The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-20

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Stephanie, a beginning music
teacher, and Francis, a beginning
doctor, often came to them, because
neither she nor he had much money.
They we're both extremely fond of
music, and these Sunday night af-
fairs we're inexpensive. Stephanie
sat between two vacant seats. One
of them was Francis and the other
her aunt's. who had developed
headache and been unable to come.
Francis was a lamb, about includ-
ing her in things like this, and the
little old lady was as fond of music
as they were.
She VS. supposed to be chaper-
oning Stephanie here in New York,
though they lived a couple of miles
apart. Francis himself had no
doubt attended by this time to the
patient who had telephoned just as
they started, and should be joining
her now at any moment. 1t was
rather an event for Francis to
have a patient 1t was still only a
matter Of weeks since he had ac-
CURED an Office.
COMEBODY was singing "Caro
- Nome" from "Rigoletto," and
the worn cadences slipped through
Stephanies mind almost without
registering: she had heard it too
often. She thought. instead, about
Francis. She thought they were as
headed for marriage as couple of
hOmegoing horses for the barn. 1t
was depressing. Each, from the
others point of view, was so en-
tirely eligible; so nice; so suitable;
so presentable. Did she love him?
She wished she knew. She was
fond of him and he loved her
which, Of course, wasn't enough
not by blamed sight. But there
was no other reason on earth why
not, so she supposed that unques-
tionably, eventually. they would.
Yes, 1t was depressing. She GER
tainly hadn't meant to get married
like this. She had meant to get
married Economically, adventurous
ly, at the end of whirlwind court
ship. In spite Of her knowledge of
music, she was still pretty young
as, indeed, was Francis.
THE tripping cadences Of "Caro
Il Nome" having come to an end.
she looked around her. It was the
intermission. Audiences interested
her. She began picking out of this
one nice, suitable, presentable young
men and comparing them with
Enthusiastically, as a rule. to
his advantage. Wondering, first
about this one and then about that,
If she had been in love with him,
whether she could have been happy
with him.
That was kind of daring and had
a good bit of a kick in it. It also
cheered her up greatly about Fran
els, making her realize anew how
attractive he was. She had not,
however. noticed the young man at
the other end of the tenth row I'M
til an usher brought her a program
with words penciled in it's blank
spaces. He explained that they were
a young mans words and he had re-
quested that she read them.
Then she noticed him attentively
and met his eyes looking attentively
at her. At that distance she rather
liked him. Intelligent looking,
forceful. an individual. Not run-of-
the-mill. Not just like everybody
else. There were so many nice
young men In the world who were
Just like everybody else. At first she
thought, naturally, that he must be
some one she knew And then she
saw he wasn't, and froze him ever
so slightly and read what he had
written.
IT HAVE met that girl in the row
l. in front of you, two seats to your
left, just once. You can look at her
and see how nice she is" Stephanie
looked; the girl was nice, land that
she'd never say anything in a thou
sand years you wanted to hear"
Stephanie looked again and judged
it to be true. IT was about to get
up and go talk to her when sud-
denly I thought: Why don't go
talk to that other girl, who would
have something to say I'd want to
hear? Just because I didn't happen
to meet her that time at Bill
Weatherbee's cocktail party? You
were there, but nobody introduced
us. Do you remember?" Ste
phanie remembered the cocktail
party, but not the young man.
Il decided that wasn't good
enough reason. If you agree with
me (my names Gilmer Parkinson,
Jr.; Senior is a reputable coffee
Importer here in New York and I
work for him) raise your hand to
your hair, and I'll come on over. If
you don't. just don't raise your hand
to your hair, and I won't. I'll even
apologize If you want me to-
though I won't quite know what i5's
for"
VOU know perfectly we'll what
IL it's for" Stephanie said, when
he had come on over and she had
duly extracted the apology and he
was sitting beside her in her aunt's
place. What you did was green
and silly and bad manners. Be-
sides, it was dangerous. because I
might have bored you to death: or.
what's far more serious, you might
have bored me-"
She could say 1t safely. because
now that he was there, sks could
tell at a glance that he wasn't
boring.
He laughed ungrudgingly.
True enough" he said, sitting
there a. If they had always known
each other, emanating somehow his
essential niceness and sensibleness
ard trustworthiness Gle was as
easy to tell about as 4 dog)-"true
enough, but trite It is impossible
to live without running risks. It
is inDOSSihle In have any finn with