarding
1t coolly.
"Oh my, no." she said softly. "Of
course they wouldn't give back the
dollar, but / went to the millinery
department and the clerk said that !
had agreed to take 1t and / would
have to finish paying for 1t. II have
the money but"
"Will you sit DOWN." said Bill
Kemp, rising suddenly, wondering why
IT was that he had not thought of 1t
before. II haven't been head of the
department long and | am at loss to
understand one thing. Why do WON
ell buy thing, take 1t home and then
run right back here to return it,"
The violet eyes crinkled at the cor
ners and the soft pink lips twitched
II don't know" she confessed. ~
never do myself. It's not that | prob
ably wouldn't If | had the chance, but
| work and so scarcely have time to
buy what | need, let alone buying
things for the fun of thinking | really
owned them for awhile before | re-
turned them. 1t must be lots of fun,
mustn't it?'
"But you want TO leave this flower
hat on our hands" he expostulated.
"Oh, oh, not flowerr' she exclaimed
In Mortified tones; "it Is lace. And. be-
sides, | don't want to leave it on your
hands. I'd love it myself only l heard
about this Mrs. Benzingen whose hus-
band Is in the hospital and whose chill
dren are all so small that she can't
work. 1t wouldn't he right to wear
a lovely hat when they might be
hungry. Ii you say ] don't need TO
take the hat I'm going to take bas-
ket out there tonight" She looked at
her watch ITS way, way out in"
"You run along and get the basket
and I'll see about the dollar refund
Then when you get the basket filed
come back here and get the dollar and
I'll take the basket out for you
wherever 1t Is. You can't be running
all over town-a girl like yOu-"
He listened to her words of thanks
with an air of abstraction "We
ought to get bite of supper at Il
restaurant first, maybe" he said non
chalantly, quite as though he were in
the habit OF asking strange girls to
eat with him. He sent the call boy
for the dollar and pulling a card from
his pocket, wrote down:
"She'd like hat .ace-later."
And the yiolet-eyed Mrs. Bill Kemp
with her still shiny wedding ring was
happily surprised on her birthday a
| few months later with a round hatboy
| tied with huge violet bow. The hat
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