Evening star., 1936-01-05

Some fun, eh keedr' he answered,
taking her choked exclamation as a
tribute to his irresistible charm. Then
he began to talk, fitting from subject
to subject. but coming back always to
the most enchanting of all topics,
Buster.
After they had gone about three
miles they came in sight of a paved
highway that cut across the dirt road
and led back to town. Here she in
terrupted Buster in the middle of a
dissertation on Busters superior taste
in clothes. to exclaim in dismay:
Good heavens, Buster. my vanity
casew She felt about the seat. DO
you suppose l could have dropped it
just second ago? I was sort of wav-
ing my hand around and I thought
heard something hit against the side
of the car"
I'm back down the road a ways"
He put the gears in reverse.
"Oh. heavens no." she protested.
''If it's there. you'd run over it.
Couldn't you just get out and run
back and look for it?''
''Okayr' Masterfully reassuring. he
patted her shoulder. and started back,
bending over and searching the side
of the road.
Tensely she watched him until he
had walked so far that he was only a
blur in the moonlit gloom. She leaned
out of the car and called to him. her
voice pitched to shrek so that he
could hear: Buster. stand right there;
and don't you move: and listen to me!
On account Of your mother and my
mother, I've tried to be nice to you.
tried to give you hints. tried to show
you that it's no use your trying to
push yourself into my crowd. All
you're accomplishing is not to get in
yourself but to push me out"
She leaned far over the door and
looked down the road. her head tilted
like that of some wise old grandmother
gazing over her spectacles at an
obstreperous child. For your own
sake as much as mine, Buster. don't
try to push yourself ahead of your
years. Oil and water. my child. do
not mix. Now I'm going to leave you
out here to think over what I've said"
She could no longer maintain her
grandmotherly attitude: she became
somewhat less than her age as she
finished with the outraged wrath of a
kitten at bay: And, Buster, you
leave me aloner' Isabelle slipped
under the wheel and started the auto
mobile slowly down the road. Buster
started running after her.
''Heyr' he yelled. you just try
and do that to me; you old Isabelle
Cummings. You just wait till my
mother and Aunt Rosalie hear about
thisr'
She leaned out and. over her shonl-
der. played her trump card: "All
right! II they hear about it. you just
wait till everybody else in town hears
about you. Kidnapped by a mere girl
"a big boy like you - put out of a
car by a mere girl and made to walk
homer
"Oh! You old Isabelle Gu" His
below of trapped defeat trailed off
behind her as she sent the Car to a
terrific speed and shot towards town.
A little later, flushed and breathless,
she arrived back in the Cummings
living room. She was greeted with a
chorus of such questions as: Hey.
where's your boy friend?" Where's
the Dixon heart-breaker?" There was
a note of patronizing unpleasantness
in this teasing, and Isabelle dispelled
it forever.
Buster is, as he should be, on his
way to bed" she announced with
careless good humor. "After all, it's
very bad for child to associate too
much with people who are too old for
HIM"
That done, she turned to find Cliff
ford Reed. He was leaning against