Evening star., 1937-04-04


she could have loved Luther Perhaps
he would have loved her Well, China
and Japan would be exciting
At ten-forty-fve the plane de-
scended to the Las Vegas airfield. At
eleven they entered the towns best
hotel and registered separately. They
would be married in the morning and
return to Hollywood. Geraldine was a
bit frightened. At first she had been
afraid he would back out; now she was
almost ready to refuse to go through
But that was nonsense. This was her
big chance.
After you've fixed up he sug-
gested, want to come down to the
dining room for snack?"
Glad to-" she said.
As they followed the bellboy to the
elevators, the sound of handclapping
came through the closed doors of the
dining room.
Banquet in there" remarked
Luther. Boy, is there any other place
to eat?"
The coffee room is open, sir"
In her room Geraldine undressed
quickly and took a shower. then
opened her bags and contemplated the
contents. She had put in an evening
dress, and she would wear it. 1t was
lovely thing of gold cloth and cost two
weeks salary. She'd let him see her. be-
fore they parted. looking her best She
had made up with great care and
then slipped on the dress, when there
was knock on her door.
She opened it. There was astonish-
ment, admiration on his face as he
gazed at her.
Say, you're sort of gorgeous" he
exclaimed. Geraldine smiled happily
and shyly. This undoubtedly was the
first time since they had met that
Lattimer had really looked at her.
As they stood waiting for the ele-
vator, they heard clatter of tongues
from the lobby below.
Banquet breaking up" he said.
When they left the elevator at the
lobby floor. they found the place full
of men, mostly in evening dress, while
more men were pouring out of the
dining room. As those who were at the
head table came out the crowd in the
lobby applauded loudly.
The applause was for a woman.
evidently the only woman at the ban
Quet, and the guest of honor. She was
a tall, angular young woman whose
face was long and narrow, but re-
deemed by enormous black eyes and
lustrous dark hair
She stood in the dining room doorway
and kissed her hands to the crowd.
She was not beautiful, but she was a
very striking creature, a personality
despite the fact that her red and yel-
low gown hung on her as on rack.
She made her appearance as Geral-
dine and Luther stepped out of the
elevator; she was only twenty feet
distant from them. Geraldine saw her
great black eyes grow larger and
bright light appear in them as they fell
upon Luther Lattimer. As an actress
before camera, she registered as
tonishment and delight, and then
she lifted loud. unmusical voice:
Luther! Luther darling! How did
you know Id landed here? had an
accident"
Luther stood frozen in his tracks as
the Amazon charged down upon him.
And Geraldine, throwing upon her
bridegroom "not-to-be" look of utter
contempt, stepped back into the ele-
vator. Take me right up, quick" she
pleaded
My dear friends" Harriet Hopkins
proclaimed in trumpet tones. 81 intro
duce to you my husband-to-be, Luther
Lattimer. author of that great novel,
'Thunderer.' I'll tell you a secret:
l was not trying to break the East
West air record. If that had been my
purpose would have failed because of
trD,,Alo 7 ,,roe ,D:~r uoIl,,