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Show Polly and the Prophecy By STANLEY BARTON Copyright, igio, by Associated Literary Press i ne tortune teller neid folly s little hand and gazed long and shrewdly into her eyes. The fortune teller was a woman, and therefore Polly did not blush, as she was wont to do under the admiring stare of men. Nevertheless, Polly was uneasy. There seemed to be a set grimness about the tense mouth of this oddly-dressed oddly-dressed seer that boded ill for the dlmunitive one before her. "You would penetrate the future," began the fortune teller, "and you have come to me to find out what is in store for you. Well, then, young woman, I will tell you. Listen: An old man with money is to enter into your life The stars tell ms that you will greet him with open arms." "I won't." protested the rebellious Polly. She had in mind, as fhe spoke, the sturdy Jimmy Hamilton. whom she had refused for the third time that morning. "The stars do not lie," chided the fortune teller. "An old man will enter en-ter your life, and his impetuosity will fairly take your breath away. He will be old, but he has money." "I won't hear a bit more," came from Polly angrily,- and in a turbulent turbu-lent state of mind she drew her haughty little self indignantly out of the camp chair and flounced from the tent. Polly Edmunds wasn't superstitious, supersti-tious, and it was absurd to believe that she had gone to the fortune teller except through gentle curiosi- Mimm I V "You Would Penetrate the Future." ty; but it was enough to make any self-respecting girl angry the suggestive sug-gestive words of that parchment-skinned, parchment-skinned, silly-talking Roumanian. She wouldn't believe, and she knew very well that she would always remain re-main true to Jimmy Hamilton; he of the dark brown hair and blue eyes-Jimmy eyes-Jimmy Hamilton, who could twist his love words and phrases to the daintiest proposals ever bringing the blushes to the cheeks of a maid. She would not receive any hideous old millionaire with open arms! Polly was in a terrible state of mind when the luckless Jimmy espied her from across street and hastened to join her. "You!" she stamped a foot in the fine frenzy of her rar.e. "As if I didn't have trouble enough without you coming along!" Jimmy smiled and continued to plod cheerfully along at her side. "If I had a mouthful of vulgar gold teeth." contributed the girl spitefully, "I'm sure I would keep it closed and not be always grinning like a Cheshire cat! It's what I call an an ostentatious display of riches." Without a word of protest Jimmy obediently pulled his lips to a straight line. "Are you dumb?" asked the fair vixen. "Can't you talk? Have you lost your voice? For gracious sake, say something! You get on my nerves." "It's a fine day." observed Jimmy Hamilton. Polly glared. "You ought to read the advertisements and take a course in general intelligence." The unabashed Jimmy laughed heartily. "You are the original little cross-patch," he enthused. "The tabasco ta-basco sauce, as it were, to the dull routine of life in Greenville. Really. I am proud of you, Tolly. But why this most becoming petulance?" "I don't know why I should tell you my troubles, observed the girl. 'You haven't any sympathy and, besides, I have decided to have noth-'iir noth-'iir more to do with you. There!" "I commend you on your decision," remarked the youth at her side. "But, honestly, dear, it's not original, and you don't mean It. I'm the only chap in the town weather-beaten enough to survive these sudden storms, of which the present onesided one-sided altercation is but a reasonably fair example." "You like to hear yourself talk," snapped the maid. "You are simply eaten up with egotism. Some day your head will expand to the bursting burst-ing point and prove the vacuum that I have long suspicioned." Polly, in her tempestuous way, suddenly turned the conversation. "I have been to the fortune teller, if you must know." Jimmy, on the day before, had strolled through the camp of these picturesque nomads. "Gypsy queens have reputations for being rare seers," he observed, thoughtfully. "Rare fools," stormed the maid. "I Just hate myself for having gone out there at all. I I ought to have known better. No one and read the future," she concluded wisely. "It isn't possible." "I deduce, then, that the parcel of information handed out by the swarthy Minerva wasn't at all to your liking." The girl flushed, then the storm in her eyes suddenly abated and a wicked little imp of mischief danceJ expectantly In its place. "It would be nice if I could believe her." she ventured, demurely. "You would advise me to, would you not?" "Certainly," came the grin ning and unsuspecting Jimmy. "Gypsy queens are daughters jf seventh daughters, you know. They are wise in the occult." Thereupon Polly, with a happy little smile,-unfolded the Information vouchsafed by her Roumanian highness. high-ness. A frown clouded the youth's brow at the completion of the tale. "Rot." he grumbled. "But," objected Polly, sweetly, "! have your own words for it that these gypsy people are vastly clever. Since talking to you I havs no doubt but what it will come out as she said. Anyway, I must wait for my old millionaire mil-lionaire man. I always did believe that I should marry for money, and then who knows he may be nice; and I can love him, if h is." Polly was in a rare humor. Never before had she been able to tease this great, good-tempered giant. He never took her refusals to marry him as a good joke. But Polly was to see the sudden fruitl&n of the gypsy's prophesy, whether she believed in it or not. . "Honk, honk!" A most erratic automobile with two occupants came zig-zagging down the narrow road, Interrupting for the moment the interesting dialogue between be-tween the two young people. "Honk, bonk!" As the great machine reached them, it suddenly swerved to the curb, and one of the occupants was shot catapult-like into the very arms of Polly. Both were thrown to the walk. In an instant the new and spectacular arrival had bounced to his feet, and even before the astonished Jimmy realized what had happened had assisted the girl to her feet Profuse apologies came glibly to the lips of the man. The newly arrived was short, fat, and well on the shade side of seventy. sev-enty. How a man of his age could spring so nimbly to his feet and instantly in-stantly execute a Chesterfieldian bow was beyond the comprehension of the silent and wondering Jimmy. "There is something wrong with the car," the man was explaining. "My driver has been working at it for an hour. He couldn't stop, you see. Only for you, young woman, I would have been dashed to this stone pavement, and probably killed. If you will allow me I would like to give you this as a little token of my appreciation." ap-preciation." The old gentleman took a two carat diamond from his finger and passed it into the hands of the astonished girl. "Honk, honk!" The car. now under control, came to a sudden stop beside them, and in an instant, the old gentleman had climbed in beside the driver, who put on full speed and disappeared In a cloud of dust. "Jimmy," gasped Polly, "I take It all back. I will marry you. Things happen so fast in this world that It Is no place for an unprotected girl." And Jimmy laughed joyfully. |