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Show ipViy Up HOFFMANN C(AR0 HOfFMH -S W.N.U. SERVICE ' SYNOPSIS i, father's bitter critl- ' i ' g life, and the notin- ' kV need not expect any - Uncial assistance Hal ,enof a wealthy bank-'' bank-'' -if practically without ' ;ih the promise of a sit-Francisco, sit-Francisco, which city "! A from New York, ' Retime limit. He takes : ' '.I s cross-country auto 'juarB expense" basis. himself f,,r getting into such a Joyless stale, would stay real; nor Ibat Ids vivid sense of the girl's well-formed, hostile presence behind be-hind him would. Yet the journev and its days undoubtedly lay ahead"; and It couldn't stay as it was now! A continuance of that was patently too fantastic to credit, for eight days, for eight hours, even. The son of Frederick Ireland coa-ting on his father's namel Good old Frederick Ireland. At le.ast he had prertv well settled set-tled that they'd leave him alone now. I'ulsipber had retired into humble perplexity, and there was no one on the running hoard to talk-to talk-to Hal through the window. Oadually Mrs. Pulsipher began to prattle about the household of her married daughter in Bridgeport, Bridge-port, about places- she and John had seeu this trip and how they bad liked them, about the reasons for sending certain postcards to certain cer-tain friends back In L. A. Sister Anastasia maintained her sweet, receptive silence all the while; and Barry barely punctuated Mrs. Pulsipher's Pul-sipher's devious sequences with a soft, almost-husky "yes" or "Did yon?" or "No, I've never been there." Each time Hal looked at her In the mirror he felt she knew he was looking; though she never glanced at him, her eyes seemed to go slowly on their conscious guard. Hal had forgotten about the dog until it gave a quick whimper, and Barry an exclamation that made him look around. The dog's forelegs fore-legs were in Sister Anastasia's lap, his head turned in reproach toward to-ward where Barry brushed a shower show-er of embers from the coat upon which he had been lying. "Oh, the lining," Mrs. Pulsipher half wailed in sorrow. "Oh, is it ruined?" Then with a grim pounce of her words at Hal: "His cigarette blew in the other window. Oh, what a shame, what a " "I am most awfully sorry," said Hal, sincerely contrite before the girl's disinterested look. "The lining's ruined," said Mrs. Pulsipher with finality and triumph. "Ruined." - Barry's eyes solemn, impersonal, confidently clear of resentment looked down at the burn again. his grinning mouth and lennou sleepily on the counter. "Say," he said, as if lie were a policeman, "is there a good garage in this burg?" "Is there something wrong with the car?" said Mrs. I'ulsipber at once. Miller cocked the toothpick at her. 'Tup," he said. "Couple stickln" valves. Might's well get 'em fixed up while you folks eat." "Gad, sir, why didn't you get 'em fixed yesterday?'' Kerrigan asked. 'vSleepin' yestiddy," said Miller and sucked sharply. "Come in from Chicago in thirty hours." "Look here, speedball," said Kerrigan Ker-rigan gravely, "we've been delayed enough already. If you crowded the heap this far, you can get through till supper time. We can sleep where we eat tonight and you'll have a lot more time than here." Mrs. I'ulsipber, nodding derisive approval, said: "Yes." Miller looked sheepish. "Awright sure," he said; "but I gotta get gas noil." "There's a pump outside," said one fat sister. Miller looked round at the window with slow suspicion. sus-picion. "Awright," he said. The others moved upon the tables at the back of the room with apparent ap-parent intent to have a meal. Hal stayed at the counter, moodily regarding re-garding the fly-specked thermometer thermom-eter that stood at eighty-nine. He heard Mrs. Pulsipher saying confidentially, confi-dentially, ". . . and lots of onions over It, crisp. I'll tell you about my dessert later." "Bring some ham neggs," Miller said, as if life were too short and weary a thing to permit per-mit exercise of imagination. Hal ordered oatmeal cookies at three for a nickel from under a glass bell, and a bottle of oversharp but Icy ginger ale. Then Crack came to the counter from nowhere in particular, and in his unsurely pitched voice told the girl, "I'll have the same as him." Hal wondered how much Barry had ordered. "She's the only one Isn't eating enough for a hired hand." said Crack. "Her and that frog sister." Hal looked at him quickly, but there was nothing definable In the indolent amiability of Crack's light-blue light-blue eyes. "Who d'you mean by 'her'?" said Hal Inhospitably adding to himself, him-self, If this guy goes on reading my mind, I'll give It to him as a present ; I won't live with It. "The babe they thought was witr me Trafford," said Crack. Hal finished his ginger ale In a stingy, refreshing gulp and put a dime on the counter. Then he turned for a look of frank curiosity at the faintly rosy, unaged face beside him. Even If the fella's standards were totally different from his own, what did it matter If Hal was rude to him? The lazy, mischievous curiosity of his eyes seemed to be partly ready for rebuffs. re-buffs. Hal nodded briefly and went out into the hazed, dust-smelling sunlight sun-light that was just as hot and caged-in as the screened room. The terrier, unleashed, trotted