The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1940-05-24

met you at Gays debutante party
but we didn't"
pay any attention to me?" He
felt that his smile was becoming
| fixed.
"I'd meant to say that we didn't
dream all this romance was brew
ing. 1t is romantic, you know. !
mean you never expect such thing
to happen to one of your friends"
On the surface, at least, it was
all very friendly. Perhaps he only
imagined that under their apparent
ly casual acceptance of him, these
friends of Gays were deliberately
making him feel an outsider in SUBJ
tie ways of which he was conscious
but which he could not define. That
was natural, he told himself. Todd
Janeway was one of them. His
name had been mentioned, during
the evening, in connection with
Christmas Eve of last year, with ref
erence to the Army-Navy football
game, in casual Renaissance.
Todd's sister, Ellen, was here, the
slight graceful girl in the tailored
hat who, coming in with the good
looking red-haired boy in tweeds,
had explained that they were on
their way out to the Janeway coun-
try place for Christmas.
''Don't you adore this apart
ment?" she was asking when he
gave her his attention.
sits very-unusual."
| "I'm crazy about it. I've been
trying to persuade NUNS and Dads
to take a penthouse but they say
they can't afford to sell the family
mausoleum even if anybody could be
persuaded to buy it. We're ,prac-
tically paupers," she added cheer
fully. Dads is loaded with foreign
bonds and you know what they're
worth now"
John wanted, very sincerely, to
understand, if he could the point-of-
view of these sleek young people
for, though she was more intelli-
gent than the girl who chartered
beside him, it must, of necessity, be
Gays. 1t was rare person who
remained uninfluenced by the
thought and behavior of his or her
companions. You never entirely es-
capped the environment in which you
had been reared. You were bound
to the past by thousand tenuous
ties of habit, prejudice, affection,
ties of which you were unaware,
perhaps, until, when confronted by
some opposite idea, you felt them
| tugging you back into the safety of
familiar ideas, values, habits. He'd
felt them tugging when
II beg your pardon" he said,
warned by a sustained upward in
Election in his companions voice that
she had asked a question.
SIT doesn't matter" He thought
that she looked a little bored. Her
eyes fiicked past him toward the
piano where the girl with auburn
hair was singing, apparently for her
own amusement since the group
clustered about her continued to talk
in staccato tones which carried
across the room. II asked you if
you and Gay were spending tomor-
row here or at her fathers place
in the country"
''In the country, think" He
wanted to add something to that.
He wanted to apologize more fully
for his inattention. What dull lout
she must think him. Not that he
cared, except for Gay. He was as
relieved as he felt his companion
must be when he saw a group of
of four people come in from the hall
and cross the room toward the dav-
export.
"We've been out on the terrace
looking at the view," Tory Wales
said as she came UP to them. She
dropped down on the davenport and
white fur coat, so soft that it crun-
pied like velvet as it fell, slid down
over her bare brown shoulders and
back.
"Your slippers are wet, I'm
afraid" her companion, the burly
but well-groomed young Englishman
who was her fiance, said.
Don't fuss, Hal. You can't kill
an lnulau WIFI q llIllS SHOW. Sne
leaned back against the apricot
leather of the upholstery and held
up two fingers. Her fiance put a
cigarette between them.
The girl in red laughed. Don't
you two talk the same language?"
she asked.
well, you must admit that my
English is a little different from
HAS," Tory Wales said, her light
eyes, startling in contrast with her
skin, twinkling with derisive humor
which reminded him of Kate. when
his family was here in October we
practically had to use deaf and
dumb signals. I'm learning,
though" She glanced up at her fam
ce who smiled as though he found
her very amusing, relaxed against
the upholstery, graceful legs
crossed, and made a half turn to-
ward John. seated between her and
the girl in red, who. now that rein
forcements had arrived, showed no