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Show life GML in the Elizahoth (Jordan WNUSirvIci wrmpped la t hetlthfal tlumber teAt Infuriated Bcngi, whe wnderHl la and out f their apartment lit aa unhappy fhoit On the rar occasions occa-sions when he and Rodney lunched or dined together, Laurie was entirely good-humored and when Epstein was with them seemed wholly lmperrlouj to any hints thrown out, none too subtly, by his producing partner. "Listen, Laurie," said that disgusted Individual, almost a month after the new year had been ushered In, "the new year's here. That's a good time for a young fella to get busy again on somethln' vorth while. Ain't I rlght7" Laurie suppressed a yawn and carefully care-fully struck off with his little finger the firm ash of an excellent cigarette. He was consuming thirty or forty cigarettes a day, and his nerves were beginning to show the effect of this Indulgence. "I believe It Is," he courteously agreed. "It has been earnestly recommended rec-ommended to the young as a good time to start something." ."Veil," Epstein's voice took on the guttural notes of his temperamental tun U town ; and all for whatT He himself had brought out of the foolish experience avthlng aave a tired nervous nerv-ous system, a sense of boredom such as he had not known for a year, and, especially when he looked at Bangs, an acute mental discomfort which Introspective In-trospective persons would probably have diagnosed as the pangs of conscience. con-science. Laurie did not take the trouble trou-ble to diagnose It. He merely resented resent-ed It as a grievance added to the supreme su-preme grievance based on the fact that he had not yet even started on the high adventure he had promised himself. He was gloomily considering both grievances, and tying his tie with his usual care, when something In the mirror caught and held his attention. He looked at It, at first casually, then with growing Interest. In the glass, directly facing him, was a wide studio window. It was open, notwithstanding notwithstand-ing the cold January weather, and a comfortable, middle-aged, plump woman, wom-an, evidently a superior type of caretaker, care-taker, was sitting on the sill, polishing an Inner pane. The scene was as vivid as a mirage, and It was like the mirage mi-rage In that It was projected from some point which Itself remained unseen. un-seen. Laurie turned to the one window the dressing-room afforded a double French window, at his right, but a little lit-tle behind him, and reaching to the floor. Through this he could see across a court the opposite side of his own building, but no such window or commonplace com-monplace vision as had Just come to him. In his absorption In the phenomenon phe-nomenon he called to Bangs, who rose slowly, and, coming to his side, regarded re-garded the scene without much Interest. Inter-est. "It's a cross projection from a house dlneonally opposite us," he said, after studying the picture a moment. "It must be that old red studio building on the south west-corner of the square. If we had a room back of this and Inoklne tnwnrd the west, we could see the leal window." "As It Is." said Laurie, "we've got a reserved seat for an Intimate study of any one who lives there. I wonder won-der who has that studio?" Bansrs had no Idea. He was grateful grate-ful to the little episode, however, for spreading over the yielding ground beneath his feet (he solid strip on which he had crossed back to his chum. He threw an arm across Laurie's shoulders and looked Into his face, with snmethlne In his expression that reminded young Devon of a favorite fa-vorite collie he had loved and lost In boyhood. "All rleht now?" the look asked, .1nt as the dog's look had asked It Of the little chap "of ten. when something had gone wrong. Rodney's creed of lifp was held .toeether by a few primitive prim-itive laws, the flrrt of which was loyalty. loy-alty. Already he was reproaching himself for what he had said and flnn. Laurie carefully completed the tyinsj of his. tie and turned to him with his gayest smile. "Hurry up and finish dressing," he cheerfnllv suprrpsted. "and we'll go out to breakfast. Since you insist on wait-In? wait-In? 'round for me like Mary's little lamb. I suppose I've got to feed you." Rodney's wide grin responded, for thp first time in many days. He hustled shout, completing his toilet, -and ten minutes later the two young enen started out together with a lteht-nes lteht-nes of spirit which each enjoyed and neither wholly understood. Both had a healthy horror of "sentimental stuff" and a pay. normal dlsreeard of each other's foellnes In ordinary Intercourse. Inter-course. But In the past half-hour, for the first time In their association, they had come close to a serious break, and the soul of each had been chilled by a premonitory loneliness as definite as the touch of an Icy finger. In the quick reaction they experienced now their spirits soared .exultantly. They breakfasted In a fellowship such as they had not known since Barbara's marrlatre. the month before. If Bangs had Indulged In any dream of a change of life In