OCR Text |
Show the honorable UsisSe Lancy By ETHEL HUESTON O Bobbs-Mcrrill Co. VNU Seryici THE STOET THUS FAK Left orphans by a tragic automobile accident which claimed the lives of their mother and father, three sisters, Helen, Adele and "Limpy," are visited by their Aunt Olympia, politically minded wife of Senator Alencon Delaporte Slopshire. She insists that the girls return with her to Washington, to make their home with them. In addition to loving the girls. Aunt Olympia knows they will be a terrific political asset. Senator Slopshire has as his political opponent one Brother wilkie, a minister, whose political campaign is furthered by seven "unspeakable brats" who sit on the rostrum with him while he makes speeches. Aunt Olympia and the Senator, kind and loving, nevertheless know that their three nieces will mean votes for the Senator. Senator Slopshire. a pleasanUy foggy individual who depends on the astuteness of his wife, prepares for their coming. Though Limpy, the youngest, is 16. and Helen, the oldest. Is 21. the Senator buys theiJi aU the toys and gifts he can find, feeling that "children" should be occupied. When they first meet their "Uncle Lancy," as he Is la be known, the girls take him to their united bosom. Soon Adele, most beautiful oi the sisters, meets Len Hardesty, publicity man for Brother Wilkie. CHAPTER HI Continued Len Hardesty took a glass from the tray Hilda had placed on the coffee cof-fee table, put in liquor and water. He walked slowly toward her. "I only hope you do not change your mind and accept this at my insistence, insist-ence, for I need it myself. More pit of the stomach business . . . Oh, my dear Miss Adele, do have a drink! Oh, you must have a drink! Come on, be a sport, just one now! Pick you up no end." Adele leaned forward, gazed Intently, In-tently, deliriously, into his eyes and then gave the lovely blonde head a very decided, very becoming little shake. "Oh, no," she said purring-ly. purring-ly. "No indeed, thanks. I wouldn't dare! I'm having entirely too much stimulant as it is." And the blue eyes clung to his. Len Hardesty set the glass on a small table with a resounding plunk. He turned to Olympia. "Ollie, I apologize," he said. "I didn't think you had it in you." "Oh, I just gave her a rough general gen-eral outline," said Olympia. "I must admit that she added a good deal of embellishment. Take your drink, Len. ' You're going to need it. I may as well show you the rest . . . Hilda, ask the young ladies to come in and squelch this worm." Len drained the glass. "I'll have another, thanks." He poured for himself, slowly. "When I think that I'm going to spend the next eight months pitting my brats against your beauty " "Oh, come now, Len, I'm not as good-looking as all that," said Aunt Olympia. "Ollie, I didn't even see you. I never expect to see you again. I'm not sure I'll ever see anything but the automaton there. There seems to be a sort of bright light an aura, you might say around that pit we mentioned " Hilda coughed faintly in the doorway. door-way. "She thinks she's the Senator," said Olympia in a large whisper. "Miss Helen is waiting for a longdistance long-distance telephone from Iowa " "Long distance! From Iowa?" ejaculated Aunt Olympia. "Why, who's there to talk to in Iowa, with Congress in session?" "It might be something about a school," said Adele, swiftly. "Or you don't suppose she could have forgotten trj pay that grocery bill?" said Aunt Olympia. "From what I saw of that delivery boy, he's just the type to buy a new necktie and put on his gloves and follow a bill clear to Washington." Hilda coughed again. "And Miss Limpy is having a conference." "Having a conference? Miss Limpy? Lim-py? What are you talking about? Is the Senator home?" "No, ma'am. It's with a a policeman. Miss Limpy accidentally accidental-ly or something threw her arithmetic arith-metic " "Trigonometry," corrected Adele, loyally. "Yes'm. Out the window and hit the policeman on the head, and he's having a conference about it." "Well, don't let him in here," said Aunt Olympia decidedly. "We've worms enough in here. Miss Limpy can handle him herself. Tell her to come in when he goes." Len Hardesty shook an accusing finger at Aunt Olympia. "You staged this, Ollie. You staged this whole scene. You knew I was coming. com-ing. You've been listening at keyholes key-holes and pursuing me with detectives detec-tives and you knew I was headed here and you staged this. Hitting a policeman on the dome with a trigonometry! trig-onometry! So that's the kind of campaign we're up against, eh?" "No." said Aunt Olympia honestly. honest-ly. "I'm sorry, but I can't hog the creult. It never tiucieu iiij nctivj. It's good, Len. I