The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-11-09
952 DyNEA sseNcE kNe

| which had come trotting up to join them as soon as they appeared on the terraced lawn. The old dog puffed heavily after the eexrtion of the short waddirng run. | "Tom," Linda broke off sudden ly, ''poor old Buntys getting blInd- CT and deafer and wheezicr every day"
 "Yes. We must do something
 walt until thee end of summer. though"
 The old dog fiopped over by Lin- da's knees in the out-stretched abandon of utter comfort. Hearing her name mentioned, she wagged her absurd tail lazily. The two | humans, feeling the treachery of their thoughts. petted her with sudden, guilty tenderness.
 q never thought I could bear to have an asthmatic old dog around me-" said Linda sadly, "and now l cant bear the idea of putting her away"
 'eWell--the summer may make a diffe ence," her husband offered vaguely. Then, remembering the l trend of the conversation, he seized upon 1t to leave the unwelcome subject.
 You said things had changed. | Anyone back out z"
 Someone backed in. You re- member. Cousin Amos Peabody. l That distant relative person from 1 Boston? Due to arrive any moment driving out from town"
 He wistled silently.
 "Whee-eew! That does compli- cate things! With all these strange men on your hands. Not that. as l recall him, Cousin Amos isn't strange enough. Binks. my child, why did you make 1t such q field day for unknowns?"
 Thought we might as we'll get all these duty visits off our list. After all, you started 1t off with those two unknoWns---that Euro pean perfume man and your office | manager from the fniddlewest plant. must learn their names before they come!" Y
 Linda was sometimes secretly amused by the enthusiasm with which her husband fulfilled his so- cial as well as business duties as we'll as sales manager of four z tuh tfxy aeF,' httt ha knew that the importance in its line was due almost as much to his whole-soulcd interest as to the dynamic personality of the amaz- ing little woman whom tho public knew as "Valeska." Valeska Gin unofficial moments she answered to name of less exotic character) had seized with characteristic acu- men upon the Averill's recent in- heritance of q lovely Long Island place to make 1t an asset of her own business. Nothing loath to earn the substantial assistance o1 her liberal allowance for enter. tainment, the young couple ha6 become accustomed to frequent visits from home and foreign celeb rites, prospective business asso
 ciates, and important clients. |
 "The perfume man is Bel gian.' instructed Tom solemnly Not French, remember he'i touchy about that. DeVos Is hi! 1 name. Very gracious and charm, ing quite the Continental but q big fellow six feet he- man. His uncle's one of the out. standing European perfumer over- lords. Valeska and he have been negotiating over the exclusive American rights to some very toncy perfumes. This nephew will prob- ably close the deal before he goes back.
 "Statlander's the middlewestern- er--Valeska brought him on to talk about some trouble in the plant. I'm afraid he won't be thrilled with the Belgian (though that wouldn't occur to Valeska) because he considers the home made creams and lotions the backbone of the business, and has no patience with foreign stuff. l don't know | him at all but understand he's very self-important, so cont get his name wrong, for heavens sake!"
 "Statlander = Statlander I'll remember. We'll, to answer your l question and account for the other two, after we were all set with your | men over the Fourth 1 heard that | Ella Mondeli didn't know what to do with that Irish writer person | who's speaking at the poetry meet ing this afternoon on the promise of a Long Island weekend" "That was his topic?" interrupt ed her husband idly.
 Nut! That was his pay. Well, | Ella was desperate--with Polly sick and her family coming down over the holiday--and 1t isn't as if they really knew him or he them. We have the room and gather l he's amusing. His names Lian Shaug for you to | rememberl Then when 1 met Mar | win Pratt in town last week and heard he was in this part of the | world for the first time in 12 | years--n
 "Did you start your love affairs | III yOdE aShVA hOA AhoophhN incredulously. Here you've held him up to me as pre-war suitor! How early did you begin getting sentimental over the boys. any how?"
 T didn't get sentimental he did all of that! And I'm no such infant as 1t fiatters you to make mo out. Tom Averill." answered his wife with dignity. "After all. I'd worked for years--well, several years--before we met. And any how, Marvin lived next door to us and we went to the same school. --hc is older than I am. six or seven years maybe"
 "oh, yes. I can see he dates back pretty far. We'll, it'll be amusing to meet an ex-rival except perhaps you'll wish you hadn't let him go rowing all over the world so that could snatch you up."