Evening star., 1934-02-10
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may be q dangerous imbecile-rm NOT
saying I'm not-but II you'll only
listen for minute. think can helD
you"
1t Is possible that mere words might
not have availed. but at this moment
the girl Jane, who had been allowing
her eyes to play silently over his face
while she thought of what to say
next, came before the meeting with
q question.
Aren't you Packy Franklyn?"
ayes"
"I've been trying to remember ever
since saw you upstairs. You re-
minded me of some one. and couldn't
think who it was. saw you score
that touchdown against Harvard. Boy,
that was a runl'
Her voice had lost its rancor. It
was plain that she considered the
revelation of his identity to have
placed an entirely new complexion on
the matter. What is lunatic behavior
in the ordinary man becomes mere
playful eccentricity in foot ball hero
do you remember when you sort
Of wiggled sideways and the fellow
Just missed you by inches?"
II got the breaks" said Packy
modestly.
Gosh, I was hoarse for weeks"
Her voice and manner were now all
amiability. In Blair Eggleston's, on
the other hand, the old animosity
still fingered.
II cannot see," he said stiffiy, "how
Mr.. Franklyn's ability to run and
ah-wiggle sideways affects the matter
under discussion.
NO" agreed Jane, reminded of her
wrongs. Get back to the point. What
were you saying about being able to
help us?"
II can give Eggleston a few tips
which will improve his technique. I
can see just how he is planning to go
about this business Of tackling your
father. Left to himself, he would
creep in and grovel on the floor. All
wrong. What you need Is front.
Bright self-conf1dence."
Its quite true, Blair"
Look at me. Faced by an earl.
What did do2"
What earl?"
"Never mind what earl. It was the
Earl of Stableford, If you must know,
and a tough baby he is, as any one
In Dorsetshire will tell you. Well,
what happened? / Just charged In,
slapped him on the shoulder, and said,
Hello there, Earl! I'm going to marry
your daughter. so let us have no back
talk Just like that"
Blair Eggleston shuddered strongly.
"And it worked?" said Jane.
Like charm. Fellows eaten out
Of my hand ever since"
Il can't do it" said Blair Eggleston.
"Of course, you can," said Packy.
Take a drink first. Take two drinks.
Three
"Yes. and have father sniff it.,
| Haven't you ever heard he's a rabid
dry? If he thought Blair had been
drinking. he would have him bumped
off and dropped in the Thames by
moonlight"
Packy mused awhile. "Ive got It..
Go and tell him you're a friend Of
Miss Opal's, and say she pointed me
out to you and told you I had r1ussed
up his hair. and you were so mad
you sailed right in and knocked me
| for a loop. Then, when he's fawning
on you and saying My hero!' you
slip him the big news"
"H'm!" said Blair Eggleston.
COR another method. Pretend to
be an influential member of the
Temperance Society of England and
touch him for a ten-dollar subscrip-
ton Then give him the works. By
this means, whatever happens, you
will be ten bucks to the good, at any
rate"
We'll. anyway" said Jane, you'd
better get action. It's no good stand
ing here doing nothing. Maybe father
will have gone of the boil by now.
Go on up, Blair, and get it over"
And if you fail" said Packy, what
of it? 1t will be Just one more grave
among the hills.
The departure of Blair Eggleston
seemed 10 remove certain fevered
something from the atmosphere. Jane
Opal now allowed herself to be led
to an alcove where couple of arm
chairs held out promise Of repoSe
and comfort. She sank into one of
these and looked at Pacl1y interestedly.
How funny us meeting like this, "
she said.
"a scream" agreed packy.
II mean, you were the idol Of my
girlish dreams when I was a kid"
Il was in my prime then. A flick
of the finger, a broken heart"
ct used to go to foot ball games
and worship you. You certainly could
teach those stevedores to take joke :"
Rightly interpreting her to mean
by this term the gentlemanly students
Of Harvard, Princeton and other intel
lectual centers. Packy simpered coyly
your taste in idols seems to have
changed" he said. you appear to
like them smaller and brainier now
adays. incidentally, I wonder how
Eggleston is getting on. About now.
should imagine, he is leaning on the
bell and your father is shouting, Come
on! Come on Come on!' in that
curious way of his that always reminds
me of a gorilla humping its chest"
Jane knitted her brow anxiously.
Fathers q pretty hard egg, isn't
he? I never realized till now that he
was quite such man-eater. I've
hardly seen him these last two years
I've been In Paris, finishing. I wonder
If it was really wise to send Blair
| upP"
rs he insured?"
"The trouble is. you see, father has
very decided views about the sort oi
man he wants me to marry. That's
what has made us keep the thing a
secret. He expects me to make big
match"
Some belted earlp"
"It looks more like belted vicomte
at the moment. He is taking me to
| visit some people named Gedge who
live in a chateau over in Brittany
It belongs to a French vicomtesse, ano
feel sure fathers real reason for