admit it's good. But Limpy thought it up herself." Len groaned. "But just to cheer you up. Len, I will admit that Adele is far the best-looking. best-looking. The others are all right-in right-in some ways even better. I don't believe Adele would ever have thought of bashing a policeman with a trigonometry.' But she got most of the looks." "You're telling me that?" he demanded de-manded bitterly. "I'm no fool. 1 know there's a limit on that sort of tiling . . . But if that kio thought of attacking a policeman out of her own head she's dangerous. They're all dangerous. You're dangerous." "Oh. we just try to hold our own," said Aunt Olympia seraphically. Limpy bobbed brightly in at tha; point. She looked slight and small in comparison with Adele's tallness and Olympiads general largeness She began to speak almost before she was visible. But Len Hardesty. a good reporter, did not overlook that even bufore she spoke, the llcct- ingest, most trusting of glances flashed between the two girls question ques-tion and answer in one. "Oh, Aunt Olympia," began Limpy, "what's a logarithm?" Aunt Olympia drew herself up and blinked uncertainly. Adele spoke quickly. "If you find out, darling, I wish you'd tell me. I studied them for a year and got a C plus, but nobody ever thought to tell me what they really are." "What in the world are you talking talk-ing about?" demanded Aunt Olympia. Olym-pia. "Logarithms," said Limpy. "Logarithms. "Log-arithms. I can spell them but I can't imagine what they are." "Ask him," said Olympia neatly. "He's a newspaperman. He knows everything. Just ask him what is a logarithm?" Limpy turned hopefully to Len Hardesty. "Logarithm!" he said resentfully. "What do you mean, logarithm? lift---. "I'm sorry, but I can't hog the credit." That was no logarithm! That was a plain American " policeman you bashed on the dome." "Yes, how about that policeman, Limpy?" asked Aunt Olympia, suddenly sud-denly remembering the issue. "Oh, that! That was the merest accident . . . Unless," Limpy frowned, and pursed up her lips, "unless, there was something sinister sin-ister beneath it! I confess, I was a little suspicious, for why should he be prowling about under Unce Lan-cy's Lan-cy's windows in election year? I asked if he was a special policeman police-man or anything I didn't want to come right out and ask if he had been hired by the Opposition. But he said no, he was just regular. It was too bad, wasn't it?" "How did it happen, Limpy?" asked Adele helpfully, now that the first explosive moment had been safely bridged. "Oh, I was a bit confused about those logarithms I don't care for them at all, Auntie, and if you don't mind I'd really rather study something some-thing else, like French drama or modern novels. I looked out at the trees and all of a sudden it came to me in a sort of flash that there was a kind of a connection there sort of a relativity trees and logarithms loga-rithms or logs, for short. They seemed to go together. And first thing I knew the book was flying right out the window among the trees and I do think it was very suspicious that a policeman should be lurking down there. They went together trees, and logs-for-short but the policeman just doesn't fit "Unless he was a blockhead to begin with," said Adele. "And perhaps he had a chip on his shoulder." added Len Hardesty. "Well, he seemed to have when he first came in. But he went away very good-naturedly. I gave him five dollars out of your pocketbook. Adele; I'm low this week. And he left his regards for the Senator. 1 didn't do it as a bribe, of course, but I didn't want to embarrass dear Uncle Lancy in election year." "It's the Senator." broke in Hilda moodily. Olympia headed for the hall telephone tele-phone on a nervous trot. That dour "It's the Senator" always took her on the run. in a tremor for some pet bill. Limpy occupied herself ; cheerfully wr.h the cakes and nuts j on the tray. . Len Haroesty cot up su.idorlv and went over and s'.o.-d beside Adele. j now seated in a b:g chair w;th the : blue cur:a;ns for I'.at'.enr.g back- j ground. She looked up with a slight smile and took a sip of her lemonade. lemon-ade. She looked up again. This time, the smile melted away on her lips and suddenly they were looking look-ing into each other's eyes, deeply, very soberly. Len shook his head with sudden impatience. Something must be said. "Do you like Washington?" he asked gravely, though the trite query que-ry struck him as a good deal of an anticlimax, after meeting her eyes. "I do today," she said. "Does the old girl give you all your lines?" he asked moodily. "Not that one. That was original." origi-nal." "That's something . . . Did you mean it?" "Yes," she said, with honest