| Show edven W tm iy ay al CATIC TT burp 9 JL 5 illustrated ak PAY C caa YM 0 OY Y carrr wass continued from Last Week r rf V CHAPTER vill mrs royalton in an almost too vivid shade of purple was in contrast to the two tao rather excited women al ready there calm cool and confident things were mere going very well with rena hena royalton she had a man in her pocket rena a mas getting on thirty five live bad had struck its warning bell if 11 she were going to be married again why by not nowa hall handsome T wasn gasn t he well born and breda rena had thought him over and decided to accept him she en therefore in a most becomingly amiable state of mind lofty and somewhat detached to carolyn she gave a smiling but suspicious why hello carolyn you here and to rosamund the quick unconscious tribute due the nat natural ural blonde her eyes returned to carolyn a little troubled 1 I expect to aale you again so soon my dear she bald rosamund meanwhile was staring at the prototype of the portrait which had started the discussion ot of hall s intimacies carolyn noticing intro deuced her rosamund however did not interest rena royalton so much as did carolyn herself where Is mr she asked ob he hes a out as usual said caro lyn I 1 expect miss fisher will at tend to you though mrs royalton shrugged her ders miss fisher will hardly do for what I 1 want she said I 1 m afraid have to see mr him self rosamund frowned but carolyn only raised her eyebrows oh well I 1 expect hall will be back before long said carolyn mrs royalton placid as a cow e eyed i her for a moment then demari slowly meditating you call him H don dont t youl you I 1 hada t known you V w so intimate oh lord yes I 1 always call h b hall carolyn was beginning to amused rosamund tossed her bead head a crossed her feet watching the ne comer sharply well said mrs airs royalton pr prin ironical im I 1 m delighted that you him so well my dearl well now I 1 come to think ot of rena I 1 don dont t know that I 1 do him quite so well as I 1 thought aft all she exchanged a smile wl rosamund amund who laughed aloud harsh ly causing mrs airs royalton to turn aud stare at her I 1 im m afraid I 1 fall fail to see the joke she said haughtily but of bourke u hall isn t at all the sort af man one sees through at a glance you know hes iles deep a very subtle per son in fact however she smiled complacently I 1 flatter myself that I 1 understand him a little better than I 1 did carolyn shot her a suspicious glance why she demanded made any recent discoveries mrs royalton deliberately nodded up and down and smiled cryptically oh I 1 don t know I 1 fancy he has something on his mind in tact fact T know he has there theres s a well a sort of crisis yes I 1 e oppose he would ap pear a little excited but of course I 1 really have no business discus ing it what in the world are you talking about rena 7 carolyn exclaimed why I 1 in talking about hall bonis boats telle of course well you re not saying much never mind carolyn dear it isn t because I 1 haven t anything to say you dont don t expect me to go about re beating things he has said to me in confidence do you oh said carolyn narrowing her eyes then hall has been confiding in you too has he hea 9 by thia this time rosamund was hard on the scent having almost caught up to carolyn s suspicions suspicious she said noth ing but her eyes were hot and shin ing as she scrutinized mrs royalton s face see here said carolyn now thor hughly interested I 1 don t see why I 1 haven t a right to know I 1 m a pretty good friend of hall s you know that and I 1 think you ought to be able to trust me well it isn t only trusting you mrs royalton looked significantly at rosamund sulkily listening well I 1 declare said carolyn calmly rena royalton either youre you re making an awful fool of yourself or else hall Doni stelle has actually she got no further flodie head up with a busy air bustled into the room carrying a handful of prints she stopped suddenly with a fine imitation of surprise and gazed at mrs koyal royal ton oh mrs royalton she exclaimed why you let me know you ou were herec ive got your proofs all ready for you I 1 think they are asplen did I 1 she handed them over and ap carolan with ays ys so 01 a ev lien len the he on ire ed ike ke HI ua ire the soul in them somehow oh I 1 think I 1 ought to try another sitting don t you say where is mr boni stelle anyway there came a ring at the telephone flodde jumped to snatch up the re celver hello yes why what a the matter oh naturally walt wait just a minute please flodde stopped and held her band hand over the transmitter oh miss aliss dallys would you and miss gale mind not talking quite so loud for a minute I 1 cant can t hear very well there was mas a long pause and the three women all studying clodies face saw a dozen different expressions pass over it in quick succession then she again really oh you know mr air Eonis telle well weil personally I 1 loathe them oh I 1 don t know but a I 1 ig d amond Is so funny some how then oh yes well I 1 I 1 now oh but its it s awful to pawn fiat t bat why it was your fa ther s wasn gasn t it well of course you know best oh didn t youa well I 1 might send it by the jani jant tor where did you leave ita when will you be here I 1 all right good by I 1 sirs airs royalton and rosamund still sat as if entranced but carolyn dallys rose impatiently now and glanced about as it if in search of an excuse the room was tensely charged with elec elee triciti it was evident that in another minute the explosion must come but first how to get rid of this important busy little miss fisher flodie herself answered the un voiced question t she as desir ous as any of them to bring the thing to a headd yes so she must fly and leave the field of battle clear still smiling she disappeared into