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Show Richard Hill Wilkinson "I'm WInthrop Akeri," he explained. ex-plained. "We haven't been Introduced, Intro-duced, have we?" It was a blow to her pride that he didn't know who she wai. She knew, a quick anger, but smothered It. "No." she said. "I'm Amalia Yea-ton." Yea-ton." And waited. But the name had no effect on him. He said: "Well, what's in a name, anyhow? any-how? I'm fed up with this dance. Let's drive somewhere." AMALIA WAS OVERWHELMED. He was so casual about It. Didn't he know that every man there was dying to take her home? Vint Co-burn Co-burn -came up and atked her to dance, but she shook her head. Vint stared at her queerly and stared at WInthrop Akers. She expected him to park, and was determined to resent any advances he might make. But she didn't get the chance. They had hot chocolate at a country roadhouse and then drove home. WInthrop didn't try to kiss her good night. Amalia felt that the evening wasn't entirely victorious. The next day Winthrop called up and asked her to have dinner with him. She agreed. He arrived wearing wear-ing glasses. The glasses didn't improve im-prove his looks any, but she forgot them before the evening had begun. They went to a theater after dinner. The next day and the next WInthrop WIn-throp called and took her out. Amalia Ama-lia was amazed at herself. She canceled can-celed dates right and left She found herself looking forward to being be-ing with WInthrop. She wasn't used to this sort of thing. It was a week before she realized she was In love. It was a strange feeling, but wholly delightful. THAT NIGHT WInthrop asked her to marry him. "Tomorrow vacation va-cation ends. I'm going back to college. col-lege. I'm an English Instructor there, you know. Pretty soon I expect ex-pect I'll be an associate professor, then a full professor. Would you consider being the wife of a college - professor, darling?" A week ago Amalia wouldn't have considered being the wife of any- , thing short of a millionaire. But that was before she'd met WInthrop. WIn-throp. Instead of giving her usual ; callous reply to such a proposal she said: "I'd even consider being the wife of an English instructor, if he were you." THIS DANCE, save for the fact that there were a number of new men present due to the annual mid-winter vacation at the university, uni-versity, was not unlike a dozen others Amalia had attended at the country club. If anything, she was more popular. Men cut In on her before she had taken 10 steps with each new partner. She was used to it. She loved it. She had acquired a poise that kept men wondering, encouraged them, yet was impartial. impar-tial. , As the evening wore on sha began be-gan to notice the good looking blond who danced continuously with Beu-lah Beu-lah Wyman. Not that she begrudged Beulah the attentions of a good-looking good-looking man. The poor thing deserved de-served it. But it struck Amalia as queer that the blond hadn't cut In on her. At first he had been mere- I ly one of a dozen youths whom she didn't know. By 11 o'clock he stood out from the rest. He hadn't asked her to dance, he hadn't sought an introduction, he hadn't even looked at her in that way to which Amalia was to used. ; AMALIA FOUND HERSELF being be-ing annoyed. She was accustomed j1 to having strange young men seek I her out. When Vinton Coburn swung her away in the next dance she said: "Who's your good-looking boy friend, Vint?" She had seen the blond talking to Vint. Vint looked down at her. "Which one?" ha asked and just then the blond slid by with Beulah Wyman land sha nodded toward him. "Oh, I him! Why that's Winthrop Akers. ' A nice boy. He's down with Jim Oliver for the week-end. Met him?" "Who?" Amalia evaded, "Jim or Mr. Akers?" She had seen Dave Turner coming toward them and timed her answer. Dave cut in in time to spare her the explanation (Vint's expression was demanding. When 12 o'clock came and there was a pause for supper, Amalia's annoyance had reached a point of .resentment. Winthrop Akers was paying her less attention than ever, .If that were possible. She wanted to meet him. She was determined to contrive it somehow. She wanted him to know that she -was the most popular girl present. ' WHEN THEY RETURNED to the ballroom at 1 o'clock Amalia got Tom Burdon one side and suggested sug-gested Paul Jones. Tom thought the idea good one and immediate- When Winthrop left her that night it was only after they'd sat before the house parked in his roadster for an hour. Presently she said: "I'm still in a dream. Why, that first night at the country club you didn't notice me at all. You didn't even see me." He nodded. "Literally, I didn't. I'm near-sighted. Can't see a thing without my glasses. The only one I could see plainly was Beulah Wyman. It seemed she was always in my way. Then after the first hands around in the Paul Jones I saw you and almost broke my neck trying to arrange it so we'd dance together." "Thank heavens for Mr. Paul Jones." breathed Amalia. ly put it into execution. But they swung to the music three times before be-fore Amalia's efforts to negotiate being at the right place at the right time were successful. She discovered that Winthrop Akers danced divinely. She expected expect-ed him to say something, but he didn't. She was afraid the music would stop before he decided to talk. Abruptly he stopped dancing and suggested that they sit and talk for awhile. Amalia was surprised. v She was more surprised at her own acquiescence.. Certainly things weren't working out as she had planned. , ( |