brevity. brev-ity. "Well, it's a good thing. To tell the truth, you're going to be seeing a good deal of me from this on " "Oh, no, we're not," interrupted Olympia, bounding back. "The only way we're going to be seeing anything any-thing of you is at the other end of a good sharp stiletto. If there's any tampering with my campaign material ma-terial I'll report it to some committee commit-tee on something." "I can't stay for dinner tonight," he said, "though it's nice of you to ask me. I have another engagement. engage-ment. I can come back about nine though, since you insist, and talk things over with Sloppy and sort of check up on the campaign. And how about my dropping in for luncheon lunch-eon around one-thirty tomorrow? I can take the whole afternoon off if I don't get caught and give the girls a good sales talk." "We're going to be out! We're going go-ing to be out from right now till the election," said Aunt Olympia rudely. "See you tonight about nine. Thanks, Ollie. Sweet of you to ask me . . . Uncle Lancy! My word!" "We're virtually out now," said Aunt Olympia. "What do you think, Limpy?" said Adele suddenly. "Are they arriving at an armistice, or is this a lull before be-fore they tear each other limb from limb?" "I'm expecting blows at any minute," min-ute," said Limpy. "That's what I'm waiting for. Otherwise I'd be right back with my logarithms." "Blows! Blows between Ollie and me?" He sat on the arm of her chair and put his arm around her. "Why, Ollie and I are mad about each other. It's my one regret that Sloppy Slop-py saw her first Why, I'd he down in the dirt and let her walk right over me though I'd be a good deal flattened in the process. And she'd do the same for me, too!" "Sure I would," said Aunt Olympia, Olym-pia, with a beaming smile. She patted pat-ted his hand affectionately. "You snake-in-the-grass!" CHAPTER IV Never in her life had Aunt Olympia Olym-pia experienced such satisfying happiness. hap-piness. The girls, with their gentle youth, made a perfect foil for her rugged ruddiness, her biting humor. hu-mor. Their appreciative laughter spurred her to gusty heights never before attained. She had not realized real-ized how large a part the audience plays in the success of theatrical endeavor. She could hardly let them out of her sight long enough to get their proper sleep and begrudged Limpy every minute spent on "those lousy logarithms." So the girls were a little disconcerted discon-certed one day when she went about the apartment wrapped in a brooding brood-ing air of detachment, full lips compressed, com-pressed, left eyelid ominously lowered; low-ered; seeming not to hear their light talk, and, still more surprisingly, surpris-ingly, adding no enlivening embellishments embel-lishments of her own. They watched her uneasily. "Are you sick, Aunt Olympia?" Helen finally asked. "No," she said abruptly. "I'm working my subconscious." The girls smiled faintly. "Don't overtax it," said Adele. "I understand it's rather delicate." "And be careful it doesn't turn and begin working you," added Limpy. Aunt Olympia did not hear them. That night she addressed the Senator Sen-ator mildly. "Del, I want to ask your advice." The Senator coughed deprecating-ly deprecating-ly and his glance at the girls was apologetic. "What do you think we ought to do about these girls?" she demanded. demand-ed. That shocked the Senator into immediate im-mediate coherence. "Do about them!" he ejaculated. "Do nothing about them! Leave them alone! They're doing all right for themselves." them-selves." "Referring to their social life," Olympia continued. "Should we bring them out or keep them in seclusion?" se-clusion?" The Senator wiped his glasses. Then he smiled. "My dear, living up to my established reputation as a philanthropic and public spirited American. I say. bring tu.cm out. Give the world a treat! The v.-nr!d needs a treat and ! am not one who believes that the blessed should be ni-ZCnrd'.y v th their treasures" 0!ymp-a fawned 'Th'sir.s nl the or r.