Evening star., 1934-06-01

'May present my friend-come here,
T-Bone. meet the young lady"
Rose found herself smiling, regain
ing her calm. ''T-Bone what
funny name"
"A subtle compliment, agreed the
man. in a confidential aside. Per
sonally, I'm convinced in my own
mind that actually he would make
only pounded rump steak or some
very tough hamburger. But one tries
to make concessions for an old
friend"
Dog" burst ecstatically from Kit
ten She held out both arms and
wriggled all over.
Perhaps it was due to the presence
of T-Bone that this first meeting be-
tween them began at such as aston
ishing pitch of friendship Her row.
ing life had caused the girl to view
such chance meetings with a skep-
tical eye, distrustful of the too-easy
acquaintance. But there was some
thing about this young man which
was disarming 1t seemed somehow
entirely natural that he should sit
down on the wooden bench opposite
quite as natural as it was for T-Bone
to drop his length with a gusty sigh
and relapse into instant slumber,
while Kitten joyously patted his head.
T-Bones mother had been a deer
hound. Little was known about his
father-but given three guesses, the
puzzled observer usually hazarded
three entirely different breeds. He
was large, bony hound, with a
chronic inferiority complex the
tramp dog of the town until he had
seen and become passionately at
tached to Larry Morgan.
so much loyalty is embarrassing, i"
Larry was saying with casual friend
liness. There are times when l feel
like thief, being shadowed by a de-
tectiVe. TBone's always squeezing
into narrow places and knocking
things over with his tail, or coming
up Unexpectedly under the table when
folks invite me for dinner"
At the sound of the voices the
waitress appeared in the kichen door.
Good land, Mr.. Morgan. didn
hear you come up the back stairs"
Il pussyfooted, Bertha, and scared
this young lady out of 10-years'
growth"
She's young enough not to miss
it. Looks like you two was well ac-
quainted already. but anyway this
here's Mr. Morgan and this is"
Il know" the man grinned and
finished for her. Mrs. Therrold.'
Surprise in Roses tired gray eyes.
''Why how did you know"
Larry Morgan looked across at the
older woman with mock resignation.
Did you hear that. Bertha? How did
we know! Mrs TherrOld, it is our
business to know Knows All Sees
All, Tells All. l am quoting the motto
of that estimable town periodical, the
Catherwood Bugle The handsome
but modest gentleman before you is
its principle scribe"
Bertha Harris giggled appreciately.
Easy to see that Larry Morgan was a
favorite here. Hes a card, amt he,
Miz Therrold? What he means is,
he's the newspaper man here. He runs
the Bugle-'
Bertha, hush That is high trea-
son. Suppose st. Luke heard you
say ran the paper? Our local
saint. Luke Hewitt" he went on, turn
ing to Rose, a touch of bitterness
edging the humor in his voice. IAN
estima BILE old party, highly moral and
somewhat uncomfortably set in his
ways owns the Bugle. He is all the
officers: I'm Just the crew. The one
pleasant feature of the job being that
the rear of the Bugle building backs
up against this hotel here, and about
this time afternoons l run in to brow
beat Bertha out of piece Of pie or
cookie It's really blackmail His
voice lowered significantly. Il threat
en- to expose her in the press if she
doesn't come through with it."
Bertha looked flattered at the
laughing regard in the blue eyes. u
got peach cobbler for you today. You
wait, I'll get it," she flung back or
her way kitchenward.
Something in this man puzzled
Rose. Even in his present coatless
dishevelled attire. something about
him proclaimed him not of Gather
wood, something which limited of large
cities and roaring metropolitan dailies
Beneath the smiling fiippancy OF
his manner she sensed a faint de-
f1ance. hidden bitterness. =. There
was, as we'll an odd familiarity about
him for which she could not quite &C.
count.
Thinking about this later, Rose wa:
to be puzzled at the ease with which
she found herself talking to him .
telling him of her resolve to remain