The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-11-08
Chapter 81
Scientific Study

Chapter FL
Scientific Study
IT'LL BACK you to do whatever
L needs to be done" George rose
and rested a friendly hand on her
shoulder for an instant. "Of course
l know you were joking, Buff,
when you used to talk about mar
rying Tim; but golly, how swell it
would be if it really happenedl I
couldn't wish anything better for
old finland he's one of the best,
though admit he's acting like
seven kinds of fool just now
than to pick himself a wife like
you"
She looked steadily ahead of her.
Il wasn't fooling, George. I'm not
now. I'm going to marry Tim"
HE know it?" demanded the
startled Mr.. Weekes.
mo" Her mouth dropped a
little sadly. THAT is, I've told him
often enough but he refuses my
offer"
"He-why, the silly so-and-so,
the =. why, I'll make him marry
you if ! have to bash his head inl
I'll"
Calm yourself, George dear.
You sound like the father of the
wronged maiden in dialect poem
In Texas, down on the. Rio
Grande, or something like that. I'll
handle this matter myself, and
thank you so much! Is that clearly
understood"
He opened his mouth, shut it,
opened it again to say, "Clearly;
most clearly indeed, my dear Miss
Atlas. Any other little jobs you've
laid out for yourself? Like showing
Longs Peak a mile or so nearer to
Pixies, for example?"
You consider my task so diff
cult?"
We'll, Tim-if Tins made up
his mind either to do or not to do
something, he's not what you
might call easy to influence. And
with this Iris complication again to
the fore-but my moneys on you,
Buff, every time. And may heaven
bless you!" he said at the door.
Buff set herself to the study of
Iris DeMuth with the cold detach-
ment and concentration of a scien-
fist. She wanted to knew two
things about her: first whether the
newcomer was sincere in her pro-
testations of innocence about the
affair of the summer; second, in
just what lay the charm she ex-
erted over Tim, as well as over
most of the men she met.
The second question was more
easily answered than the first. Iris
was seX-conscious. 1t was not in
her to allow anything masculine,
whether il was Boulder's most ELI
gible young lawyer or the freckle-
faced urchin who brought cigar
cites to her room, to depart without
having her mark put upon him.
She did it automatically, perhaps
instinctively, Buff decided.
"She was lovely little girl" ran
Bluffs thoughts. Graceful, pretty,
with that white skin and those
WiStful dark eyes. She probably
fiirted in her kindergarten days. In
her teens she got real results. It's
an occupation with her just as
Lance must concern himself with
the reaction of his public to every
new character he puts in his car
toons."
Bag OF Tricks
THERE was nothing spiteful in
l. this analysis. Buff was honestly
trying to understand a nature dis
tinetly foreign to her. Her life with
her parents had given her a large
tolerance of humanity's foibles.
Somehow the discovery that most
OF lris's affairs" were impersonal,
merely the artists display of talent
before an audience of one and that
invariably masculine, served to
soften her fault toward Tim in the
younger girls eyes.
She discovered that Iris had a
bag OF tricks, as professionally nee
eSsary as that of conjurer. The
dropping of long lashes against a
petal white cheek, the sudden wide
and radiant smile which so trans
formed her. the appealing hand on
a mans arm, the caressing little
upward infection in the lovely
voice-Iris used them, one after
another. impartially. Buff came to
know them all, to watch for them.
What mystified her was that Iris's
victims remained unaware of her
technique no matter how often and
automatically il was used.
Lance CARROTS daughter, gifted
with his own ability to burlesque
anything and anybody. took sober
counsel with herself on the subject.
She knew how delicately but effec-
lively she could exhibit Iris to Tim
as she was, not as he saw her. The
fairtest accentuation of that CO.
quettish appeal could not fail to
make il ridiculous.
But / shan't do it until I've
proUed-not just guessed or be-
lieved, but proved that Iris does
not love Tim. One part Of my, mind
says she does-how could she or
any girl help il, darling Tim! The
other reminds me coldly that when
all is said and done, she did him
the greatest possible injury last
summer. And / don't think she's
such fool as she wants us-par-
ticularly Tim to believe. She
knows too much about men to have
let that Latshaw deceive her. All
that business Of switching ore
specimens on Tint sounds dis