Show t LOVERS IN ARMS by H L ames I 1 wt copyright by J oseph morning room at mrs monte th s london res dence miss mabel mon beith engaged to roland alexande Is reclining on sofa leading clock strikes six clock she rises and lays down hei bool mabel wh it Is already six and ronnie will be sure to be here soon goes towards large minor and ar ranges her hair I 1 want him to come early this evening that he may see my new tea gown he Is certain to like it he admired mrs st I 1 edger s so much the other night it was good of her to let me copy it his favorite color and my favorite color too all our ideas are so much in common oh it is lovely to be engaged to be mar ried and as soon as my guardian gives bis formal consent I 1 shall be able to order the trousseau ti yes and all the presents will come pom ing in enter ro laid bonald ah mabel alone I 1 came early hoping to get here before your family arrived advances to her and she to him embraces her quite well that s right tea no thanks no tei mabel I 1 dian didn t say tea I 1 dian didn t it even it would have sounded prosaic so so immediately after ronald who scarcely seems to hear her s eting down oh my dear ma bel I 1 must tell you what richard son told me to day when mabel how did ou come to see hima ronald oh we had luncheon together at mabel how did you happen to lunch together 7 you always say you have no time for lunch ronald well we d t exactly go out to lunch together I 1 met him at a restaurant and while we were ing a cigarette over our coffee mabel I 1 thought mi richardson never ed ronald no he does not mabel well how could he be ng a cigarette 9 ronald ise he d d but that has absolutely noth ng to do with my story mabel oh ot course not I 1 never sa d it had I 1 don t see why you should gt cross over a s mple question though go on ronald well while we were hav ing our coffee my father s friend sir alfred and his wife came in and mabel they did i ronald well I 1 have just said so mabel at least you need not be croas about it ronald they came up to where we were and mabel Is she prettye ronald yes I 1 so lovely eyes and such a oice tom bowed and mabel does he 1 now thema ronald well my dear do ou sup pose that he wo ild have bowed it he had not kr own them I 1 really mabel how was she dressed 9 ronald how should I 1 knowd I 1 never looked at her dress what I 1 was going to ua was mabel did they sit near youa ronald yes at the table and while they were sitting down tom said they ought to be ashamed of themselves because they mabel did they hear hima ronald now do you suppose that tom would have had so little sense as to let them hear what he saida really mabel I 1 angrily mabel ronald if ou cannot speak 0 a simple little incident without fly ing into a passion we had better change the subject what did mr richards saya ronald he said that sir alcied is so opposed to our engagement mabel how d d he 1 now thata ronald goodness gracious there ou go again eveia time I 1 try to tell you you begin to interrupt me and mabel I 1 only asked o 0 a simple question fonald simple you ve asked me abo i a million simple questions in the last ten minutes and beca ise I 1 was going to exola n to you that tom richardson Richard sop told me that mabel rising I 1 doit wish in the least to 1 now ahat mr tom richard son or what anybody else sa d it you cannot tell it to me ditl out flying into such excitedly a fearful passion you are unkind I 1 shall have my din ner all alone up in my room tonight as it is so painful for sou to tak to me ronald now my dear dont lose vo i temper you cannot afford it women never look so plain as when they lose their tempers mabel and men never speak so plain as when they have lost theirs I 1 have not lost mv temi er I 1 am per factly excitedly calm pause ronald lights a cigarette mabel oh of course whenever a man cannot arg 19 he smokes ronald most of the attempted att emited ar of fornai with man end like that mabel like ronald in smoke mabel stiffly ronald I 1 dont think that this s the kind of way to behave to the girl i are going to marry it our life is to be spent like this it will be m ery sobs ronald on tl e contrary I 1 it will be delightful ou can argue and I 1 can smoke mabel do ou me n to go on like thise ronald my apar girl wl en i ou are perfectly calm I 1 to mabel oh 3 es are al 15 s osing soi eti ii g ronald D d it once too often eha A i ause if fully Is well I 1 will continue my satorv lorn said that sir alfred and 1 is fam ly were opposed to ou match mabel ou said ill that before ronald or wa trying to when you ginterr apte 1 me mabel I 1 d t ginterr apt you bonald aside H m lettai change the subject A sudden idea beems to strike him he sn lies to himself roi aid A ne v liess mabal 1 i nil g ni quickly with t and self conscious man hm its uncommon do you think soa care perfectly sweet pert unc do you really mean ita why of course I 1 did not notice it before mabel ltd you bonald how pi etty you look in it aside got a sweet expression now she looks archly at mm come closer and lets have a good look at ou she moves towards him and stops about three paces off he looks when you are perfectly composed 1 propose to at her and then steps forward and kisses her ronald dear 1 atle thing mabel ronald honald shall I 1 go on with my story nowa mabel yes of arse do tell me he sits down she on the floor at his knees ronald well old sir alfred who as you know I 1 expected would help us out financially is opposed to our marriage you see mabel I 1 oh in dismay ronald yes that nas where we left off yo i know but it isn t the end there s something better to come mabel oh i ronald tom took me aside after wards and said it the worst came to the worst he woul see us through himself mabel he dida ronald yes isn t he bricka mabel then aen it is all right ronald of arse it Is and if I 1 d only seen that dress before you would have known it long ago mabel I 1 am sorry I 1 interrupted but ou ought to notice things a little moie ronald well begin again mabel oh no don t please ronald I 1 mean be a new man and always try to remember to admire bour aretty dresses mabel and I 1 wont argue so we will go back to where we left off last time he kisses her oh ron nie I 1 bonald I 1 dont want ou to inter bupt rupt now very q lick curtain |