the stockroom she left the door ajar mrs airs royalton rose with a self con smile well carolyn she said I 1 suppose III have to tell you now it is most unfortunate that miss fisher wasn gasn t more discreet in her conversa tion but so long as she has let the cat out of the bag I 1 might as well in form you that the ring she was talk ing to hall about Is for this finger she held up her left hand her thumb pointing to her third finger carolyn with a whoop tel fell into rosamund s arms and the two laughed until they cried mrs airs royalton stared as if they had suddenly gone mad then she ex claimed angrily I 1 d like to know what there la Is to laugh at I 1 I 1 dont don t see any thing particularly amusing in the fact that I 1 im in going to marry hall boni stelle stelie oh don t you youa carolyn gurgled miss gale do you see anything funny in it funny I 1 its a scream I 1 rosamund shouted with mirth who 11 be the next onea oh the more the merrier cried carolyn rena royalton drew herself up proudly I 1 think youre you re exceedingly impertinent she replied carolyn dried her eyes on a lace handkerchief rena she said still giggling I 1 don t know whether it s too true to be funny or too funny to be true but you ought to be in on this joke really my dear it will inter est you strangely well I 1 don it call it a joke it is an outrage cried rosamund say miss gale carolyn turned confidentially ayou d you know we ought really to form a society of the sur divoris you know rena s the oldest and we II 11 elect her president mrs royalton stared from one to the other her temper rising finally she remarked cuttingly I 1 must say carolyn I 1 always thought you were a lady and she walked swiftly toward the door oh don t go yet carolyn c called billed out youve you ve got a laugh comin coming g to you too kena rena you haven t heard our news yet mrs royalton trembled on the threshold your newsy news what ayou d you mean meana listen here said rosamund walk ing ng over to her coolly sail hall boni stelle proposed to miss dallys at ten thirty this morning and he proposed to me at a quarter to eleven now what time did he propose to you mrs royalton put out a hand trem bung bling with appeal carolyn she am alord carolyn nodded unsympathetically pathetically mrs airs royalton d copped into a chair speechless and burst into tears caro lyn iya walked up to her and laid a hand on the heaving purple shoulder brace up she said it won t hurt but a minute see here rena were you carried off your feet by his wild wooing or did you take notice of the timea why here this morning caro lyn mrs airs royalton sobbed I 1 left just before you came it was it was be fore that her tears poured forth afresh carolyn nodded to rosamund make it ten fifteen then I 1 expect he proposes every quarter of an hour rain or shine but I 1 don t see said rosamund it if she accepted him why he ever pro posed to us mrs airs royalton looked up through big teary eyes why she said taint faint ly you see well I 1 didn t give him a definite answer bealli that is not exactly 1 I said she said shed she d tell him later I 1 the two girls cried in unison as if they had rehearsed it tonight t R rosamund 0 s added and carolyn D dian didn ddn t y you 0 u now renaa mrs airs royalton nodded tremulously how did you knowd oh ohl carolyn shouted how did I 1 know oh I 1 know all right she blew a kiss to rosamund you continued on next page continued from preceding page vt quite believe him and so you t could t decide and you re to give bim him bour answer tonight when you f come to his unnatural old party Is that right I 1 well he must have wanted mo me most anyway said hena rena drying her tears he ile proposed to me first carolyn held up her hand second thoughts are always best meaning met me I 1 he ile changed his mind though rosamund protested he proposed to I 1 me last I 1 carolyn grinned at her why he hot might just as well have counted us out like playing tag to see who s it I 1 she pointed to each in turn calling out my mother told me to take this one I 1 the last was rosamund no thanks rosamund resumed 1 I 1 don t intend to be it she dropped her voice a little glancing at the door why you ought to hear what miss fisher has been telling me about the business here why it seems mr Bonis telles awfully hard up barely paying expenses all sorts of unpaid L bills piling up too he may have to move over to sixth avenue even I 1 chasn t he got a nerve though j mrs royalton rose like a spartan determined hard girls I 1 know what I 1 in going to do I 1 intend to tell him just what I 1 think of him and sead him packing there carolyn interposed now youre you re talking rena lets get down to business and decide what to do were we re all in the same fix and me must hold together yes we ought to take a stand rena agreed and hall ought to take a tumble from rosamund t r see here herblet he let s do this thing accord ing to hoyte hoyle said arolyn taxing the lead with all her humor first thing is are we one and all agreed to reject him tonight 9 yes mrs royalton and rosamund came inchong in chorus chons well then said carolyn I 1 prom ise as well hope to die she crossed herself now this is a serious thing ladies no one of us can go back on our word it must be one two three and out for 11 Doni stelle well agreed now for the details oh I 1 simply can t wait to tell him I 1 exclaimed mrs royalton I 1 hate tha the man so do V I 1 growled rosamund 1 I think he ought to be horsewhipped well said carolyn I 1 must say I 1 agree with you both I 1 consider hall Is a perfectly conceived and admirably rendered cad at this moment the door swung open and humming a jolly tune in walked hall Doni stelle there was a trio of in soprano mezzo so and contralto as the ladles ladies caught sight of him to be continued next week |
