Show Telegram T Tt Fiction f m I RICH R I C H R e L a T ION S 1 J W Wayne Priscilla By I CHAPTER 10 I Don Blair was going through a acene acene cene he detested He sat in the te lying room of Trixie Lanes Lane small and smoked one lter another while Tr Trixie cie paced back jack and forth like a Ii caged tigress tIer ier beautiful silver gold hair was wasn In n disorder and her ner lovely face tear stained She stopped her nervous pacing in front of ot Dons Don's chair You LYou mean then that were we're Don lighted another Had any other fellow lived through such sucha i a ridiculous scene But then he supposed they had This was the era wasn't it when the Uie modern girl got her Irl man marc Somehow TrixIe pacing moodily back jack and forth reminded him of f the movie star in a picture hed he'd seen somewhere who paced back and forth orth in just that way and declared in n song I I want my Taa raa man He found sudden voice Trixie no We iVe dont don't need to be through Unless uness unless un- un less ess you ou want to be Weve We've always b been en good friends since the time we were in our cradles Just because rm Fm in love wi h another nother girl doesn't mean that you and I shouldn't ever speak again We can just keep on b being friends Eyes Snap Flames Flames' The girl sat down suddenly She had lad never really thought Don loved the other girl Trixie's green blueeyes blue blueeyes blueeyes eyes snapped flames of anger When did you make up your mind that Y you loved h her r When you found out tho that her grand grandmother ot ez is the great Mrs James Tilton Sr No j c But Trixie was not t t to be 4 e put put- offIn offin off in that When I talked to you before beCore- before about bout about this this' subject subject- you remember remember- Yes ics Trixie I do remember Who Vho could forget m You ne needn't t be Barcas sarcastic lc Don Blair When I talked to you before ab about ut this girl you said it was was' all nonsense that you loved her that she scarcely even more than thana a attracted attracted at at- tract d you That W was l before you found out that she sho was one of the Maybe so so s s 's face faco wore a sudden triumphant triumphant tri tri- look Then you do love her because she's shel rich and real society so society so- so It came to Don that it was his turn to to tall talk Now l listen ten Trixie Youve You've had your say Now Im I'm going going going go go- ing to have mine I do love lovo Nancy Tilton and Id I'd loYe loY her if she hadn't a p penny and 1 If bodies But 1 I dont don't mind telling you that Im I'm glad she's Nancy Tilton Tilton Tilton Til- Til ton of the if it you know what I mean Im I'm going to marry her if shell she'll have me inc and you might just as J well make malto up your mind to it now as I any time Then Th n You Are Through Then you are through with me If y you u want it to be that w way y Trixie stemming her tide of pro pro- Oh I know all you'll sa say Its It's true weve we've been go good d for years Our mothers before before be- be fore ore us were They planned when we were in the cradle that some someday someday someday day wed we'd grow up and be the best team earn of vaudeville hoofers to be booked Queer how ambitions change My mother didn't dream then then hen that shed she'd be Mrs Anthony Blair with more money than she ever dreamed of possessing And my dad dad dad- Trixie caught at the straw Yes your dad Do y think Na Nancy cy Tilton would marry you OU if she knew about your own father Why her people wouldn't let her Nancy docs does know She said it didn't make any difference Then hen youve you've already t told ld her you love her The end of the world h had d come for Trixie Lane Not in so many words But she knows Then bitterly But whether shell she'll forgive what happened happened hap hap- tonight I dont don't know If she doesn't Trixie Ill I'll never forgive y you u. u forgive me Trixie said with a kind of fearful tearful calmness And you'll never marry marry Nancy Tilton Not If 1 I can prevent it it She would do everything she could to pr prevent vC t it It Don told himself himself him him- self sel as he shrugged himself out of the room to his car And it tt was too bad TrIxie w was s a pretty girl girland girland girland and lovable when she wasn't Indulging in indulging indulging in- in in one of her tantrums He was still stUl thinking of her when he reached home La Belle Mete Mere had retired d and as he went through the luxurious h house use h he vis was thinking think think- ing of all the changes life Ute had bad wrought to bring thim there His first memories as ns a little boy had been of the tho tiny cottage his father had provided for La a Belle BelleMere BelleMere Mere Mer and nd himself Just a sm small 11 hum humble le sort of place but hut they had been very happy happy except except the occasional occasional occa occa- times when his mother longed for tor the bright lights of the he stage and the the thrills of oC being a chorus girl again Had Dad Never Gone F Far r. r heli d never gone onG ye yer far Zar r. r in inV V 7 J. J i i h her hr r profession never anything but butto butto butto to hang on the ragged edges of the splendors of Broadway but it had been the tho meat and drink of f life to her Don could remember how delighted delighted delighted de de- de- de lighted his mother had been when Trixie Lane and her mother cameto cameto came cameto to Chicago Mrs Lane had di divorced divorced di- di her husband He was a vaudeville artist a hoofer and she had bad wanted something better for lor her little girl Trixie was beautiful l las as a little girl A fairylike elfin child with a halo of silver gold curls curIs But even then she had been given to to tantrums that made her elfin beauty seem anything but angelic an an- Mrs Romaine and Mrs Lane often otten talked together of the future ture when the two beautiful children