around the corner eager for smells, and then the Trafford girl came, watching him with a thoughtful smile, the conscious defense of her large eyes gratefully relaxed. The h 1 with being a stick, nal said to himself ; one honest try. and if she turns it back at me, I can jolly-well be rude with comfort. He watched her take a couple of her sure, deliberate steps. Her smile took away the traces of toughness tough-ness Hal thought he'd noticed before accented a smooth delicacy ia the slight in-drawing of her cheeks under un-der the high cheek bones. The faint pink there wasn't make-up, either; and her frank lips wore no lipstick. They were frank lips, generous, gen-erous, full without being sensual, under their two simple peaks. There was an air about her of reticent vitality, sure and artless as the angle which gave her plain blue hat its chic. Hal pushed his back from the wall and spoke a quiet "Hello." Her look at him was startled, almost al-most alarmed, but he met her eyes aggressively, smiling. It was an Instant before her smile began, the parting of her lips delayed; her look was relieved, but without demonstration. dem-onstration. "Hello," she said, as If to a pleasant little boy, and looked off to see where the dog was. "How're you?" he said. "Fine," she said, her smooth voice just off huskiness. iihe appraised ap-praised his smiling eyes thoughtfully thought-fully another moment before she added, "Your clothes are English." "They're my brother's," he said at once, wondering why the devil he'd said that when it was his own old suit and he had no brother anyway. any-way. "You like England," she said, not as If he would deny it but as if he wouldn't volunteer it. "You like it better than this country." "I'm not sure I'd say that" "You're not sure you wouldn't, either, are you? Are you tlattered when people take you for an Englishman?" Eng-lishman?" "Used to be, when I was younger. Why?" "How old are you now?" "Twenty-six." Hal's eyes were laughing as he said to himself. Holy mackerel, what is this? Look to your balance here. Ireland. "Hour old are you?" "About twenty-three," she said, f if it were quite nnlnuiorfatit. (TO BE COTIM LD) ney, but I judge we're mostly strangers. stran-gers. Let us have introductions." His unsmiling look continued past ITal in the direction of Mrs. Pulsipher. Pulsi-pher. "Mrs. Ella Pulsipher," she said, less severely; "and that's John Pulsipher, my husband." "You're from Iowa, mam," said Kerrigan. "Yes," said Mrs. Pulsipher, Interested In-terested beyond distrust now. "Burbank. How did you guess?" "Los Angeles is the capital of Iowa, mam," said Kerrigan solemnly, solemn-ly, "and I was told this crate this car was going there." Hal thought, the man's probably a nut. Kerrigan went on: "I vote for you for chaperon chap-eron of this emigration, Mrs. P. Will you get us the names of the other ladies?" There was a moment of silence and then a very soft, careful, faintly faint-ly foreign voice behind Hal said, "I am Sister Anastasia." It was surprisingly beautiful to hear her say "Ahna-stahzia." Hal looked up at the duplicate rear-vislon-mlrror to see if the Trafford girl's expression expres-sion was as soft and gentle as that name, but he could see only her clear, possessed profile and the brief flow of golden hair under the protective rim of her blue hat Go ahead, look like that; somebody's some-body's going to speak to you now. But her barely pursed lips parted part-ed in a slight smile when Mrs. Pulsipher Pulsi-pher said, 'And your name, young lady?" "Trafford," said the girl, in a tone nearer huskiness than you expected: "Barry Trafford." "Barry?" "Bar-ry?" said Mrs. Pulsipher. "That sounds like a man's name." "I know," said the girl quietly; "my father liked it." "And did well to," said Kerrigan In grave courtliness, "if you'll allow al-low me." Hal saw her head turn, saw her blue eyes large and solemn but not hostile as she said, "Thank you." Even without looking in the mirror, he was conscious of her both In it and behind him. Relax, you, d n it, relax; I won't speak to you. Martin Crack announced himself then, with a lazy sort of modesty neither amiable nor otherwise, and Kerrigan looked at Hal. "Henry Ireland," said Hal, trying to match the humorlessness of the brown, sedate eyes, even as he wondered won-dered If he really saw deep In them a flicker of something youthful and eager. Mrs. Pulsipher tumbled quick words at him from behind: "Any relation to that Frederick Ireland, Ire-land, that banker, that Ireland who's president of that big bank here?" Hal turned his head as far as he could without moving his body. "Oh, yes," he said. "Eldest and favorite Son." Gaunt John Pulsipher, racked by some surprising and hampered eagerness, began to stammer, quick, unconvincing laughter In his throat, until he snapped his lean fingers; then he said, "He-he-he he ain't got but the one son." "That would still leave me eldest," eld-est," said Hal drily. Pulsipher's earnestness slowly faded ; he blushed, tried to smile, dropped his eyes, and murmured, 'I thought you was fooiin'." Hal glanced into the mirror and a slight, wry satisfaction stirred his lips ; the Trafford girl's eyes not meeting his were angry as when she had pulled her dog back from him, angrier, perhaps, for the knowledge that