Evening star., 1934-06-03


effably dainty Miss Penelope Scott Sands he
blurted right out with no preliminaries at all:
Listen, Pen, when the heck are you going
to marry me?"
Now, no girl likes to be taken for granted.
The fact that Pen and Todd had been chill
dren together, had lived near each other just
off Park avenue all their lives, had golfed at
Newport swan at Bar Harbor and even skiied
together occasionally at St Moritz, certainly
gave him no license for such casual overtures.
At least Pen thought. Whenever the huge
hulk of Mr.. Lathrop barged over her horizon
her small nose elevated heavenward and auto
matically she voiced the reply:
Il wouldn't marry you, Todd Lathrop, If you
were the last man on earth"
But why not?" Todd always demanded that.
why not?"
Pen regarded him thoughtfully through quiz
zical eyes.
Don't you really know, Todd? I mean
really?"
NO" growled Todd sullenly. We've
known each other all our lives, Pen. We're
ideally suited-liking the same things. Our
parents
Right there Pen fguratively cawed the air.
"Our parents! Ideally suited! So that's all
you think about. thought you were rather
nice, Todd-sweet, sometimes. But now
row Pen gasped, caught her breath again
and said, 81 wouldn't marry you, Todd Lathrop,
If you were the last man"
Il know the answer snapped Todd.
| lad it rot been for that momentous Spring
night and the unusual happening right in
front of the big apartment house where Pen
lived, Todds ship of prospective matrimony,
far as Miss Sands was concerned, could have
been counted sunk
1t began at the moment that Mr. Alexander
MacTavish met Mr.. Terrence OToole Mr.
MacTavish, at the end of his leash was squat
slate black, self-assured. Mr. O'Toole, likewise
on leash 1.-THE, muscular and golden
brown, and he regarded Mr.. MacTavish with a
baleful glare, from which, rightly or not, Mr..
MacTavish drew effrontery and insult. Mr..
MacTavish stood up on his hind legs
"Arf-f-f!" he ragged. "Ye're wild-ye and
yere treeb."
"Wur-roo!' howled Terry, with sudden
leap. "rll put crimp in yer spike tail, ye
spalpeen-"
And they were at it. But Terrys wild lunge
and Alexis deftly conceived sidestep brought
calamity to Mr.. Lathrop and Miss Sands, who,
on the accompanying ends of the leashes, were
being taken for their nightly promenades.
Miss Sands small blond head butted Mr. Lath-
rop unceremoniously in the stomach.
why don't you take care of your dog?" Miss
Sands Missed through clenched teeth as she
struggled with Alex. "A vicious brute like that
should be chloroformed."
best corporation counsel manner. MY dog has
a perfect right to place on this sidewalk
Listen, Pen-when the heck are you going to
marry me?"
Pen tucked the exacerbous Alex under one
arm and began automatically:
Il wouldn't marry you if you were--
"Arf-f-fI" sneered Alex from the safety Of
his position "Ye're bleethering eediot.'
"Wur-roo!" walled Terry "By the five saints
of Kilday, if ever catch ye alone"
"On earth," finished Pen haughtiy. Be
sides, you had no business to come shopping
around here when you knew I'd be taking
she continued, 'let us go away from these un-
speakable, horrid creatures"
why" exclaimed Todd to Terry with hardly
any dismay, chats practically dismissal"
ITO think" asserted Pen over one shoulder,
that you-of all people-should be so discern
ing as to realize that!'
Whereupon she marched of, her small, 1.-the
figure jaunty, her blond head carrying the pert
hat at an even more rakish angle than before.
Only once did Pen look back at the we'll
groomed and personable Todd-looked back
for no other reason than that she detested
him absolutely. But that one look was sufh-
cient to send chills up her spine and make
her gasp. She might even have screamed long
and loud, had not what she saw left her
utterly speechless.
A big, black closed automobile moved quietly
to the curb beside the unsuspectng Todd. Out
of it stepped two tall, slim young men with
dark hats pulled far down their eyes,
One of them raised his right hand inside his
overcoat pocket and jabbed sinisterly into the
small of Todds back. In her one wide-eyed.
frightened look Pen saw Todd vince, saw the
second young man start to beat down the
brlgtling Terry saw Todd step to project him