Show I 1 romance among the J down and outs by DOROTHY DOUGLAS g X X fr 1 I t by mcclur N newspaper spoiler syndicate W NU service 1 E EVA VA slipped off tier her dainty afternoon frock of love ln in alst blue hung it in her wardrobe and took down a cotton frock of dusty brown the latter was a work woric frock solely and simply a work frock for elva aou would I 1 d soon be on tier her way toward battory battery bati park and tile coffeo coffee stall where nightly she dispensed hot coffee and sandwiches sandwich oa to the down tind and outs of that neighborhood ulva eva had rented the coffee stall and its equipment for a month and thoroughly enjoyed a fragment of life she had not hitherto lilt herto known not that slie site had always known a degree of affluence eva had dad worked long and the of dainty flat and its comfortable furnishings which she now enjoyed evil eva dispensing coffee because she loved being among the down and outs but simply because she must enlarge her scope for story writing she wrote the type of stories that were gradually creeping into movie fields and in return brought back increasingly crea singly large checks there was one other down in battery park also enlarging ills his mental outlook but his look goolt was straying more toward the development of his romantic capacity ne ile was in fact casting many a glance of deep interest at the wide eyed girl who seemed so thorough ly out of her element handing out offee corfee to the none too clean derelicts who lined up at her stall ile he fell to wondering as he consumed endless cupi cup of her coffee just what kink of fate had put her where she was instead of in an exquisitely furnished drawing room a far more fitting background than the row of hot dogs doga chipped cups cupa and steaming coffee urns and the back of evas mind was not lacking in speculation regarding the young man in the shabby knickers and outrageous neckties site she scoffed at the idea that he might be down there for the same pur pose as aa lier herself self to study humanity in this stratum those things only happen in the movies and the lesser type of dime novel she told herself but she continued none the less her guarded study of him telling herself firmly that she had chosen him as a type she would catalogue him merely na as an unusually attractive type of down and outer who must nt at one time of his career have been possessed of great opportunities tuni tunit ties les eva knew by the keen took look in his eyes that the hangdog hang dog glanca of the gutter inhabitant would never besmirch his countenance ills language on the other hand was simply atrocious eva thought he must have taken lessons in the expert butchering of the kings english eva came very near hitting abak the mark in tier her surmise for young W owen james had spent many troubled hours in an endeavor to master it a diction that would put him on a speaking level as it were with that element of human kind of which ho he was making a close study ills his play produced on broadway Broadw ny had find brought forth scathing criticism for his lack of characterization the play itself being otherwise of great promise owen had closed his jaws with a click and gone about showing the critics that they would not say the same thing twice about ills his shortcomings ills second play was nearing completion and before many days had passed J tames james would cast oft off the physical and mental mire of the derelict and revert to ills his natural element that of scholar and gentleman eva for some unknown reason always flung on a cloak of armor when james approached the stall with ills his confreres contreres con freres perhaps it was to guard herself since she was at a loss to know just where to catalogue him in her gallery of derelicts she succeeded in baffling him as well as herself when rehearsals began for the new play young james was forced away from the battery by a need of 0 his presence on broadway eva too haq lodged the coffee stall again with its rightful holder and rep repaired alred to tier her dainty apartment nto with a fl fine e plot for the movies her typewriter elicited incessantly her heart too when it had time thumped a dull tattoo when the eyes of a certain down and outer intruded into tier her fast moving plot site she forget him and wondered if she had find begun to lose tier lier mind pining for a bit of masculine driftwood from aiom battery park eva went naturally to the first night of the ney play by W owen janics james the play received a rousing welcome the author was called and stepped steppe shyly out to thank ills his audience in words that prompted eva to surmise that he had bathed ills vocabulary in the limpid pools of 0 the kings english so exquisite was his speech turning ills his eyes toward the front rows where all the critics seemed to have havril gathered NV owen james speech suddenly halted picked itself up and continued ile he had looked squarely into tile the wide eyes of eva an eva in her rightful environment of intellect and chiffons ills his next nest play was a collaboration with much that was romantic woven into its successful lines |