The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-17
BY Peter B. Kyne
Copyright by Peter B. Kyna
wNU Service. ~

ago i was fool enough to do 1t. She
looked so Internally proposable today!
And while was doing it looked at
her steadily and noted the triumphant
CLINT In her eyes, and little self-sat-
isfied smile on her lovely lips. Some
thing told me she was preparing the
skids for me. So, no sooner had l
popped the question and no sooner
had she commenced to assure me that
she hadn't remotely suspected this at
tachment, than l interrupted her and
withdrew my proposition. begged
her not to think any more about it."
"H-ps fret" Crooked Bill was
stepped in reverential awe.
"That got her blazing mad" Hackett
continued.
ut would anger Sheep" Crooked
Bill agreed. "Roberta's mighty high
and handsome in her ideas"
81 told her it had suddenly occurred
to me that she could never possibly
consider marrying a lawyer who
grubbed for living in the heart of
New York's financial quarter. l told
her was quite certain that what she
was seeking was knight-errant and
wasn't it. told her I had suddenly
made up my mind that it was all a
hideous mistake and-But that's as
far as got"
"She up and left you then. son? She
was crying as she passed me. l didn't
see her, but my hearings right good
for my years. Boy, you're gift from
Godl Continue to play your cards
like that and she's yours without a
flicker. That girl requires whole
lot o. lickin'. but she's only got to
be licked once!"
"rm wondering If l overplayed my
hand?"
''What if you did? She didn't have
even a dirty little deuce to trump your
ace, did she?"
81 suppose startled her. I'm
little bit afraid, Mr.. Latham. She
plays fast and loose with man.
She's a confirmed flirt."
''They make awful good wives once
you halter-break 'em." Crooked Bill
suggested.
'How do you know?"
81 married one-and she was that
girls aunt. Roberta comes by her
misfortune honestly. All the Bar
Roberta's mother ran away with an
end man in a minstrel show. She
adored the jokes that boy used to
crack until he cracked one on her by
marrying her. She bore him Roberta
and from that day until he died Ro-
berta ran him ragged and made the
poor devil like it. He was a good
end man but poor judge of invest
ments, and when he and his wife were
killed in train wreck, my wife and
/ fell heir to Roberta. She was eleven
then. My wife died ten years ago and
I've been riding herd on Roberta ever
since"
81 fear you've made bad job of
1t, Mr.. Latham"
swell, you can't bar me for tryin',"
Crooked Bill responded calmly. 1.-The
girls sound at heart, but cursed with
face and figure that'd make Helen
of Troy look like Navajo squaw in
comparison. She has brains, she has
poise-"
'Not any more" Glenn Hackett In
terrupted gloomily. "I've just upset
her poise"
Crooked Bill INDUCED himself in
very mirthful little chuckle. swell, at
any rate, she's very good dear sweet
girl" he defended finally.
"She can't coquet with me. She
wants to be pursued. Pm busy man
and I've pursued her for year, and
do, that whenever she has another
| swain on hand she always devotes
herself to him and ignores me-"
wants to see if you'll get jeal-
| GUS"
Crooked Bill stroked his chin and
| spat a thin amber stream over the
| veranda railing. Tell you what you
do, son." he announced presently, and
| Glenn Hackett leaned forward to lis
ten to the words of wisdom from the
oracle. "You stay to dinner just as If
nothing out of the ordinary had oc-
| Cured. Roberta'll dine in her room,
if she has any appetite at all. which
| doubt, because the maid'n tell her
you're still here and she'll think that's
| indecent of you. Let her think it.
| Continue to come out unlimited and
| unexpected whenever the notion grips
you, when she gives you the dead
| face you grin at her like a Chinese
idol and tell her how winsome she
looks in that new dress. Continue to
advertise yourself. son."
Pausing not an instant in her pre-
cipitate flight from the most amazing
! and impossible male biped she had
ever encountered, Roberta Antrim
fed to her room, locked the door, lay
down on her bed and INDUCED herself
for ten minutes in that delight of her
sex cuStomarily known as a good cry.
"The wretch" she soliloquiZed
"The odious boorl He had the eff.
frontery to talk to me exactly as If
were refractory client instead of the
girl he bad but a moment before as
sured he loved to distraction. Oh
dear. what humiliationl l hate him
hate him. I'll never speak to him
again as long as live"
When a woman has come to that
conclusion. quite usually she finds 1,
time to cease vain repining and weep
ing, lave her inflamed eyes with some
soothing lotion and powder her nose
So presently Roberta did all of these
things and while doing them ap
praised herself very critically in hel