Evening star., 1941-05-24

Just perishing for a little English
conversation. Please sit down,
Mr.. ?"
Matt Burgess, Bridgeport, Conn.
bridgeport, how nice I'm Mrs.
Frederick Bannon and this is my
daughter, Leigh"
How do you do" The girl was
neither friendly nor unfriendly. She
seemed to reserve judgment.
"Distantly Related"
Matt bowed and sat down. Mrs.
Bannon breathed a gay little sigh
of relief and said, Now that's over
and we're all friends. It is nice to
meet a countryman way out here.
We're from Philadelphia, you know.
That isn't very far from Connecti-
cut, Is it?"
She talked continually, and in a
few minutes the girl was talking too
She was very young and somehow
unprotected looking. Matt Won
dered about the air of sadness or
boredom that stayed with her even
when she smiled. 1t was nice to
watch her slim hands and the deli
cate shadoWing of her face in the
soft light of the table lamp.
Mrs. Bannon said, you're not by
any chance related to the Halsey
Burgess family in Bridgeport, are
you, Mr.. Burgess?"
Very distantly," Matt answered.
The relationship between himself
and his father was certainly distant.
She asked him if he was in steel
like Halsey Burgess, and he shook
his head. AT the moment I'm
in the shipping business" he told
them solemnly. Il came in on one
Of our ships this afternoon"
Leigh looked puzzled. That's
strange, I didn't see any ships come
In today, What's the name of your
boat?"
Just in time, Mrs. Bannon inter-
rupted. I'd love to see it! I adore
all kinds of boats!"
Matt said. I'D show it to you,
only I'm afraid you wouldn't like
the old freighter. Hides, you know"
That left Mrs. Bannon nodding
vaguely. "Oh, yes, hides, of courSe"
He danced with Leigh while they
waited for dessert. She was very
small and golden in a beige chiffon
gown, and many of the warm, black
eyes turned to follow her around
the room.
A Date to Ride.
II hope you and your mother
will have dinner with me again
tomorrow night, Miss Bannon," he
said. do you think you can per-
suade her?"
You dance with mother next
time and ask her" the girl said.
She closed her eyes to the music
and Matt tried again.
well, If you do have dinner with
me, do you think you could come
sightseeing around the city in the
afternoon? haven't seen anything
here yet"
do you ride, Mr.. Burgess?"
"Why, yes"
"Then hire a couple of horses to-
morrow and We'll ride out to the
oasis of Meshia. It's Just east of
the city and very interesting and
educational. The tombS Of all the
Carmanlian sultanas are out there.
And II you care to ride farther, we
can inspect the governments agri-
cultural experiment She smiled
primly, then burst into laughter
Gosh, It's nice TO meet a white man
for a change!"
Matt laughed with her. liking her
frankness and lack of pretense.
Maybe she wasn't as quiet and help
less as he'd imagined.
Tauru rode behind them the next
afternoon: silent little page, sit
ting stif1y on his horse. They
pushed their way through the mar
row streets and out into the coun-
tryside. The oasis was fairly cool
and the roads were good They met
strings of army trucks, but almost
no automobiles.
Leigh was amazing. Away from
her mother, she seemed a person
emerged from shadow She rode
daringly and laughed lot. and Matt
saw that she wasn't only soft golden