Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-02-21
Without
Invitation
q by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate
WNU Service
By GRANT NJ.

uOOTNuy VI the DSuiUOm. rfOH Dt-
low stairs came the subdued noise
of a party-Lois' birthday party.
The young girl at the window
tossed her dark head angrily.
"What does he want here?" she
famed. Everybody knows he wasn't
invited. If I were Cliff Chalmers
I'd be ashamed to be seen in a
crowd that knew me. Ii he came
here to offer me a present-a-a-
peace offering. I'll throw 1t In his
facet"
The older woman's eyes were
troubled. 81 told him you wouldn't
want to see him, Lois" she said
gently. "He insisted, and said he
came only to apologize"
The girl looked sharply at her
mother. "You want me to 60 down
and see hlm?"
we'll, you might, Lois" she
said slowly. ats only fair. | think
1t would please Paul."
Lois bit e lip. Yes, to be sure,
hi brother would want her to be
a good sport. Paul and Cliff had
been classmates at college. Lois
ldollzed her brother, and he In turn
thought a lot of Cliff. She hadn't
cen Paul smile much since the
night she had had that ugly affair
with Cliff Chalmers. Which one did
Paul blame?
The girls face flushed hotly at
the recollection of that night. Down
deep In her heart she knew she had
goaded Clif on. For two years she
had wanted Cliff Chalmers. IntuI-
ton had told her, at that country
club party the other night, that she
might at last have him.
When he helped her into the
roadster at the end of the dance,
she had seen something more than
friendly interest In his dark eyes.
He had finally realized that she was
grown up. and beautiful.
But she had overdone 1t, some
how. Lois admitted that to herself.
She should have stopped at two
highballs. She didn't like them any,
how.
Some wild, inexplicable impulse
had taken hold of her that night:
an irresistible urge to show Cliff
Chalmers she was mature, sophisti-
Gated, and not q naive little thing
to be treated with brotherly solicit
%tousness. She had baited Cliff.
Then she had felt his arms
around her, and his breath was hot
upon her lips. There had been some
thing brutal In his vehemence, but
his voice was hoarse, strangled, as
he said: "All right, Lois, II that's
the kind you are. :"
She had wrenched loose, furious
now and chastened. She had jumped
from the machine and had run down
the road, hating herself and hating
Cliff. She had hid behind q large
boulder, and Cliff. calling her name
frenziedly. had searched for almost
an hour without discovering her hid
Ing place.
Cliff had gone to her home, then,
and had told her brother and her
parents. Her father had notified
the police, and 1t had to be they
who found her sobbIng along the
roadside at daybreak.
Lois father had been furious, but
Paul had looked %searchingly at her,
then patted her shoulder. But be
had said nothing.
Lois anger, as she started down
the stairway, was the lncandescent,
unreasoning anger OF the humillate.
Halfway down the stairs Lois saw
Cliff. He stood In the doorway of
the vestibule, straight and tall, his
hat In his hand. His face was pale
and drawn, but his eyes were steady.
AT the first sound of her foot
steps upon the stairs the music,
the dancing and the forced laughter
had ceased. There was no sound
now but the steady assault of her
heels upon the polished stairs. 1t
occurred to Lois suddenly that she
was doing something more momen-
tous than descending a flight of
steps. The thought sobered and
steadied her, and In a moment the
tumult of her anger was but q faint
ly throbblng regret.
She reached the foot of the stairs
and moved towards the unlimited
guest. She had to look up now. Cliff
vas looking down. She saw the
tense rightly Of his lips, the uncom-
promising set of his jaw, and sud-
denly the girl realized why he had
come. Cliff wanted to make ii up to
her in full. Here, under the scru-
tiny of all their friends, he would
apologize to her. He would humlli-
ate himself just as he had, though
unwittingly, Inundated her.
Decent? Lois heart skipped a
beat and her footsteps faltered in
the hallway.
And Cliff loved herl No words
could make love more a%rticulate
than did the stricken look IL his
eyes. Whatever of anger may have
survived the descent Of the stairs
was a frenzied happiness. She I'M
derstOod now.