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Show iimmmimniniitu, ;; . i Spug for a j Day . . it By James Osborri ! I I II I M 1 1 II IM 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IIP (Ceprrtsht, UtChtra Ktwr ByXlMt.) Clarice Wanlham and Nancy Smith had gone througn' high school together and their frlendfchlp-was of the sort that could not be nltered, even when Nancy went to business school and later took a stenographer's position In a business ofllco, and Clarice, through her father's acquired fortune, became one of tho most sought after young women In what chose to be called, and was called Society, with a capital 8. Clarice did not give Nancy her old dresses, nor did ska try to persuade her to attend the parties she gave, to which only folk with very much more money to spend than Nancy hud were Invited. When she asked Nancy to her house It waa elthen to enjoy her alone or with a few of the old friends with whom Nancy could be most at her ease. Thus Nancy was never made conscious of tho fact that fortune had dealt less kindly with her than it had' with Clarice, If Indeed It really had; When Clarice first met Ilobert Harrow Har-row and somehow unwittingly charmed and then captivated that Inveterate man of business, sha did not tell him that Nancy Smith, his private secretary, secre-tary, was one of her best friends. It was not In the least because she was ashamed of her association, but be-cnuso be-cnuso she liked the Idea of having a means of seeing Mr. Hurrow from another an-other augle than that of society aud country club activities without his knowing It. Clarice, truth to say, was drawn to Harrow nlmost as Boon as he ,was to her, for there was something , about this rather rough strange mixture mix-ture of a man that charmed women , quite as much ns If he had been most courteous and courtly. Sometimes he seemed the broadest of men In his .largo grasp of events that Clarice discussed dis-cussed with him, and sometimes the narrowest In his point of view, that seemed to see only his own. business Interests. Sometimes he seemed the most generous and unselfish, and then ihe least generous and most selfish. Drawn though Clarice was to this much discussed and almost eccentric 'young man, she planned to surrender, If she surrendered at all, with deliberation. deliber-ation. She had planned not to loaa n single trick In, the love game she waa 'about to play with this man, who had ,Mcome accustomed to having things 'geanally his own way in the other games of life. 1 It has been said that a man's stenographer sten-ographer has an opportunity to know him even better than his own wife, for she sees him mora hours of the day usually, and can study him without .personal prejudice of any sort Nancy 'Smith surely knew Ilobert Harrow bet; ter than he knew himself, and It w perhaps not strange that she suspected he was In love before he was willing ito admit that fact to himself, much less to Clarice. She had heard from 'Clarice of the friendship that had sprung up between her and Mr. Harrow, Har-row, and With infinite care sounded her regarding him and so found out bow the ground lay. Once Clarice, with an attempt at seeming casual, asked Nancy what .sort of a husband she thought Mr. 'Harrow would, make, "I could be his stenographer all my Ufa and enjoy it" explained Nancy, ."but I could never endure him as a husband. But with a girl like you, It would be different You would collapse col-lapse after a day In his office; but with all the little feminine witcheries to fall back on you, or a girl like you, I should say, might find him a perfect husband." "One thing Mr. Harrow's wife would have to remember, though," added Nancy, "and that Is that she should never once let him take her for granted. grant-ed. It would be like taming a Hon once the beast knows bis power, the tamer Is lost Some women are cut out for Just that sort of thing, you know, and never In a lifetime let thefr husbands know what meek, tame hearts they have." Nancy and Clarice thus discussed Mr. Harrow over the chocolate cups one day at luncheon, late In December, when Clarice had gone downtown for Christmas shopping. That afternoon Harrow gave tho switchboard operator gruff orders to tho effect that he was "too busy to be disturbed,' and then sat at his desk, with no one but Nancy sharing his solitude, looking blankly Into space for a full hour, his head bent and his arms nktmbo. He started to his feet when he roused himself and paced the floor Impatiently. "TbVo