The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-03-03

geles, Beverly Hills, Westwood - clean and shining, full of atmos- phere."
 Another adopted son of Cali- fornia," she unused, not quite lik- ing this turning of the back on home.
 You bet. And the girls out there = they certainly treat a fella right"
 Dear me = am hearing com- plaints?"
 Taking his eyes from the traffic he looked down at her with the well-remembered flash of white teeth. Not you, Suzanne, nary a complaint. How about letting me show you of at the Hermit Club party on New Years Eve?"
 Its date" she said. Susie's joy blazed higher. The Hermit Club on New Years Eve = only a favored few received that gift from the gods. An, the gods were kind-kind.
 Followed two mad, whirling weeks. Dates and double dates with Dick and his friends. The friends grad ually drifted away, Susie's prefer ence for Dick obvious even to the smitten young men. Christmas Eve ,, started at o'clock with a cocktail party at the luxurious home of one of Dicks friends. Susie, with her simple background, felt bit out of .. place at this party. She met Dick s sister and was snubbed, not much, but enough to make her wonder. Had she heard Hester Ire maine's comment to her mother she would not have wondered, she would have known, might have been more pleased than troubled. Dicks mad about the common little thing" Hester told her mother. Cant kep his eyes off her. Some fine day we'll wake up and find Suzanne, product of Harkers bargain basement, hang ing from our family tree" This was a misrepresentation and un- kind, but Hester was not espe- cially kind.
 Dicks just having a good time," her mother said easily. He isn't taking on wife to support, not since your father has shut down on him."
 "He seems to think Suzanne has money, and maybe she has," Hes ter shrugged. Whether or not, I'll bet my next months allow ance she'll snag him."
 And Susie, who had a more ladylike name for it, was defi- nitely out to win Dick. She was so violently in love with him that she lived in a daZe, one moment deliciously sure, the next fran tically dubious. And Dick was overly attentive. Telephone calls before breakfast, conversations italicized by subtle f1attery, in nuendos with doube meaning that toppled Susie's listening heart, little intimate reminders, hints of a commonly shared future, low, caressing laughs.
 Flowers came daily. On Christ mas he gave her a compact, of all things, smooth, shining thing, sweet to the touch, entrancing. Susie offered her lips in an inn pulsive gesture of gratitude and 1t was strange that she thought of Jeff when Dick kissed her. She saw little of Jeff these days. Except for the Christmas party, with Jeff making a paipable effort at holiday cheer, with Edna and John Harker deeply oblivious to everyone save themselves, she had scarcely seen Jeff.
 She knew that Edna and MT. Harker were married on the last day of the year, in fact Jeff difl- dently asked her to attend the simple service, but that was the day of the Hermit Club ball and Susie gave the Bowmans never thought.
 Dick had asked her to wear the Snow White gown and she gave thanks, it being the only evening frock provided by Harker's. Ready for the party she was like a per- fumed kitten, drowsy with de-