The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1941-10-13


eyes as he looked at LerIore.
:. The young man was sitting on
the window sill, his feet outside
He had evidently come from ont
SIDE 20 listen.
Jerry, IN another part of the
room, had seen the young man,
100. and recognized him. with dis.
tlnct displeasure, as the Young
man ne had seen that afternoon
ned been on the beach with
Then Jerry's eyes caught Pam
and he went to her
Oh, Jerry, she sings bea,ti.
fuayl IGNORES wonderfuIr''
Yes, and I saw you leading the
applause, angel That was sweet
OF you, considering" He dropped
down beside her.
And she's so beautiful IN look
at, too" Pam said.
Your violets were the touch
mat made that, darling. II teak
some persuasion to get Mother to
let her have them for tonipht
You're sweet little thing. Pam
gong all that work for Mother.
one azores you for it."
you're such a lovely family.
jerry. The words were spoken
WistfuIIy, for in that moment
ram seemed to miss more than
ever having no family of her own.
Inere were a thousand things
mat came to Jerry's mind then. a
thousand eager ways to ask her to
be one of that family. But An
tome mad crashed into a swinging
melody; dancers were moving
ABOUT on the floor. A young man
Claimed Pam. And Jerry, remem-
perlng the ring on Freda's finger.
stayed his words and let her 90.
Almost I'M e di ately Agar
Bruce was beside her again, cut.
ting in.
i want that dance I was cheat
ed out of, beautiful" he said
easily. And" as they Winfield
away together. ''has anyone told
you you're the most beautiful girl
here?"
mo, / think everyone here is
honest" Pam laughed.
They can't be. They're a bunch
of meanies, or they'd have told
you long ago. Everybody here is
raving about some little Conch
gal that's supposed to be tops They
say she mows 'em down like no.
body's business, haven't seen her
yet, and ! don't want to. I've seen
youl"
The Bet
"CONCH gir1?" Pam caught only
~ one word. She was Conch.
Shed never been anything but
proud of it. 1t meant that she had
been born on the island. She was
native to its beauty. But there
had been something in the way
Algar said it that caught her at
tention.
Eyes, Conch, beautiful. But let's
not talk about her. Let's talk
about you. You're the real thing.
You're as real and wholesome as
a bottle of certified milk. And so
much more intriguing"
But this Conch girl" Pam
started to say.
"Oh, haven't you heard? Some
local beauty that Jerry Winthrope
bet he could date, and the rest of
his crowd bet he couldn't. Well.
he did. This supper tonight is the
payroll. Antoine was the one who
bet against Jerry. So he gave the =
supper, and Jerry has the girl
here somewhere. / haven't seen
her yet. But the girl can't mean
anything to Jerry. He's engaged
to Freda Darlington.
Pam missed step.
Engaged? Engaged to Freda
Barington?"
"Surel Haven't you seen that
diamond she's wearing? Big as a
house. That's the engagement ring
Jerry gave her"
Jerry Winthrope engaged?".
The words came slowly from
Pam.
Sure. Everybody knows that"
And he bet"-it seemed to
Pam it was some other girls
voice she heard asking the ques-
tion-''he bet-about-about that
Conch girl?" She had almost said
about me-"
"Sure. You're not telling me
you didn't know that, beautiful"
Agar was too engrossed in his
own thoughts to notice that some
Of the brightness had faded from
his partners eyes. It's some girl
who's never noticed any of the
winter boys before. She's sup
posed to be tops around here IN
looks, and all that. And Jerry,
with his usual good luck"
"Tm tired" Pam interrupted
Lets stop" Suddenly she didn't
want to hear any more She want
ed Agar to stop talking about
Jerry and the bet. But Agar,
with a sort of affable determine
ton, continued:
yeah! Jerry always does play
in luck and it didn't fail this time.
He dated the girl for lunch or
something and the supper was on
Antoine. So here we are, beauti-
ful-you and / daneingI"
Pam stopped dancing.
Excuse mel" she said hurried
ly. Algar's words had been like
blow that shook the very founda-
tons of her life.
Pam went out into the room
where the orchestra was already
beginning a new number. Across,
Just beyond a little eddy of dane
ers, Jerry's handsome face stood
out. 1t seemed to Pam there was
nobody else in the room. Then
she was aware of the girl he was
talking to. Freda Darlington
Sleek, sophisticated Freda.
To be continued