Evening star., 1932-08-21

u beautiful. Sne was slender, her
eyes were blue, tender blue, and
whimsical. Reminiscent of Bobs. Her
hair was brown and vaVy, resembling his.
And her voice had soft cadence, ca
ressing note that matched by his
They were markedly similar In dlspoSi-
ton likes and disiines.
Bob Fenton had always been in love
with his widowed mother There was he /.
thought gallsntly, none other like her
She perfect, in appearance, manners
and morals. In everything.
You should go oIt more Bob dear,
counseled his mother one evening IN the
living room, laying down her copy Of
owen Meredith AMI gazing affectonately
at her slender, handsome son.
"All you do is worf. and read read ana
work and 20 to an occasional concert
Why don't you take ZIP with the younger
folks? Why don't you dance some, and
swim? That reminds re, didn't Eva Gen
try ask you to tina. collegiate ball the
other night?"
Eva Gentry!" Bob Fenton looked over
his copy of Walter Scott and laughed
scornfully. Collegiate ball! Yes, moth
.er, she asked me. But why waste vau-
able time? Life" virtuousy he main
tanned lis too short for such frivohties.
Life is too short to be bothered with peo-
ple with whom I have nothing In COM
mon
THE dove to roost with the crows!"
His mother triIled amusedly But, Bob.
truly they aren't that bad. You must be
tolerant. Besides, it's time you were
thinking seriously Of marriage. Why,
dear was married when was l7!"
mo wonder" fondly grinned Bob Father saw
the priceless pearl and wisely grasped with no
ado. In my few romantic peregrinations I've
discovered the pearls of today lack hster and
worth It Is therefore quite safe for me TO
promise III get married when ind girl like
you"
"Oh, Bobl" His mother sighed helplessly,
happily. you're incorrigibe."
I'm idealistic," retorted he. buntly II tnat
be incorrigbility, make the most OF 1t. After
all isn't 1t best to Lave well enough alone! I'm
content to live with you, to work for you to
share the things we mutually enjoy. Wedlock
is far from my mind"
And what" she smiled. ARE You going to
Mourn" he rejoined promptly. Heavens.
how I will mourn!'
His tone was so savage that the next day,
smiling in fixed fashion she invited Geraldine
Stoner to dinner. She had met her at Eva
Gentrys Mrs Fenton had-she was Eva's
chum at wellesley
THAT afternoon Bob, coming from work In
] his antique shop. parked his car out front
and rushed in to kiss his mother. Instead OF
finding her as usual, in the kitchen with the
cook supervising a meal he would like, he was
surprised to discover her In the living room
with strange young lady.
A plump little creature, was the stranger,
with audacious brown eyes-bright and inquis-
itiye like a birds With dogged little chin.
With lips piquantly nodded. With quick, nerV-
GUS hands And an energetic manner.
Miss Stoner" introduced Mrs. Fenton, this
is my Robert Bcb Miss Stoner. Eva
Gentrys friend you know
automatically.
But he wasn't pleased. He was annoyed. He
didn't like her. She was, he soon realized, COM
pletely impossible.
At the meal for instance, she ate too much
She was like little pig, with disgustingy
healthy appetite At 80 she would be a roly-
poly Why couldn't girls have delicate, or
at least a modest. appetite like his mother? A
svelte figure like his mother?
Then she was talkative and she didn't know
anything to talk about. That is, except golf,
swimming Gary Cooper (whoever he was), poll
tics 1imagine being mixed up in poll
ticsD, Miami and Banf.
He himself had rarely gone anywhere. He
was satisfied with his home, his books ana
music People probably travelled and did absurd
things to get their minds off themselves.
And she dressed outrageously; so man
nishly. Not with the nicely and charm OF his
mother his thoroughly feminine mother, who
adored rufles and pleatS, dounceS and laces.
She wore did the guest simple little frock.
Shoes stout as boys hat, on departure,
that resembled anything but haiti was Just
some blue velvet rolled into tam, with q
feather anonymously atop. Her hair naturally,
had been desecrated into "boyish bob"
To climax it all, her neck looked as though
it had never been washed. 1t was olive, with
darker smudges His mother, now, considered
cleanliness next to gcdllness-an opinion ne
approved Though later, at his alarming men
ton of the fact, Mrs. Fenton claimed, rather
Historically the smudge was tan. Exclusively
tan.
Well, he didn't care for girls who cultivated
tan to that extent girl should be fair-for
example like his mother She never ventured
out into the sun. Girls should adopt the same
habit, he told himself and should have COM
plexions to match.