The Washington times., 1933-04-12
CHAPTER XXI

The Bakers apartment was
made UP Of four small rooms
on the third floor Of the build
ing. Sharlie realized, the min.
ute she put her foot over the
threshold, that she never had
seen any rooms like them.
: The living room floor was
covered with very thickly soft
gray carpet and the chairs and
the two couches that flanked
the fireplace were gren-gray bro
cade. The curtains were green
and silver and the lamp-hght
and freight shone on silver
picture frames, silver cigarette
boxes and reflected itself from
Q great mirrow above the mantel
piece. There were fresh pink
! roses on a low table between
! the windows and on each win.
dow sill was a pale green
: wicker box filled with prim-
roses.
Beyond. in the little dining
room, Sharlie caught sight Of a
heavy silver coffee service on the
sideboard and another bowl Of
pale pink roses in the middle
, of the round table. The whole
place spoke of luxury and
money az well as good taste.
But what were people with
furniture like this doing on the
! third floor Of q second-rate
apartment house, she wondered
as Jim introduced her to them.
Mr.. Baker was tall and quiet
and very good-looking. He
looked enough like Jim to- be
his brother, thought Sharlie.
And Mrs. Baker was slender
and brown-haired and blue
eyed.
Even before she spoke and
shook hands with Sharlie,
Sharlie knew that she was what
Eddie Wallis called "class."
"Class" was in the very way
she did her brown hair, parted
In the middle and drawn down
into a soft shining little knot
at the back Of her neck. It
was in the way she smiled at
Sharlie and said "How do you
do?. .Jim's been promising to
bring you to see us"
It was in the very way she
wore her plain dark blue dress
and the way she walked across
the room and seated herself in
q corner of one Of the big
couches.
Her husband and Jim began
to talk at once about a prize
fight that the Legion was plan
ming for the next month, and
as she sat back in her own
couch corner and pretended to
listen, Sharlie studied Mrs.
Baker. What was there about
her that gaze that impression
Of breeding and charm?
She didn't know. Certainly
it wasn't Mrs. Bakers clothes
for they were what Dodie would
have called dowdy. There
wasn't so much as a single frill
on the soft blue dress or a
buckle on the soft black leather
slippers that Mrs. Baker wore.
She had a single strand of very
small pearls around her neck,
and she wore a plain platinum
wedding ring. or perhaps it
was only white gold. .on the
third finger of her left hand.
It was women like her,
thought Sharlie, that Mr.. Col
lins was F. oably used to in
the life that he lived after Of
flee hours. 5oft-voiced women
who wore no makeup or so lit
tie that it did not show. Who
knew how to put people at
their ease, just as Mrs. Baker
had put her at her ease, with
just the right sort Of smile and
two or three pleasant little
words. Who knew how to do
their hair so that they looked
fashionable without having the
stiff artificial look that a
beauty shop marcel wave gives
almost always.
Tomorrow" she decided, "I'll
get some pearl beads like those
and a plain dark dress for the
office. She would stand out
among the other girls in the
office, not because she was
smarter-looking than they, but
because she was dressed more
! quietly.
! ''Nice place you have here"
she heard Jim saying. He was
looking around the beautiful
furnished little room.
my wife'S people did the
whole place for us while we
were away on our honeymoon,