Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-05-01

10 AulllIll4 UlCtAl-
ing letters. She hardly spoke a word
to me tonight coming out in the cab
The last half of the trip she was talk
ing TO the driver"
ID you mean to tell me that h
treated you like a stuffed dummy while
she sat beside you in the cab? Helen
demanded.
'Of course" Arthur assured her 1--WE
explained"
oh, shut up!" Helen turned her
back and walked to the top of the
stairs. Arthur sagged. Never had his
eyebrows risen higher O his mouth
stood wider open.
Arthur redoubled his vigilance in and
u OF his home against possible &C.
caslons OF trouble. He treated the
competent Miss Bently with such cold
auster1ty that she nc longer spoke of
hlm as Arthur" but as "F~rostbite."
HIS evenings at home were devoted
chiefly to silent reading. And he stayed
at nome as much as possible, for he
had discovered that Helen's eruptive
seizures were always more acute after
a party, particularly if it was a gay one.
Clearly Helen didn't know herself
what was the matter with her, n
more than Arthur did. She seemed
to think her condition was perfectly
normal. In her quieter moments she
even insisted that Arthur precipitated
all their rows by StubbOrnly resisting
and resenting her friendly criticisms.
When Arthur, in all humility, pledged
himself to stamp out ruthlessly what
ever flaws she objected to in his char
acter, If she would only consent to de-
scribe them a little more specifically,
Helen replied. There you go again"
Thus Arthur, STOPPING his lowest to
escape trouble. apparently invited by
his posture Fate's heaviest blow.
His company manufactured, among
other things, electrical equipment for
theaters. Some apparatus had been
specially designed for the final scene
of Frog Legs" at the Belvidere, so
the producer sent over a generous block
OF tickets for the opening night.
These were distributed among the
company officers and department
heads, two of them reaching Arthur's
desk. When he found that Helen
couldn't go because one of her closest
friends was giving a recital that night,
Arthur reluctantly invited Johnny
Parsloe, a college classmate, to take
her place.
They reached the theater just as the
house went dark for the rise of the
curtain and found their places in the
ninth row on the aisle. Arthur went
in first. sat down, and looked at the
person next to him. Quite naturally,
it was Miss Bently.
Behold with what logical irony fate
had laid its snare. Mrs. Perry, as of
flee manager, had had charge of the
distribution of the tickets. She was
a grass widow who had failed to hold
her man, hence morbidly curious to
meet the woman who had so obviously
enthralled the desirable Arthur. Or
the first impulse she had picked two
seats for herself next to his, then
frightened at the last moment that
her boldness would be transparent, she
had given the tickets to her Office
favorite.
But Arthur, unaware of destiny's
logic, waS aghaSt. He looked at the
girl as if she had stuck him with q pin
and said, "Oh, hello!" Not being able
to see his lace clearly, Miss Bently
thought his greeting sounded unusually
cordial, SO she introduced her COM
panion-a dark and handsome young
person. Arthur, in his bewilderment
felt obliged to present his own guest
Polite murmurS passed to and fro, then
three-fourths of the party turned their
attention to the stage.
Not SO Arthur. Though he stared
ahead across the footlights, his minds
eye rOved among the crowded seats
nrN,ypI nvL knhi~I Hy~, o-l~.t-
who from Tyson Ridge might be there
to mark his fragrant position. The
instant the curtain started to fall or
the first act he rushed out to the smok-
ing room, dragging Johnny with him
The lntermiSsiOn over, he invented 9
telephone call to allow the other mar
to return first, hoping he would take
the inside seat next Miss Bently.
This proved to be a grave tactica.
blunder. The dark girl, oblivious tx
the niceties of the situation, persuaded
the willing Johnny to sit next to her
leaving Miss Bently to entertain the
isolated Arthur. The latter sized uI
the situation as he was cropping bach
along the dark aisle. He tried to turr
and run, but q helping hand caught
him by the coat-tail and a stranger:
voice whispered loudly: There's YOU
seat, old man. Miss Bently looked
escape was cut off. Arthur sank Low
into the seat and pulled his head down
into his collar like a turtle.
How Arthur lived through the re.
vealing brightness of the second inter
mission, how he tried to combine cour
teSy to Miss Bently with the behavior
of a mar who is attending the theatel
alone, how he Unanswered a desperate
escape with his guest before the light.
went on at the end of the performance
these things might be worth relat.
ing if they had not turned out in thu
end to be futile precautions.
WAS it good?" asked Helen sleepily
when he got home.
"Oh, yes" he replied. GOOD enough
Nothing special. How was the re
cital?"
For the first time in eight year,
Arthur felt that he was practicing de
ception.
III.
". And it was too funny TO
words" Mrs. Saltwell was just end
ing her eyewitness story. There wa.
Arthur sitting beside a raving beaut,
and acting as If he had the chills."
What did she look like?" asket
Helen with a smile as hard and brittl
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