The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-12-29
Rogers Press
Agent
By MARK HEALEY
g by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WNU Service


Shaw's dinner party everything seemed
different. The charming Mrs. Shaw
greeted him with beaming smile and
Mr.. Shaw, whom he had met only once
before, had greeted him like an old
friend. After that Shaw and he had
gone arm in arm into the drawing room
while Mrs. Shaw had presented him to
the other guests.
Il do want you to meet Mr.. True"
| she would say to one Of the older
women, "Roger True, you know. It's
a great treat to have him with u.s." Or
to another guest, molly, dear, this is
our friend Roger True. You and he
must have a chat together" And
then Mr.. Shaw again taking his arm
led him into the study to two of the
older men. "This is Roger True"
he told them. Hes doing great things
| at the Durand plant-put over that
new dehydrated process" And then
| Roger True forgot all about his sandy
red hair, his spectacles and his large
awkward hands, and felt as much at
NeAoC tto hC hOulu 1ClL Ut luG Luz
rand plant.
Naturally Mrs. Shaw didn't present
him to Stella Howe because it was
Stella who had introduced him to the
Shaws just ten days ago at the country
club. Stella, talking to one of the
younger men when Roger came in, had
merely smiled and said Hello,
Roger" as Mr.. Shaw led him to the
| library.
That half-hearted sort Of greeting
from Stella had been a little discon-
certing and as Roger talked easily
with the men in the library he had It
In mind that later he must have talk
with Stella. He had expected to sit
beside her at dinner but fifteen min.
utes later he found himself seated as
guest Of honor at Mrs. Shaw's right,
with charming. golden-haired blond
on the other side.
In the back of his mind Roger tried
to figure out what had happened.
Either Mrs. Shaw was one Of those per-
feet hostesses whose object is to make
shy and awkward guests feel at home,
or else her guests were much more re-
sponsive than any he had met at par
ties at home.
Mr.. Shaw insisted on driving Roger
back to his hotel, an arrangement that
made it impossible for him to go home
with Stella, and Roger felt not only
a sense Of disappointment but some
thing of self-reproach as well because
he had had no time to talk to her.
I'm sorry didn't have a chance to
talk to you," he told her when they
CHANGED to meet in the hall. Maybe
can see you tomorrow evening""
Maybe" said Stella rather vaguely.
Roger sat thinking things over in
his hotel room after the party trying
to account for his amazing success as
compared with the sense of, complete
failure that he usually experienced.
The odd thing had been that of all
the guests he had met, Stella and the
Shaws were the only ones he had
known before. and the Shaws he had
met but once before. "They treated
me as If were somebody important.
That's why I didn't feel shy"
The next day Roger was too alb
sorbed with conferences and consulta-
tons at the plant to worry much about
the situation, but that night when he
went to call on Stella his embarrass-
ment amounted almost to humiliation.
And as he met her in the stately old
fashioned drawing room Of her IA
theirs house he felt all the old-time
awkwardness and self consciousness
returning.
"I'm afraid / made fool Of myself
last night" Roger told her. "I'm sorry
for your sake"
Fool of yourselfT' said Stella.
"You were gorgeous. Mrs. Shaw has
telephoned me twice to tell you how
wonderful you are and two Of the
other people have called up to find out
how much longer you'll be here in the
East. They're planning to have more
parties. Mr.. Mason told Mrs Mason
you were the most brilliant young man
he'd ever met. They want you for din
ner Saturday"
But how did they" Roger began.
and then stopped, as his eyes met
Stella's. "What made them think
was somebody? l felt like the worst
cheat in the world. AS matter Of
fact, I've nothing to offer"
Don't you ever say that again,
Roger True" Stella said. "You know
what you've done for Durands'.
know, because you've told me and be-
cause my brother told me when he
wrote that you were coming on"
"If / have done a little something
how do they know?"
Because l told them. I told the
Shaws that you were one of the clever
est men l knew. / told them you were
conner, / told them that some day
you'd be famous. told them because
I knew that If they didn't know 1t to
start with they'd ignore you and that
when people ignore you, you act like
a COOP. knew that what you need
is a press agent"
But, Stella. you had no right"
! Roger realized he had made a false
start. All that seemed to matter then
was that Stella thought he was some
body. Ever since he had met her he