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Show FICTION TABLES TURNED CORNER By Richard H. Wilkinson pLIRTING was second nature with Deborah Bellamy. No one would have guessed, after one glance at her gay, laughing'' face, after one look into her mocking, tantalizing eyes, that inwardly she was afraid. I Afraid that 3" Minute sometime some Fiction .ne of her vic' tims was going to turn the tables. That is to say, she knew that one day she was going to fall in love with one of the men with whom she flirted. And that, she knew, would be the end. The end to all her gay, reckless happiness. She never dreamed that this man would prove to be a cowboy, named Lon Fairweather. Deborah had joined a party who planned a month's vacation at a dude ranch in Wyoming. Lon was the foreman. He was tall, fair, handsome. After one look into his sober blue eyes, Deborah began to lay her snares. Lon was different, but he was also human. Hence he succumbed to her wiles, just as had the others. The night he told Deborah of his love they were seated on a high boulder overlooking a hemmed-in lake. Something about the beauty and grandeur of the scene stirred Deborah's De-borah's soul. She found herself listening to Lon's love - making more soberly than was her custom. cus-tom. "Oh, Lon," she said a little breathlessly, "Not now . . ." She pushed him away and ran up the path toward the ranch house. Once back in her room she faced herself in the mirror and laughed. She found herself listening to Lon's love-making a little more soberly than was her custom. In the days that followed Lon persisted in occupying her thoughts. Some what in desperation she cast about for escape. And then a plan came to mind. She'd ask him to come to New York. .She'd get him on home ground, compare him with the sort of life she was used to. The idea seemed a good one and strangely enough Lon agreed to come in the fall. pALL CAME, and she planned a party. She invited all those who had been at the Double O Bar that summer. Lon arrived in due time and called at Deborah's apartment. She was a little taken aback at the ease and grace with which ne wore his smart new tuxedo, and in spite of herself she thrilled when he swept her into his arms. ine dinner was set for 8. At 7:30 the guests began to arrive. Lon was surprised when he saw that the men wore chaps and high-heeled high-heeled boots; that the women were garbed in divided riding skirts and gay-colored blouses. A butler came to the door and yelled: "Come and get it, cowboy!" Deborah felt a little uneasy as Lon escorted her to her seat. Her uneasiness grew as he looked slightly puzzled upon discovering there was no silverware at his place save a broad-bladed knife. He hesitated, watching in amazement as the other guests picked up their knives, and with suppressed chuckles chuck-les began to scoop up peas and shove them into their mouths. He watched as they poured coffee from their cups and drank from their saucers. "I understand," he said, looking directly at Deborah. "And I regret I can't appreciate the humor of the thing. You see," he added, "we westerners have had it drilled into us by you easterners, that we're crude and have no manners. "But," he paused and made a little, perfunctory bow toward Deborah. De-borah. "Now I know something else; know that whatever other manners you folks might have you don't know the meaning of hospitality." hos-pitality." And with this he carefully placed his napkin on the table, -ushed back his chair and strode from the room. "Lon! Lon!" she called. "Please come back. It was all my fault. I'm sorry. Please!" But Lon was already through the door and halfway down the stairs. Above, on the landing Deborah stood as if dazed. There was a terrible ter-rible gnawing sensation inside of her, a great, desolate, miserable feeling. She knew then that Lon Fairweather had been the man she was afraid of meeting. |