-.r cn. " se sa i s : .hrrtr.i. lv. "Yn;ch W'i'lid h;-,ve n re toihric etTc-ct on me campaign, to let t,L-rn J go out, decorously of course, most decorously, or keep them in modest retirement until we go home? If I know our constituents, and I think I do, it would flatter them no end to get the idea that while we were obliged to safeguard and shelter these children from the insidious snares of Washington, we realize that in our home among our friends our constituents they are safe." The Senator considered this, frowningly. He had not yet worked up any campaign spirit himself, with Congress in no mood for adjournment ad-journment His troubled eyes circled cir-cled the attentive subject of the discussion dis-cussion and the sight led him to instant in-stant conclusion. "No use to punish the girls for the sake of a few votes, in my opinion. opin-ion. Let them do as they please." Olympia never paid any attention to what he said. "We could go right ahead building them up whetting public interest putting out just the right photos and still hold them aloof. It would delight the voters; and why not? It is a definite compliment. com-pliment. But I don't want to bore the girls." "Aunt Olympia," Helen broke in gently, "if you don't mind, I'd really real-ly like to go around as much as I can. I do not mean to gay, social things. I do not want to seem disrespectful dis-respectful or lacking in feeling, but since I shall be with you only this one season, I feel I ought to learn as much as I can, get as much experience ex-perience as possible. I'd like to learn how things run, how Congress works, all the things that go to make Washington the heart of the nation." Aunt Olympia agreed with her heartily. She invariably agreed with the girls, even if she flatly flouted her agreement in the next breath. She was determined to be on good terms with them at all cost and she felt that an initial agreement took the edge off what followed. "Perfectly right, my dear, perfectly per-fectly sound. So you should. Washington Wash-ington is an education, a higher and, in some ways, a lower education. educa-tion. It is your civic duty to learn all you can. The life here will be valuable experience for you in , the future whether you teach school or go into politics or merely sell say, groceries." A swift glance flickered among the girls. "I don't see that politics enters into selling groceries," said Uncle Lancy. "Unless you refer to putting put-ting the bad fruit at the bottom of the basket." Aunt Olympia gave him a straight, hard look. Already the girls knew that look. They called it her shut-upping look. "Aunt Olympia Olym-pia gave me her shut-upping look, and I never opened my mouth," they would say to one another. Uncle Un-cle Lancy had no name for it but he understood it. "A thorough education," he remarked re-marked safely, dropping groceries. "You can come about with me, Helen. Hel-en. You can sit in my committee meetings. Some of them are merely mere-ly good antidotes for insomnia, but, on the other hand, some of them are very interesting., The munitions committee got into a fight every time it met. You'd have enjoyed that, but unfortunately it wound up its work and quit." "After all," went on Aunt Olympia Olym-pia musingly, "it does impress homey hicks to know that one has been received in Washington. But we'll be careful. We'll discriminate. "Sure, that's the idea," corroborated corrobo-rated the Senator. "Discriminate. Take them only to things that are good fun and hold them in seclusion seclu-sion from the bores." "I'll start off with a luncheon, exclusive, ex-clusive, very small Then a large tea not too large . . . It's too bad about Len Hardesty; he's a lot of help at that sort of thing . . . Yes, Helen, you're right We'll bring you and Adele out in a decorous way and seclude Limpy." "Aw, Uncle Lancy!" wailed Lim- py- The Senator rose to her appeal. "Stuff and nonsense," he said. "What's the matter with Limpy? Limpy can take care of herself. Let her have a good time." "Del, you silly dunce, that child" , "Seventeen, Auntie darling!" Limpy Lim-py reminded her. "And seventeen is very, very close to eighteen." "Sixteen," corrected Adele determinedly. deter-minedly. "Plus. Large plus, small mi nus." "Let 'em have as much fun as they can, that's my idea," said Uncle Un-cle Lancy loyally. "I don't want to have fun," disclaimed dis-claimed Helen promptly. "I just want to learn as much as I can; about politics and government, particularly; par-ticularly; from the ground up. I don't want gay society " "You want official things." said Aunt Olympia. "Yes, you're right Well, we have a stack of invitations. We'll go through them tomorrow and you can pick out what you like. And I'll plan the luncheon." She frowned thoughtfully for a while, left eye invisible. "You know. Del," she said suddenly. "I'm not at all sure but Adele could do a sight worse." The Senator did not pause to cough. "Do worse!" he ejaculated. " should say she could d: worse. 1 don't see how she could very ell do any better myself. She's just about perfect, in my opinion. They all are. In fact, they are perfect' I Adele laughed. "It has a faim reemhhi nee to a romp!. merit. Aunt- ie." she said. "Cut it's a bit too ff.eay for my cli.udd intelligence. Do worse than what?" "Than Len f! a r '. '.y He's smart. He s cot v. nat an election takes And the Sen lor' 11 he up again in CIO 111. COM IMEU) I |