The Coolidge examiner., 1933-07-07
Little Gray Car
BY CHARLES TILTON
@. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WNU Service

~ as she walked; it was a beau
tifuI thing. of oriental biocade in
peacock shades. Larry Deane had
given it 10 her on her birthday.
shortly after their engagement, and
she cherished it above all her treas
ures save the beautiful cluster of
diamonds on her fingers. Because
she was quarreIing with Larry, she
had willfully included the bag in
her wrath and twisted it merciless-
y on the end of its golden cords.
The cord will break and you will
lose the bag" cautioned Larry.
Olive pOndered provokingly.
There are some really precious
things in Tiny vanity case, my
gold purse, the birthday gift Joe
Watterson gave me, one of his let
ters, and"
Isn't that enough?" glared Larry,
for they had been disagreeing about
Joe's attentions to Olive.
Enough letters from Joe? Well.
he is interesting, Larry-so good
tempered. One enjoys him, you
know"
Il know one who doesn't enjoy
him-although he's a cheerful sort
of an idiot"
THE cheerful ones are The incest,
just the same" tossed Olive over
her shoulder as his little gray road
ster turned into the driveway of her
fathers house.
'Hmmmmm r' remarked Larry dis
agreeably.
AS he helped her out and she re-
reased her hand, he discovered that
she had left the cluster of-diamonds
ring in his palm. He grew white
and stared at her.
you mean that, Oliver"
"Of course"
"Why?'
You do not trust me-you are
Jealous"
81 am sorry you believe that
said nothing until you criticized my
dancing with Ella-well. what does
it matter? If you really cared, you
could not play with happiness in
this way. Good-by." he said.
Olive watched him with unbeliev-
ing eyes; as he went the gray car
became a blur because she was cry
ing. When her mother inquired why
she wept Olive confessed that she
had lost her beautiful brocade bag.
How careless" chided Mrs. Dare.
Perhaps ii is in the car. dear. Shall
| telephone to Larry?"
"NO-no-please don'tl l have
given Larry back his Ting-and I've
lost his bag-and | never want any
of them back again." announced
Olive.
"Some bird!" CALCULATED Larry, as
the little gray car pOked along
through pleasant byway on the
road home. His gaze was fixed on a
bit of brilliant blue-green perched
in shade bush beside the road.
olives bag!" he cried, recogniz-
ing it with pang. and then the
little gray car stopped promptly.
Larry took the bag from it's perch.
The golden cord that served as a
handle was broken and he realized
that, in the heat of the argument.
Of1ve had unwittingly swung the
bag once too often and lost it. Per-
haps she had done it Intentionally
something whispered in his ear, but
he dashed suspicion aside.
Jealousy came to take its place.
She had said Joe Watterson's letter
was there-ruthlessly he palled the
bag open and looked; the golden
purse, the foolish pencil Joe had
given her-it looked like q stick of
peppermint candy - some letters
which he recognized as his own
and one penciled scrawl which
might be Joe's. Suddenly he did
not care about Joe. His own letters
made the bag precious to her. He
must bear with her! He had not
touched the contents of the bag, and
dropped the engagement ring inside
and drew the cord tightly. Just then
he heard footsteps, hurrying.
Larry hung the bag on the bush
and the little car scampered to a
bend in the road and waited breath
lessly. Larry peered through the
underbrush. 1t was Olive.
There were traces of tears on her
soft cheeks.
When she saw the brocade bag
she uttered a softscry of pleasure
and snatched it from the bush,
hugged it to her lips.
"You dear. dear thin gp' she
sobbed. you are all that l have
left
That is what she really said, for
Larry had stolen upon her and
heard her just in time to hold her
very tightly in his strong arms.
rs it too late for happiness.
dear?"
"Not-if you can forgive my being
so silly" she whispered
"Then-let us say it will never
Laa- 1~o;1 opI {bo 49,. 2. =. A.