The Washington times., 1937-11-19

/ that doll. She wants me to brinI
it tonight"
At that, decided that thing
had gone far enough.
Listen, my dear fellow" I be
gan gently when I was inter
rupted by a knock at the door
and the maids voice saying
Telephone, Mr.. Bill"
BE back in a minute" / said
and flung out of the door almos
humping into Martha who was
parked on the other side of it.
whoa" she said, i've some
thing to say to you"
"Sorry. I've an important tele
phone call" I was very curt with
her.
Not at all. sent Bessie with
that message.
II only wanted to tell YOU" she
continued calmly, that if you
gum up my act with Hank, you'll
be sorry"
What do you mean, I'll be
sorry?"
Il mean I'll make it perfectly
clear to Louise in a subtle way
that you're nuts about her"
I tried to put all the loathing
and contempt with which I was
filled in one look, Martha neither
withered nor did her lips turn
blue.
Il see," I said at length, ''black
mail"
Martha gave me a bleak smile
at least it looked bleak to me
Exactly. Now will you keep your
trap shut with Hank!"
"I hadn't thought of opening it,
I lied. IF you want to ruin your
chances with Hank, it's all the
same with me-"
GO TO PARTY
After that there was nothing to
do but let Hank go ahead and
take his medicine. I knew Martha
would carry out her threat; as I've
said, she has a very revengeful
nature. So we whipped up to the
club that night at around $3.50.
Hank had been pretty taken
back when 1 climbed into my tux,
so I told him it would give Martha
a tremendous kick if we dressed
for her party. He readily fell in
with the idea.
We got there just at the time
a lot of guests were milling around
father and mother and, of course,
Martha.
I prodded Hank up the line be-
fore he knew what was up and
introduced him to mother and
dad, of course, perfectly innocent.
I saw Hank sort of stiffen when
he got a look at Martha. You have
to hand it to the girl for always
being smoothly put together. To-
night, she was in some sort Of a
gauzy thing, not peach exactly
and not white, that stood out all
around. I mean the skirt.
She had that hair of hers in
some new way like Gabriel, you
know, the angel. Quite a contrast
to this afternoon. Add a few
orchids to the picture and you
can see what stunned poor Hank.
He just looked down at her for
a couple of seconds and Martha
smiled up at him in a way that
made me want to punch her in
the jaw. I mean she looked so
cocksure. Finally Hank turned to
me and said:
"Why didn't you tell me you
had two sisters?"
Well, the poor sap was so COM
pletely taken in had to laugh.
Martha's eyes fell on the box
Hank carried. "Why, you sweet
boy" she said in the tone Of a
woman of 40. st believe you've
brought me a birthday present.
At the word birthday, Hank
commenced to turn red. "You
don't mean" he said. "You aren't
:" he looked around at the ex
pectant group of faces, then back
at Martha. "Just who the deuce
are you?" he said.
Martha laughed in a ripping
affected sort of way. "Why, I'm
Martha, of course, YOU know"
IT do now," Hank said.
Martha waited this aside. "I'm
dying to see my present" She
looked gently but pointedly at the
white box.
BIRTHDAY GIFT
Hank hesitated for a second
getting even redder, which waI
pretty red. Then he handed the
box to Martha. MANY happy re
turns" he said grimly. "I hope
you have fun" The box wa
wrapped clumSily in tissue papel
and tied with diryt pale-blue
ribbon.
Martha stared at the box fol
several seconds. Then she looked
up at Hank. There was a soft
light in her eyes.
"Why, how did you know" shC