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Show Blandishment By OSCAR ."SEVERS j ! i Associated Newspaper!. t ! : WXU Service. pORA STONE had acquired quite a reputation with her blue Per-! Per-! sian cats. They were out of the ordinary or-dinary because, besides possessing authentic beauty, they had wonderful wonder-ful dispositions. They did not scratch; they were comrades. Even those undiscriminating persons who disliked cats in general were forced to say "they seemed just like dogs." j Dora merely smiled and let it go at that. j Dora herself was pleasantly plump, fond of all sports and while j in college had captained the track j team. j She found herself rather at a loss I when the financial crash came and j her father was forced to sell his book store in town and find a small j country home. Hence the cats. ! Next door lived a rather portentous porten-tous widow. She was nice, but formidable to Dora on account of a commanding presence: However, Dora saw she agreed well with her adored father and secretly hoped i that what the country neighbors called "an understanding" might re- I suit. Her father was quite lost without with-out the book store. Her mother had died three years before, and she felt that he needed a more complete home than she could give him. So she devoted herself to her cattery i and the provision of such meals as , he did not eat with Mrs. Graves, the formidable widow. j , But sometimes when the twilight I fell and the cats were fed and put j to bed Dora felt lonesome. She was j not sorry when the widow told her j her son, aged 24, was coming home . from college to take up work as an instructor in mathematics at I the high school. The mathematics sounded terrible, but Dora recollect- j ed that Lewis Carroll had been a mathematician in his off hours. So j possibly the instructor could play as : well as demonstrate awful prob- ! lems. And so it proved. Peter Graves was whimsical. He read Locke. He loaned her books and he really liked cats. He understood the temperamental tempera-mental Victor, champion and lord of the cattery, who rarely showed affection, af-fection, and Victor jumped into his arms and purred. Dora was delighted. "You must be very nice or Victor would never make friends. He is very particular," partic-ular," she added. "I am particularly nice," said I Peter, "and I fully justify all that Victor thinks about me. You'll see." Dora laughed. "Well, we'll see," she said. Peter taught Dora to drive a car. Being without nerves, she was an apt pupil. Mrs. Graves beamed on the pair and it was almost disconcerting discon-certing to realize her formidable character disappeared with each box of candy Dora's father carried next door and melted into maternal smiles when she viewed Victor, the aloof, allowing his coat to be brushed by Peter, a liberty he slightly resented even at the gentle hands of Dora. "We all seem pretty happy these days," ventured Mr. Stone as he sat at dinner alone with his daughter. "Do we?" said cautious Dora. "I think Peter is about the finest young man you've run around with in some time." Mr. Stone helped himself to more fried chicken and a liberal spoonful of hominy. Dora certainly could cook. But then so could the excellent widow. "You make it sound as if I 'ran around' a great deal. Dad," said Dora, "and you know very well I do nothing of the kind." Mr. Stone laughed. "Well, well, daughter, don't catch me up so. I mean you certainly look better in young Graves' roadster than when you used to go out with that redheaded red-headed Fred Smith." "But Fred never rushed me, dad. Not that Pe I mean Mr. Graves does anything silly like that; but he is so sensible with the cats. He has saved me at least $2, for he brushes Victor, and you know I had to get old Jim to help me hold Victor, Vic-tor, for he's dreadfully temperamental tempera-mental when he's brushed." "Well, that's something. If Peter can make himself useful it's a good sign that he's handy about a house. Just what a man ought to be, eh?" "Is that what Mrs. Graves says, dad?" said impudent Dora, her eyes twinkling in a rather red face. Mr. Stone rose hastily and excused ex-cused himself from watermelon. "I am taking Mrs. -Graves to hear Kreisler," he said. "Fine, dad. Peter is taking me to the movies," countered Dora. Of course the neighborhood said the whole thing was ridiculous. "Like some silly book," exclaimed one disappointed woman." But Mrs. Graves insisted it was the blandishments blandish-ments of Victor that won Peter his pretty bride. And, when he was in a teasing mood, Mr. Stone declared I his daughter had fairly pushed him j into the widow's arms. As all parties to the proposition had an exceedingly well-developed sense of humor it all ended in laughter, laugh-ter, which augurs well for the future. fu-ture. And since animals are mighty good judges of character, as Peter reminds his bride quite frequently, fre-quently, Victor chose his mistress a good husband. |