Evening star., 1928-04-02
Pal.

Pal.
Mary Hollis settled herself In her
chair and wiped her spectacles for the
sake Of clearer vision. She had removed
her hat and her gray hair lay close
about her thin, plain. gentle face. Hav-
Ing cleaned her Spectscles she put them
on and rumnaged in her bag for her
Crochet work Nothing like crochet
work to steady her nerves after what
had happened,
Mary sighed as she picked out the
gclover-leaf pattern she had intended
10 give the completed strip of e6glng
10 Genevieve, but land Sakes. Gene
Nieve didn't wear garments that took
KINDLY 20 homemade trinaming Silk all
SAe way tl1rouga, that was GenevieVe 5
Slogan Ii had made a big, though not
lhe higSeSt, difference between her and
Bier nlojher-in-law.
I Four whole days must elapse before
she reached hone-tlle home. Four
3cnely unconapanioned days with men,
Try uacglDG at her. And something
N'orse than nlea1ory--tae thing that DR.,
@EcA.ee had told her before she went
scut West.
: Somebody had paused beside her.
She lifted her eyes from her work and
The man smiled down at her. He was
young. big full Of Vigor. Brown Of
skin with gray eyes that looked deep
s3nto ones consciousness.
"Au alcue?" he asked. Mary nodded.
$50 an / And there isn't a soul in
this train that wants 10 pal with me"
That's queer" Mary said. But l
guess YOU went find anything very
entertaining about an old woman like
ne"
Come cat On the observation plat
form +" he said There's no one out
there now and We can have good
talk"
Mary went. crochet work in hand,
It was pleasant ii the open air. Thanks
TO Geney3eve she was travelling de luxe.
@But then. she sighed again, GeneVieve
would have done anything 70 set rid
of her. This r,a9--Sae turned her az
tention to him Ills voice had pleas
ant sound. 81 first she WAS more in
tereSted in his tone than III what he
was saying,
= They went IN to lunch together
Mary had no reservation. he hao. He
commanded courtesy without appearing
& TO 90 50. They D.ck-Sm.thed it--she
had learned That word recently. She
~
n Ii tasted batter because he sat opposite.
Next morning they bre2kiasted to-
sgeeher. Afterward when the train stop
Gpe6 he made her 81 cut with him on
the platform Tor a Marathon. She
!. clung 10 his arm and tried 10 step out
the way he cid. The color came 70 her
face.
After lunch when he had gone into
the smoker for q pipefl Of tobacco
the older OF two younglsh women who
had been watching Mary and her pick
{ Up approached ner.
II am Miss Bell said the woman,
!. "I advise YOU 10 look out for that
bounder Hes the sort that preys on
Z uasuSpecting old ladies'"
Mary scratched her nose with the
crochet hook and looked at Miss Bell.
Guess you're mistaken" she said
I quietly. Its none Of your business
: anyway"
{ Miss Bell flushed angrily.
y hate 10 see you bamboozled." she
said. He tried to scrape acquaintance
! with me and my sister and We froze
/. him. SO did everybody else he spoke
to. The ideal Breezing through car
!. that way and talking boldly TO folks.
: You're the only person who fell for
1 him"
Mary studied the clover leaf so in
! tently that the woman was obliged 10
. withdraw
Good landi" she thought II must
.. look like I had valuables about me
! somewhere. But wasn't going to tell
& her that I've got only SIG besides my
ticket" She smiled. really amused.
He came back with box Of candy
Such a pretty box, all done up in SHAY
I stuff. She hated to open it as he re-
( cuested.
1 ITS good for you" he said. "Nibble
E away" Then he bent close. Any
! body warned you against me yet?" hc
Z asked. with a vibration Of laughter In
i his deep voice. AIary locked enbar-
raised. oh, I see what's going on
: And enjoy il. Once IN while I dc
4 run up against bunch like what's on
this train. Lucky 70 find sensible
body like you, pal"
There vas something stimulating in
his presence MARY didn't care who O,
what he was; sic liked him His name
vas unknown 70 her: she had not told
him her rarse But names didn't mat
.