Laurie, however, how-ever, following this reconciliation, the next few days destroyed the tender shoots of that hope. Laurie's manner n tained Its pleasant camaraderie, but work and he met as strangers and passed each other by. The routine of his days remained what they had been during the past five weeks. He gadded about, apparently harmlessly, came home at shocking hours, and spent most of the bracing January days STORY FROM THE START Laurl Devon, successful playwright, play-wright, but somewhat Inclined to wlldneas, attends the wedding of his alster, Barbara, to whom has been left the great Devon fortune. Laurie had been a gay young chap, but for the last year he has been toeing the mark, through .the efforts of Barbara. Laurie, who Is wealthy, refuses to settle down to work, announcing announc-ing his Intention of resting and seeking adventure. CHAPTER II Continued Laurie grinned, and the grin Infuriated Infuri-ated Rangs. He whirled away from It. A footstool Impeded his progress, and he kicked It out of the way with large abandon. It was his habit to rush about a room when he was talking talk-ing excitedly.. He rushed about now; and Laurie lit a cigarette and watched him. at first angrily, then with a grow-In.' grow-In.' tolerance born of memories of scenes In their plays which Rangs had thrashed out In much this same manner man-ner The world could never be wholly uninteresting while Rodney pranced about In It. cutting the air with gestures ges-tures like that. "Mere I am," snapped Rodney "ready with my play, the best plot I've had vet. You won't let me even mention men-tion It to you. Here's the new season. Here's Epstein, sitting on our doormat with a check-book In each hand, waiting wait-ing to put on anyth'ng we give hhn Yon knw he's lost a small fortune this fall. You know It's up to us to give him a play th.vf will pull him out of the hole he's In. Here's Haxon. the hest director In town, marking time and holding olT other managers In the hope I hat you and I will get down to business And here you are. the fellow we're nil counting on: " He stopped for hrenth and ad.iect'ves. "Yes," Laurie politely prompted him. "Here ! nm. What about It? What am 1 doine?" "You know ri d well what you're doing You're loafing!" Hangs tired the word at Mm us If It ivere a shell from a Ilig Bertha. "You're loafing till It makes us all sick to look at you. We thought a week or two of It would be enough, when you realbed the con- dltlons: but it's cone on f.ir a month: and instead of getting tired you're getting more and more into the loafing habit You abuse lime till It shrieks In agony." "flood sentence," applauded Laurie. "But don't 'waste it on me. Put It Into play." Baugs seemed not to hear him He was standing by the room's one window, win-dow, now, staring unseeingl) out of it. Her Elbows Were on the Sill. Hsr Chin Rested In the Hollow of Her Cupped Hands.. hands still. In his pockets, stared despondently de-spondently at his outstretched leg3. "That's all It means to you," he went on, morosely. "Our partnership Is one In a thousand. It's based on friendship friend-ship as well us on financial Interest. If I do say It, It represents a combination combi-nation of brains, ability, backing and prospects that comes only once In a lifetime, If It comes at all. Yet In one year you're sick of It, and tired of work. You're ready to throw It all over, and to throw over at the same time the men whose Interests are bound up with yours. You're dawdling In cabarets and roadhouses and restaurants, res-taurants, when you might be doing Work " Bangs' voice capitalized the word "real work." he added fiercely, "work other fellows would give their souls to he able to do." He ended on a flat note, oddly unlike his usual buoyant tones, and sat still as If everything had been said. Laurie lit a fresh cigarette, drew In a mouthful of smoke, and exhaled It In a sprles of pretty rings. In his brief college experience he had devoted de-voted some time to acquiring this art. Admiringly watching the little rings pass through the hlg rings, he spoke with studied carelessness. "It was a pretty good scene, Bangs,-' he said, "and It showed careful rehearsing. re-hearsing. But It would he a lot more effective if you had a real situation to base It on. As It Is you're making a devil of a row about nothing. 1 worked like a horse all last year, and you know it. Now I'm resting, or loafing. loaf-ing. If you prefer to call It that, and" he bit off the words and fairly threw them at his friend -"It will save you and Epstein and Haxon a lot of mental men-tal wear and tear If you will mind your own huslness and let me alone." Bangs raised his eyes and dropped them again. "You are our business," he somberly somber-ly reminded his partner. "I've got so I can't work without you." he added, wlfh a humility new to him. "You know that. And you know I've got the plot. It's ready great Scott, it's boillne In me! I'm crazy to get It out. And here I've got to sit around watching watch-ing you kill time, while you know and I know that you'd he a d n sight happier hap-pier if you were on thp Job. Wood