The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-07-13
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SYNOPSIS

BYE boOIKkeepcr in a small marine supply house. She is engaged to BRET PAUL. athletic star.
 DOUGLAS MARSH. handsome wealthy, comes to the store to buy equipment for the summer
 colony he is establishing at Crest
 Lake. Jo works overtime, assist
 iuw ith the order, and Marsh
 asks her to have dinner with him
 She agrees. When Bert tele-
 phones Jo tells him she has extra work to do that night.
 Marsh takes her to a fashion
 able nc-- restaurant.
 CHAPTER VI
 In ordering the dinner Douglas Marsh, with the waiter at his elbow, asks Jos advice several times. "You see," he said, "Pm not aware of your preferences yet"
 That little word yet" thrilled Jo unexpectedly. Did he mean any thing by it, or was his adeptness at charming women something he wore of an evening, something he wore as carelessly and as attrac- lively as his dinner packet
 When the cocktails came he raised his own thin-stemmed glass. "shall we drink to our new friend shtp?"
 10 answered only with her eyes, and silently touched the glass to her lips. She was just a bit puzzled. She wanted to open up and enjoy this evening to the full; and yet she did not want Douglas Marsh to assume too much. She couldn't be at all certain of what sort of person he was. Sensible about his money, MT. Brown had said, and natural business man, like his well remembered father. But where did he stand when it came to women? What did he expect from girl he had met casually that morning in . business office, and asked to din ner for the evening?
 Shall we dance ?" he asked, in- terrupting her thoughts.
 "I'd love to- Jo said. That music is heavenly"
 They danced together more than well. It was as if they had danced together countless evenings for many years. Jo felt light and free in his arms, following his steps in- stinctively. When the orchestra ended the song and began a new one, Jo and Marsh resumed their dancing without returning to the table.
 When at last they returned to the tiny pink-illuminated table the waiter was ready and waiting with the soup tureen.
 I'm afraid Marsh confessed, that I'd rather dance than eat but insist on dinner, because we both missed lunch to-day
 Jo found Marsh's talk as piquant and delicious as the dinner he had contrived. Seemingly he had been everywhere and he talked of his travels easily and entertain ingly. Obviously he was not talk ing to impress her, but was speak ing in an utterly natural vein, as if sure that she too, would be in- terested in those things which had interested him. And interested Jo was-sometimes so interested that she did little justice to the Olympic 6VWtG 6ACellGnL CulSlnS.
 She found that, contrary to her first impression, most of Marsh's travels had been business trips, looking after the interests his father had left him-and not gad- about voyages calculated to sme- ther boredom.
 He had most recently been in Mexico, looking after petroleum in- terests which concerned his estate. "That must be where he got that beautiful tan." Jo thought, "and not on some exclusive beach, doing nothing at all," And he told her, to. of his stay in the little king dom of Nepal, where he had been a guest of the Maharajah. It seemed that old Aaron Marsh had once sold the Maharajah little railroad which was used by the Maharajah and nobody else. Marsh told about 1t, wittily.
 He told, too, about his adven- lures with sly Bolivian. congress- men who pretended to be looking out for the Marsh interests in pro- ductive lands while at the same time trying to filch those lands for the Bolivian government conces- sions--so they could sell them to somebody else!
 By the time the dessert and demitasse arrived Jo felt that she had ben taken swiftly around the most romantic places of the world. Not the tourist-infested spots of the guide books, but the out-of-the way principalities and kingdoms and republics.
 You don't seem to have stayed anywhere long enough to sleep overnight" she laughed.
 "It just sounds that way in the telling" Marsh answered. And I'm older, perhaps than you imagine in this beautiful pink light. Or maybe I fiatter myself. No doubt look every one of my S5 years"
 "I'll confess the truth" Jo told him, smiling. When first saw you I guessed 27--and then when you grinned I decided 1t might be anywhere from 27 to 30."
 TndeedD must practice that grin before the mirror. Dance again?"
 When they returned to the table he was suddenly serious. You spoke about my never lighting in one place very long. That's a req son I'm so enthusiastic about Crest Lake. I like my home state better than any place I've been, and think Crest Lake is the most beau tiful part of 1t. I wouldn't mind staying there a good long time"
 "It is nice" Jo agred. 'I drove along one side of it few summers ago with my parents. I've never forgotten it."
 Would you like to go there again?" asked Marsh suddenly.
 Tn waa akan ahacl af tho eviff.