this," he threw at Nancy. "Memo for the cashier's office 'Owing 'Ow-ing to war conditions and necessity to curtail every possible expense, we shall give no gold pieces at Christmas.'" Christ-mas.'" Nanoy took the words dawn in dots, curves and dashes, and recalled as she did so that in the firm of which Harrow Har-row was president "war conditions" had meant is per cect greater profit than usual. "Take this," he threw out again. "It Is for my housekeeper, Mrs. Hawkins. Owing to war conditions, Lhave found It Inadvisable to dispense wltlrany additional ad-ditional money In the wages to the I servants this year.' - dvwhea you Wz'$ Wffl liave done that write a pcronnl letter to my alMcr, ntid another to my cousin tho one with six children and ex-lilnln ex-lilnln to tliem that as an net of patriotism pa-triotism we ought to refrain from Rift-BImr Rift-BImr this jour. It's Just nil exchnngo of n lot of Junk," ho wont on, nioro to himself tlun to Nancy, "between a lot of people that don't care two straws for each other. Then wrlto a letter to the matron of tho orphnu home the one my mother used to be so much Interested In-terested Id. I've previously ordered a doll or a book for each child. Tell them, that I feel that would be a needless extravagance. If they are absolutely without necessities let them notify me, and I'll send them a check. But now Is no time to waste money on mere to)s. Let the youngsters make dolls out of sticks and things. They will enjoy them Just as much." Nancy wrote theso and a dozen or so similar letters that Mr. Harrow dictated, dic-tated, and gno no Inkling of her own nttltiulu toward tho contents of the letteri. That night, when Harrow had left rntlier curlier than usual, the letters let-ters wore still on Nancy's ileslc, ond when she left, a llttlo later, the letters ' were I) lug In a mull basket wliero It might seem that they had been forgotten, forgot-ten, hut where, as a matter of fact, there was no danger of their being mulled. Nancy hurried from tho ofllco to the nearest public telephone booth, called up Clarice and told her she wanted to sco her at once and would board tho next car toward her house. She hurried to Clartco's room and talked with her for. a short ten minutes, min-utes, and Uicn hurried home, leaving Clarice nmp'le time for a more than ordinarily elaborate toilet that night When Mr. Harrow arrived at tho Wurdhara house an hour later, for dinner din-ner and n quiet little evening with Clarice afterward. Clarice was In her most bewitching mood and Harrow had nothing of the gruftneas that had characterized char-acterized his manner at the ofllco during dur-ing tho afternoon. Ho had come with the half conviction convic-tion that that night he would definitely ask Clarlco to marry him and demand from her a definite answer, nut when he fell under the charm of her coquetry, co-quetry, for Clarice was Irreslstlblo that night, ho was full determined, and ha was Impatient of the many courses of dinner and tho moments Uiat had to bo spent with Clarice's family before they could gracefully find a sequester cd spot alone. i When they were seated In the music room Clarice. had made an excuse of 'wishing to show him some new recordshe rec-ordshe asked her point blank and , without wasting time in preliminaries whether she would marry him. J Clarice looked perplexed. "I'm afraid we ought not to think of It," she said ; "at least, while tho war lasts. It would mean to give each other a great deal of love, and, owing to war conditions, ws ought not to give all that, do yon think spr Mr. Harrow for the first time that evening recalled his afternoon at the office, and the man that had dictated . the letters seemed aow like a repulsive shadow of his true self. Clarice explained ex-plained her friendship for Nancy Smith jand Nancy's hurried call that afternoon. after-noon. : "Don't think tho less of Nancy foe It" begged Clarice. "I asked her to let me know Just what sort of man 'you are, and wouldn't let her tell you 'that she knew me. It Is alt my fault." "If she realized how small I waa In writing those letters why didn't she itell meT" demanded Harrow. "Why 'did sho post theml" ', "She didn't post them," said Claries, ("They are locked in your office." It was a thoroughly contrite, humbled hum-bled sort of man that knelt before Clarice's chair. "If I'll promise to give 'twice as much this Christmas, sad 'promise never to be a spug again, will you promise to marry ml" ho begged. And of course Clarice said "yes." i |