he was looking at her reflection and smiling to himself. him-self. He hoped so. "I always think," said Mrs. Pulsipher, Pulsi-pher, with resumed severity, "that when strangers come together, It's nice to try to make everything pleasant as they can for each other. It's not hard to be nice." "It must be hard for some people," peo-ple," said Barry Trafford's low voice. "Maybe it is," said Mrs. Pulsipher agreed, grimly pleased. "It's too bad if it's that way, too. They miss so much for themselves." "They think it's the others who're missing it, so I s'pose that makes It even," said Barry. Hal chuckled inside: That's the girl ; but I'll make you madder than that, too. And before we get to Los Angeles, possibly you'll be sorry for It. He looked at Kerrigan. The brown eyes were thinly sedate over wise sparks of laughter; and then one eyelid flicked down and up, quick as a camera shutter. There was something funny about the unreality of the thing. Hal couldn't believe that these seven other people, close and real and hot around him now, would stay real; nor that his mood, mixed of defiance, de-fiance, impatience, and anger with - iOTER II Continued '" -2 . 'dli Miller, grinning. ';.,res everybody else?" , "fice, 1 reckon." villi loading 'em In and ..(liled again. "Guess we :-V el against a pillar of - ..Lbands in side pockets. eyes brooding, mouth ,: Itftween the lean lines ;( ( jtj-and watched them - j "companions" for an - july ride through coun- j Ue wguely conceived as j ;:s!y setting for midwest- " .e Mr. and Mrs. Pul-' Pul-' i almost scuttling, like a j l; ;ho knows that in an- ;j panic will be at her : he following close with J lierment and the short : wone being pushed from - ; hurried into the back ) the nun, who had sat , .Dmoved all the time in the office, her tranquil fc it, faintly sad, and 1 nils ni-ls Its tight white fram-l:iheo fram-l:iheo came Miller, stuff - ' money Into his soiled iui then Martin Crack, ' ': an arabitionless, easily ::atrymnn except for the :m of hla thinning hair " ij speculation under his C( , After him came the girl, ' realized that, without V- he had been waiting to h It had the grace that is 'inconsciousness of ef-kirm ef-kirm that Is near awk- . -Use the walk of a long-ir-. suggestive of Inquiry, of : go to the devil, Hal 1 H If you walk to blrn j I I shall watch you with " Hl Crack hadn't said truad shoulders and slim ri1 usually starts off In " '' snld, and waited for " '" Imice forward abrupt-jp abrupt-jp J"n his Injured wife. ' M In and the girl. The ,fkn about the Idea, l,li ominously as Crack " fielp him. And then Hal ""tlicr man had come 2 tough-cheeked man .j ' "tJ, In a pepper-and- " lstcoat, gay bow tie. 'i hat ' j him with a half-' half-' sleepiness and said, you better get in be added a drowsy c''"Mo the farther Jump. m' took the invention - I.1" nal cramped hlm-6- mere was a slamming J .'"lie oppression of the .dv;'' tll(1. crowded among ' J mutually distasteful - '."shut into the close, """sphere. , .jfcHret speech of the ,i;Mr8' PublDher; time: losing the long, , with sunlit masfs ! rels Tlslble announced. Ul boat goes to Eu- the front sen, J. .m suspiciously W onheted ciga-K;" ciga-K;" UnK at the side j "Which boat. ii' SV0 Enro,e" said '-v. h" manner Imply-W Imply-W Jt eu speaking to i i u hlmsclf sldcwlse, J'al respect. $ ' a to Europe," he ' ;,Jl PulSpher eevere-In eevere-In New York O snt-ln-lnw from - ,v 1 s all vcr and . L bnat Ees to Where " goes V:;rm'" sid the "'s5 n?uiet and re- j ard to this jour- There Was Something Funny About the Unreality of the Thing. "It's not bad," she said to Mrs. Pulsipher. "It's easily patched, really." She leaned to look beyond her knees. "Do you s'pose the rest of It's on the floor?" Hal saw a coal glowing on the carpet and found enough cigarette behind It to pick up. The end was wet, brown and flattened ; he threw It quickly out. Barry's blue look the blue of asters, flecked with small, clear crystals of live yellow accused him of something then. "That wasn't your cigarette," she said. Hal smiled a little. "It hardly matters," he said. "I'm so awfully sorry about It." "Please don't think of It," said Barry. "It's really nothing." "You're being a sportsman." "No," she said quietly, and her full Hps came together In composed com-posed defense, her eyes saying briefly, No, you don't ; not that way. Something made him stop his look on Crack as he turned back. Crack sat there as If the straight, sparsely sparse-ly padded seat were the top of comfort, as if the close, damp heat under the sun-baked roof were the first beguilnient of a spring sun. A sliglit, confident smile held his lazy lips lips that bad a smooth curve of adolescence without being precisely youthful either. Hal watched him longer than he meant to, interested by something he couldn't see with his eyes. Crack's amiable smile broadened a little before be turned his head slowly, and Hal didn't look away until Crack's full face was toward him. What's the little guy thinking now? Hal wondered. In the fliniPily converted room whore dark screens scaled In heat, flies, and the smell of frying hamburger ham-burger and onions, two heavy and hot sisters clumped about on quick feet cooking, waiting. finding things miraculously without collision. col-lision. Miller put a toothpick into |