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Show WOMEN ARE SMART j (A Short Story) 1 j By RICHARD HILL WILKINSON f YOU CAN FOOL a woman. A smart woman, I mean. Camillc Squier was smart. So was Elena Talley. But there was a difference Camille was better looking. She had charm and grace and could wear clothes. When she entered a room, men gravitated in her direction. di-rection. She knew this. And because she knew it, she was sure of herself her-self confident. Elena knew it, too. She knew there was no sense in making a conquest con-quest when Camille was around. If-Camille If-Camille took a fancy to your conquest, con-quest, you might as well give up. This was the situation when Elena met Val Randall. She met him at a dance in January, two weeks before be-fore she was due to leave with her going to beat Camille at her own game. ' Elena left with her folks for I Miami on the 21st of January. Val .vas to come down a week later. Camille and Candace Usher and Gail Sharon were already there. As always, the four families would stay at the Whitlock Hotel on Miami Beach. "Darlings!" Elena exclaimed when her three friends greeted her at the station, "I have the most wonderful news!" j Gail Sharon said bluntly: "I hope j it's a flock of men. There's abso- , lutely no one here. It's positively dull." ! "Only one, darling. One lovely, I adorable handsome man. He's a writer. His name i3 Val Randall. I j met him at a dance two weeks i ago." She turned to Camille. "A new conquest for you, my sweet. You'll adore him." "Really?" said Camille. smiling faintly. j "He's the best-looking thing you've ever laid your eyes on!" ! Elena babbled on. "Oh, you'll love ' him. I can just see you two to- 1 gether. The best-looking couple j on the beach!" And so Elena continued to talk ! about Vat For six days she talked about him whenever she could get 1 anyone to listen. And mostly she I talked tn f!amillo I .5 . i :. Camille was bored. After two days of it she had heard enough. She was sick of the sound of Val Randall's name. Her replies to Elena's enthusiastic build-ups became be-came sharp and irritated. Then at last Val arrived, and Elena, entering the hotel with Camille Ca-mille and Candace and Gail and seeing him in the lobby, cried: ! "There he is! Oh, there's Val! Isn't he wonderful!" And she crossed the lobby to speak to him. ! The other girls trailed behind. I Elena held her breath and then ; watched and waited. j Val looked at the other girls and I looked at Camille. CamiUe's- eyes were faintly puzzled, faintiy shocked. Presently she excused herself and went to her room Elena found her there a half hour later "Wasn't he grand, darling! Wasn't he wonderful?" Camille stifled a yawn. "Honey you never did know what to look for in a man. I'm sorry, but please dont try to promote a romance between your writer and me I'm quite satisfied with my present set-up." Elena's face fell. But the moment mo-ment she was outside the door her eyes lighted with triumph. "He's only going to be here a week," she can keep " UP tht long. Why, I can almost make her hate him." And then as she sped along the corridor toward where she had promised to meet Val, she thought: "It's love. I know it now. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been smart enough to think up such a brilliant scheme." Camille stnlea ; yawn, "iloney, you never did know wha! to look for in a man. I'm sorry, but please don't try to promote a romance between your writer and me. I'm quite satisfied with my present set-up." family for the annual sortie to Miami. Val was a writer and soft spoken and gentle and understanding, understand-ing, and Elena knew she loved : him before they had danced around j . the floor once. I The discovery confused her, changed her, carried her to dizzy heights and dropped her to depths of despair. She knew 'oved her. She could see it in his ;-es. She could feel it. She knew he was re- ' j.ning himself because of convention. con-vention. She knew he was afraid to say what was in his heart because he was afraid she v.-nuldn't believe be-lieve him. It was frustrating. She couldn't tell him how she felt. It wouldn't ring true. Then she learned that he was going to Miami in January, and her heart beat with wild joy. Almost instantly horror replaced the joy. The crowd would be there. Camille would be there. Camille would take one look at Val Randall and that would be the end. Elena was desperate. Before it hadn't mattered, because she hadn't really been in love. This was different. She couldn't let Val go without a fight. Even if it meant losing face, even if it meant humil-iation humil-iation and being laughed at. Val was hers. Camille couldn't have him. Somehow, some way, she was |