Evening star., 1935-04-14
.SREAT Riches

terly on the incomprehensible ways OF
men and their deplorable penchant
for doll baby types instead Of prac-
tical, sensible women of character"
Miss Julia did not think much OF
men. At least it could be said In
James favor that he was NO worse
than the rest of his sex.
James meantime was sitting In Q
dark corner Of Leslie's little side ver-
anda with black murder in his heart.
Near him sat Tom Ellsworth and Bud
Howard. On the rail sprawled jackson
Crowell-all good fellows and tried
and true companions, but unwelcome
at the present unhappy moment.
1t was one of those rare nights in
June that poets have sung about from
time immemorial. The mischievous
old moon had for the hundred thou
sandth millionth time turned the
world into q place Of silvery mystery
and enchantment.
1t was so fair a night that sleepy
little nesting birds woke up, took their
heads out from under their wings and
sang q bar or two before they dis
covered it was not morning and went
back to sleep again. Leslie's side porch
was a pleasant place even In the day.
light.
There was q hammock and cushions
and chairs that were designed espe-
cially for comfort. A honeysuckle In
full bloom trailed over its four posts
and met overhead and made the porch
for the moment seem the center Of
a great, fragrant bouquet.
On such q night, therefore, with
his chosen fair one near, surely
James should have been happy, but
he most emphatically was not.
For, in the favored place, beside
Leslie on the porch step, sat the alert.
the successful the Immediately clad
Samuel Fletcher, whose hair always
stayed brushed and who always knew
exactly what to do with his hands
and feet.
Sam. Of course, had his guitar with
him, and as usual he was strumming
it and making the night hideous by
yowling to the moon about love-
always about love and kissing. Though
1t were DEATH" he sang feelingly.
I'D gladly die. oh, my love. I'd gladly
die, for this. for this" James could
have strangled him.
Sam always made James feel shy
and tongue-tied and hideously awk-
ward. Sam was only a year or two
the senior, but he had assumed all
the airs Of an octogenarian since the
wholesale grocery house for which he
worked had sent him out on the road
selling beans and canned goods and
similar trash"
He boasted that he stayed at all
the best hotels in every town he Cow
cred" and to hear him talk he had the
unlimited expense account of a Jay
Gould. To James he was altogether
fresh" and pushing and vulgar.
What Leslie, the sweet. the shy, the
incompatible Leslie. with her
dear. appealing little ways, her soft
little hands, her marvellous under
standing, her big dark blue eyes that
made a man sort Of gulp every time
he was bold enough to look down into
them what a rare soul like hers
sighed audibly at this shattering of
his ideal; and Tom and Bud and old
Jack sighed with him.
But their misery was not to endure
forever. The hateful song was barely
finished before Leslie had coaxed her
four sulking swains down on the steps
beside her or on the cushions in the
grass at her feet. and In little while
had them singing In chorus and laugh
ing as happily as If they had not each
known a mans bitter disillusionment
a few moments earlier.
She persuaded Bud to favor them
with Frankie" his new coon song. and
made Sam play the accompaniment
through all the II verses.
Afterward she smiled up at James
in her shy little way and adroitly
started him talking about Boley Hen
derson, his latest client. who had re-
Gently been arrested by Old Lady
Blue for conduct and language un-
becoming a colored gentleman.
When he repeated the repartee in
court between the two contestants, in
spite Of the Judge and the other re-
straining minions of the law, Leslie
laughed her silvery. throaty little
laugh until the murder died in James
heart and his shattered idol was built
up again miraculously. at bound.
When he went home an hour or
two later he was treading on air.
Leslie always made him feel like that.
No one on earth, excepting pos
sibly his grandmother. had ever un-
derstood him as Leslie did, and he
never left her without feeling shiny
with happiness inside and out.
He dreamed the most marvellous
dreams walking home that night
dreams Of winning such honor and re-
nown and glory that Sam Fletcher s
ugly nose would be twisted completely
out of joint.
There are complications in the
Harris family tnmorr0u