Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-01-19

champagne Was the best TREATMENT
since it's e fact that he'd done nothing
to dim the Lights. purity the atmos-
phere or Queli the almost dsafenans
sound. No one who didn't employ hls
or her utmost vocal power could hops
10 be heard above the uproar, yet there
Was another point which Miss True
love noticed as well
Though everyone ia sight was shout
ing and screaming, almost al Of them
kept turning their heads as e search
ing for something more interesting else
where. It was as though each reveEler
felt secretly but powerfully that the
next table, or the table beyond that,
I was where the real fun was going on.
4 Odd, thought the little governesS. fo-
nothing In her experience had ever
suggested that money wasn't de-
Icious thing to have. And nobody, she
notwithstanding herself - would
have come here unless they wanted 20
come here, or with any other object
than generosity or enjoyment. Yet
4 everywhere she saw that same haunted
hunted, thwarted expression. No ones
attention seemed fixed on anything.
Even Rosalie, though two young gem
tlemen were addressing her now, kept
pouting and CHANGING over her should
er.
Wen, well, we swear we're not trying
to be cynical again, and, indeed, there
4 is far more calling for pity than any
other quality in this kind OF New Years
Eve. The rich must have been 50
+, hopeful or hospitable to have come
here, the bandits the dance band
now-is playing so industriouely and
indefatigably, the staff-from Minis
treIli to the smallest page-boy, from
the head wine-waiter to the lowest, In
visible scullion-are ell working as hard
as they know how; and If some Of them
get a little sharp-tempered sometimes,
well, who wouldn't On q night and in q
melee like this?
Yet this girl Griselda Truelove, who'd
never been at such scene before, who
had clear and obServant eyes, who
shouted at nobody and to whom no.
body shouted-for all knew that she
was a governess now, and It was OBJ
viously best and safest TO leave a prob
lem like that alone; this girl Griselda,
we say, might well be one Of those on
lockers who see most Of the game.
And since the game which Griselda saw
consisted, apparently, Of a vast num-
Der of persons examining themselves irf-
to an inadequate space, eating and
drinking far more than was good Tor
them, shouting, staring and breathing
increasingly foul air; since no one had
compelled them to do all this, since
pleasure seemed to be about the last
thing that they were getting out Of
it, and since it was unquestionably
costing them something entirely unim- |
aginabIe-WeIl, the onlooker couldn't |
help thinking It all rather strange, and
certain aspects Of it even rather sad.
But here she must remain, lonelier I
than ever now that so many Of the
party had risen so as to fight their way /
toward the dance floor, where a solid
mass was palpitating in what appeared
to be indescribably discomfort. Nay,
in what they themselves described as
Absolute Torment when they returned
with bruised shins and torn dresses.
"Ghastly," they yelled.
foul, I" they shouted.
Gosh" they beloved, what an ap-
palling scruml"
All perfectly reasonable comments
to which host and hostess must now
give weary and desperately agreeable
mods. For, Of course, no one could pos
sibly leave before midnight. Wen, Of
course not, when midnight was the
whole reason for being here at all.
So then there was great surge IN
which dancers were herded with far
less consideration than hunger-march-
ers, were showed. jostled and forced
back to their tables 50 that some
Oriental acrobats might take their
place.
Then that was over, and back they
all pushed and struggled, and-amaz-
ing and incredible as 1t might appear
still further celebrantS arrived from
the theatres, while Ministrelh provided
something between a miracle and an
exhibition of frank brutality by actual
ly finding room for them. So frightful,
indeed, were the congestion and con-
now that Miss Truelove's chair
was tilted forward on its two front legs,
wedged In this position by another
chair which had been whanged against
its back. She said, "Ohl" and made q
fruitless effort to shift the table.
She tried TO look round. She said:
do you think you could possibly"
And broke off; for the occupant Of
the other chair, had turned round at
the same moment There were perhaps
nine inches between their respective
faces, and Miss Truelove gave q sud-
den uncomfortable gasp:
Mark" she said.
~Goshl" said Mark Matheson; and
then something like another miracle
took place. You'd have said It was ut
serly impossible for either Of them to
move, but love, Il appears, doesn't only
laugh at locksniths. There was q creak,
here was splintering sound and Mr..
Matheson was on his feet. BE said:
What on earth--." He said: Here
,ome out Of this. I must talk 10 youi"
Griselda was standing up too, now
.hough her chair had fallen on its side
She said: HOh, Aark-you've only Just
;ome. You can't"