Lord. Laurie, work's the biggest thing there Is In life! Doesn't It mean anything any-thing at all to you?" "Not Just now." Laurie spoke with maddening nonchalance. "Then there's something rotten In you." Laurie winced, but made no answer. He hoped Bansis would go on talkina and thus destroy the echo of his last words, with which the silent room seemed filled. Hut nothing came. Rodney's opportunity hud passed, and he was lost In depressed realization of his failure. Laurie strolled back to the mirror, his forgotten tie dangling dan-gling in his hand. "We'll let it go at that," he said then. "Think things over, and make up your mind what you want to do about the contract." "All right." Rangs replied In the same flat notes lie had used a moment before, and without changing his position : but the two words gave Laurie a shock. He did nut believe that either Rodney or Epstein would contemplate a dissolution dissolu-tion of their existing partnership; but an hour ago he would not have believed be-lieved that Rodney Bangs could say to him the thingsjie had said just now. He was beginning to realize that he had tried his partners sorely In the month that had passed since his re- I moments, "don't that mean notnln' to you?" Laurie grinned. He had caugnt the quick look of warning Bangs snot at the producer and It amused him. "Not yet," he said. "Not till I've had my adventure." Epstein sniffed. "The greatest adventure In life," he stated dogmatically, "is to make a lot of money. I tell you vy. Because then you got all the other adventures you can handle, trying to hold on to It !" Bangs, who was developing a new and hitherto unsuspected vein of tact, encouraged Epstein to enlarge on this congenial theme. He now fully realized real-ized that Devon would go his own gait until he wearied of it, and that no argument or persuasion could enter his armor-clad mind. The position of Bangs was a difficult one, foi while he was accepting and assimilating this unpleasant fact. Epstein and Haxon Impatient men by temperament and without much training In self-control were getting wholly out of patience and therefore out of hand. Haxon, Indeed, was for the time entirely out of hand, for he had finally started the rehearsals of a new play which, he grimly Informed Bang3, would make "The Man Above" look like a canceled postage-stamp. Bangs repeated the comment to his chum the next morning, during the late dressing-hour which now gave them almost their only opportunity for a few words together. He had hoped It would make an Impression, and he listened with pleasure to it sharp exclamation from Laurie, who chanced to be standing before the door mirror In the dressing-room, brushing his hair. The next instant Bangs realized that it was not his, news which had evoked the tribute of that exclamation. "Come here!" called Laurie, urgently. urgent-ly. "Here's something new; and, by Jove, Isn't she a beauty!" Bangs Interrupted his toilet to lounge across the room. Looking over Laurie's shoulder, his eyes found the cynosure that held the gaze of hl friend. The wide-open studio window was again reflected In the mirror, but with another occupant. Tnls was a girl, young and lovely, She appeared In the window like half-length photograph In a frame Her body showed only from above the waist. Her elbows were on the sill. Her chin rested in the hollows of her cupped hands. Her wavy hair, parted on one side and drawn softly over the ears In the fashion of the season, was reddish-gold. Her eyes were -brown, and very thoughtful. Down-dropped, they seemed to stare at something on the street below, but the girl's expres- j slon was not that' of one who -wag ( looking at an object with Interest. In- I stead, she seemed lost In a deep and melancholy abstraction. Laurie, a hair-brush In each han4. stared hard at the picture. "Isn't she clrarmlng!" he cried agi(ri. Bangs' reply revealed a severatj practical side of his nature. "She'll have a beastly cold in th hearl if she doesn't shut that window, win-dow, he grumpily suggested. But bit Interest, too, Was aroused. He stared at the girl In the mirror with an attention at-tention almost equal to Laurie's. Who Is this girl In the mirror? j 1 k (TO BB CONTINUED.) "Here I Am," Snapped Rodney. I his hands deep in his pockets, taking In (he knowledge af the failure of his :ippeal. Under, the realization of this, lie tossed a final taunt over his shoulder. shoul-der. "I can forgive the big blunders a man makes In his life," he muttered; "but I haven't much patience with a chap that lies around and shirks at a time like 'his !" Laurie removed the half-smoked cigarette from his mouth, and not finding find-ing sr: ash tray within reach, carefully crushed out Its burning end against the polished top of the dressing case. He had grown rather pale. "That will be about all, Bangs," he snld quietly "What you and Epstein and (I axon don't seem to remember Is Ju it oi'e thing. If you don't like nialKrs as they are, It's mighty easy to change them. It doesn't take half a minute to agree to dissolve a partner-hip." " Bangs returned to his '"oppicg limply into It, bis |