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Show ,, i Easy Come and Easy Go i . j By H. LOUIS RAYBOLD I ICupyrU'ht.) icr rT nKSS doesn't have to exert 1V1 herself a mite to get attention," atten-tion," said I'elia Smith complacently. "None of these modern tricks to get the boys." Iier companion, mother of homely Abby 1'hillips, pave forth a vapue sound that might have meant anything. any-thing. The two women were enjoying the Wednesday "movie" matinee. "Have a car'mel? Lake Whittier brought 'em to Liess and she can't abide 'em." Delia passed over a handful. hand-ful. "Between you and me, beaus have always come so easy to P.ess she i doesn't appreciate 'em. She sure I leads Luke a dance and he doesn't mind a mite. My, Isn't that the thrill- ingest kiss !" Meanwh;e, the two under discussion were spinning along the Post road, and could the girl's mother have overheard over-heard them she would have had to revise her estimate of Luke's enjoyment enjoy-ment of her daughter's habits. "You've got to quit, Bess," he was saying doggedly. "Either you take me for worse or better and tell the world, or I am going to get another girl." "I suppose," she ventured airily, "you want to know if you can take me to your old Athletic club dance." "Partly," admitted Luke. "But there's more than that. I want you to announce our engagement and quit going around with other fellows. That's only fair." Bess opened her little bead bag, tool; out a chamois case, opened that, and took out a ring. "Here you are, Luke," she said coldly. "I won't be driven." Luke pulled up to the side of the road. "You really mean it, Bess?" Bess nodded. "I can be obstinate, too," she said. A moment later Luke had turned his car back toward Pottersville and the two occupants rode home7 without with-out another word. If Bess had not given Luke a decisive de-cisive answer about the Athletic dance it was neither because she did not Intend to go nor, as far as that went, because she did not intend to go with Luke. Only Bess was by disposition dis-position a scalp hunter, and as long as no one knew that she was going with Luke and did not remotely suspect sus-pect that she was secretly engaged to him, she would receive other Invitations, Invi-tations, j If, in the days that followed, she missed Luke's thoughtfulness and pleasant ways, she gave no outward sign. Luke, passing her on the street, could not but notice that she was so earnestly engaged in laughing and chatting with Gene Phillips, the homely home-ly Abby's brother, that she quite neglected neg-lected to throw him more than the curtest of nods. For a week or two Gene called frequently fre-quently upon her. Then an out-of-town girl distracted his attention and he gave way to Floyd Bacon, a youth Bess secretly hadn't much use for, but who served to pass the time. Then she heard that Luke had asked Abby to the Athletic dance, Pot-tersville's Pot-tersville's big annual affair among the young people. And so far no one had invited her. Bess wasn't exactly worried, wor-ried, but she had reached the point where the first invitation wouldn't be toyed with as had Luke's. Just Imagine Imag-ine that homely Abby being asked and Bess Smith allowed to stay home. Unthinkable. Un-thinkable. ' The day came when the dance was a week away. Then a question of days. And finally a matter of mere hours. In the closet upstairs hung the most charming of dresses of the most lovely blue, while at its feet were two of the dearest bronze slippers imaginable. And, for all their beauty, they seemed doomed to remain unworn. un-worn. When the strains of the first fox trot floated upon the mellow air Bess, who lived not far from the hall, rose from her bed, where she had been lying with face buried in the pillows, and stole to the window. Late couples were still going up the street. Yes, Abby was still dressing, for a light burned in her bedroom, and occasional oc-casional shadows moved across the curtain. Sensibly she held no particular partic-ular grudge against Abby. In the past few days she bad had time to review her , own conduct and to decide de-cide that she had only herself to blame. She had had Luke and had not lifted a finger to keep him. Then she saw Abby coming out of her gate. She drew back. It would cause her a great deal of pain to see Luke"'s dear figure beside Abby's. Wait that dumpy youth wasn't couldn't be Luke, the tall and broad-shouldered. broad-shouldered. Bess didn't stop to look again didn't pause to consider the possibility of Luke's going with some one else than Abby. She fairly flew down the stairs, two at a time, to the telephone. "Luke? Luke? Not going? To the dance?" "Oh you you wouldn't take up with anyone else " "Why, I heard ob, Luke, you darling! dar-ling! Hurry! Yes, I'll be ready in a jiff and I'll tell everyone we're engaged en-gaged and, oh. I guess when a girl really cares, she'll do some of tht chasing, too!" "Yes," said her mother, "Bess certainly cer-tainly looked sweet in that new dress.' The two women were talking ovei things at the pictures. "Luke's a nlct boy. I always say 'Easy come, easj go,' but Bess never found it that way. Have a car'mel?" |