Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1929-10-26

next to her."
He had met Devil-May-Care! Well,
he was glad that he had not met her
earlier. Otherwise-he was an ex-
tremely sane young nan-leavlng
Palm Beach would not have been easy.
In one brief hour at dinner she had
left marks upon his soul. He knew
that. Now, strolling with the laugh
ing crowd toward the pool, with them
but in no way Of them, he re-created in
his mind her features, her expressions,
remembered all that he had read OF
her in the fevered Sunday supple
ments. She cou',i drive an airplane:
she'd shot 2 d climbed
mountains; sb=L 4>- ..N"iy shppered
her own sr,ed-boat out to Rum Row
off the jersey Coast. and in extenua-
ton thereof t5;l drilled world that
she wanted to n.se. men who were the
spiritual heirs II i'C''Hnois, Black
beard, LATTE, and ;nv rest. Scandal
always lowered about and around her,
but not even its SHADOW rested upon
her. Her friends, the press and pub
iic-eyery one seemed to consider her
a unique type, one to whom anything
was possible AID whom nothing
smirched. There was, for instance,
the tip that had been given by a re-
vengeiul discharged maid, to the effect
that Lucy Hardness was having All
affair with Ted Kelly, the lightweight
contender. She was found at his
camp il the CatSkills, unchaperoned,
a lone woman amid dozen plug
uglieS. Yet her announcement that
she had bet twenty thousand on Kelly,
and intended TO see to it that the con-
tender trained properly, was accepted
applaudingly BY all TIE world. The
world also thought ii perfectly proper
for Lucy Hardness TO have gone into
training with Kelly. She did road
work, boxed, skipped rope, and frankly
told reporters all about it. When Kelly
met the champion she sat near his
corner and WIS the first to grip his
hand when tie champion was counted
out.
And this was the girl, the ayoma,s--
she was only twenty-three, but how
ridiculous to call one who Rad done
all she rad done a giri-whom he he'd
rebuked, whom he had told she was
too nice FOR this gathering tonight.
He colored painfully. A prig, that's
what he vas. And she had Knocked
him, saying she was an old-fashioned
girl at heart. And then, when this
chastest Of all Dianas had rendered an
invitation he had not the wit to grasp
it instantly, but must clumsi1y ask her
to tell him in words Of one syllable.
Callow, that was the word.
His feet Jagged, aud he was last at
the pool. The men had disdained
bathing suits and, dinner coated and
patent-leathered, stood laughing by the
diving-board. The women were now
tripping down to the shallow end !;
toes tested the temperature of the
water, and shrill shrieks drowned the
mirth Of the men.
A tall, viking-lilee man edged him
to one side.
"Stand anywhere else, young feiler,"
he chuckled, "but give me the pole.
This anklet fits a certain girl, and
Pm the ba-ad boy who's going to put
It on her"
Lesson eyed the man resentfully, and
yet even in his resentment would have
granted the charm Of the blond giant.
He had met him before, and had heard
much Of him. Stevens was his name,
Tim Stevens, He possessed all those
things which Lesson lacked: wealth,
assured position, and the things which
accompany them. Lesson remembered
now that all through dinner Stevens
had called across the table to Lucy
Hardness, had raised his glass to her,
indeed had meyer seemed to take hls