the black lack eyed boy and the blue eyed girl would be grown grown Each mother wanted her child to be successful suc suc- suc An An ed education catlon Nellie that's what our children must have That's what we lacked Trixie's mother always said Nelle e Romaine was young Sh She wanted things She wanted to do what she called living her hei life And Don Romaine loved her with every b breath eath of ot his big handsome body Nellie NelUe wanted an a aut automo tomo- tomo mo- mo bile bIle and and securities down at the bank were shifted Nellie wanted a trip to fo California She wanted a 0 fur tur coat She wanted lovely clothes and and other er securities took wing whig Paid ald Behind t Bars Do Don Romaine paid eventually y behind prison bars bars and and the man who had been his boss now nov bought fur Cur coats and lovely dresses for La Belle Mere A que queer r q queer world Don sighed tossing in his bed And he couldn't put it out oit of his mind He remembered remember d ci when Trixie's mother died died tuberculosIs tuberculosis she had sacrificed even to to the bitter end for tor her child La Belle Mere was the tho great Mrs Anthony Blair then and with the tears teara stream streaming ng from her eyes for tor she truly loved her friend she had promised to take care of ot her child Taking care of ot the child meant in Mrs Mr Anthony Blairs Blair's parlance using some of the money her bus hus band supplied her with plentifully to clothe and feed the girl and send I her to school But not to take her into her own home home even e even en then Mrs Anthony Anthon Blair was realizing that U the c daugh daugh- ter of ot Evelyn Lane Laue ex-chorus ex girl girland girland and nd a a. comm common vaudeville hoofer l I would not make an acceptable daughter in law daughter law for Mr and Mrs Anthony Blair And then Trixie the blood of her parents stirring in her veins had run away from school for a time and nd had a little chorus girl experience ence enco of her own She was even a greater schemer than Mrs Anthony Blair herself for wh when n she came cameto cameto cameto to that lady asking her to use her influence to help her secure a position position position tion at Blair Benn Co La Belle BelleMere BelleMere BelleMere Mere was deeply flattered It never occurred to her that Trixie's rea real desire W was l to be near Don Blair and that her course of future action was as ns well mapped out as Mrs Anthony Blairs Blair's own One of those things Don told himself and went ot off to sleep to dream of a cloud of gorgeous re red redhair redhair hair and a pair of very troubled red brown eyes that looked at him reproachfully Days Das Paul Pass Slowly The days at Blair Benn Co passed slowly Nancy avoided Don and was thankful when she sh overheard someone someone some some- one ono in the office say the next morning morning morning morn morn- ing that he had gone to the Kansas Kansas Kan Kan- sas City branch office for tor a few day days That gave her time to think things thing over She saw David every day at lunch Once he asked her to dance with him again at the root roof garden Bushe But Bu isho she pleaded a previous and tried to tomake make the refusal sound as kindl kindly as possible Sh She had made up her mind that tha she must not date David He w was 5 beginning Inning to care too greatly ant and It hurt somehow to know that she sh-e must refuse his his' offers of friend friend- ship If It Don h had d' d not stood in the way Nancy knew that she could have cared very gr greatly atly for or David But caring for Don was such a tempestuous thing Nancy scarce scarcely knew how to interpret it it at all Caring for Don meant wild happiness happiness happi happi- ness one minute deep disappointment disappoint disappoint- ment the next She thought of the queer dual personality th that t was Dons So gay and lovable one min minute te so moody and almost almest sai savage ge the next It It w wasn't nt hard to account for such moods She could think only of a l lyea year old yea boy who had loved his own father very very deeply A 12 year old loving impulsive boy who had seen his father Cather led away to serve a long term in the penitentiary peni peni- whose mother had married mar mar- ried ned again almost immediately I It t was enough to put bitterness into a little boys boy's soul Maybe after alter all his hI moodiness was one of the things that made her love Jove Don so much Sometimes she wondered right down in her heart if she didn't didn t feel sorry for him If It that wasn't a apart part of oC her herlov lov love She found herself wa waiting Ung for his return Wondering h how w the they would readjust their friendship She reread again and again the telegram that had come from him Called to lo Kansas City Sorry I 1 could not make malte peace with you be before before be- be f fore re I 1 left But Im I'm coming home as fast as I r I can to can to you She was glad that Trixie kept away from her She dreaded talkIng talk lalk talking ing to her Wondered what she and nd Don could have said to each other otheron on that eventful night It was on the tho Sunday aH afternoon of Dons Don's return she return she had r received another telegram saying he was Wa re returning returning returning re- re turning Sunday evening that evening that Mrs Anthony Blair decided to call on Mrs James Tilton granddaughter grand grand- daughter La Belle Belie Mere arrived at Nancys Nancy's boarding house in a splendid limousine limousine lim lim- amine with a uniformed chauffeur at the wheel and she stood in the plain living room nervously tapping tapping tap tap- ping her er high heeled slipper sUpper against the frayed fraye rug as she waited for the girl to b be called Nancy came me slowly down the stairs stairs' She Shet wondered desperately ho how V she could explain her poor lodgings on Mi l Monday I I I l lii ii 4 f i J i 1 la |