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Show "j Everything Was I All Right j By DOkOTHY DOUGLAS ! j I (C.;. right.) j CRAWFORD was consuming chop suey wiili a speed that augered well for the medical profession untii she took the sent opposite him at the Ions rmirhle table. After that Fletcher Fletch-er wns not in It with him when It came lu masticating his food. She was a girl of modest demeanor de-meanor whom Crawford had seen on one or two occasions in the restaurant. res-taurant. She ordered only a cup of tea and some rice cakes, and seemed in a hit of a hurry about it. Crawford watched her draw from her bag a lot of tinte-tabrvs aud begin to jot .down a regular itinerary on the haok of the menu card. And all the time she scarcely 1 ked uii. only a fleetiug glance now and again that Just shaved the corner of Crawford's eye. He felt grateful for even those crumbs, and a glance all to himself would have been too devastating. His chop suey was nearing a finish and rather than seem to be hanging about occupying a chair he ordered more. Then, when it was put before him. steaming and fragrant, the girl glanced at her watch, arose hurriedly, paid her check and was gone. In her rush. she. of course, Left the most important of her papers the menu on which she had so carefully jotted down trains, hotels, etc. . Crawford Craw-ford followed, only to find that she. had taken the elevator" down to the street and was now lost among the thousands of released workers at Forty-second street. Crawford did the best thing thnt came to his inspired mind. He made hasty copy of all she had written down and left the menu as he had found it. Had Crawford been anythine but free-footed for the next few weeks and possessed of sufficient coin to carry him on, he might, have let the wonder girl go out of his life. As It was, he was free to take the same trip she was taking and would hope, by fair means or foul, to manage a meeting. He did not have to reach his home in the Far West for another two months. After that, he would take up the splendid position open there. to him. However, meeting a lovely girl, who was entirely herself and held out no. encouragement, was not an easy matter. mat-ter. Crawford had fleeting glimpses of her in hotels in Washington. Phll-adelphia, Phll-adelphia, Chicago, Detroit, then after a long lapse, saw her in Denver, looking look-ing at the shops, had a room next to hers In the hotel in Los Angeles, and not once could he find even the slightest slight-est pretext on which to fix a meeting. meet-ing. And still he followed after. His two months were fast drawing to a close. Discouragement held Crawford Craw-ford in .Its grip. He was not the type of man to scrape up any kind of Introduction with a girl nor was she the kind who would fancy it. He was not even quite sure that she was aware of his existence on earth.. She was all interest in the trip she was enjoying and apparently had no eyes for love-sick followers. And the day arrived when he took the only train that was not on the girl's itinerary. He had to be hack In the city next day and had at last abandoned hope. The glorious girl would have to be some other man's wife. Fate had played against him. Crawford was a bit slow getting off the train at his home city and was the last to get a taxi. As he drew up to the familiar gate on Second avenue, he was hardly, con scious that a second taxi had immediately imme-diately preceded his. The front door was still ajar when he bounded onto- the porch and plenty of feminine chatter greeted him. Apparently Ap-parently someone had unexpectedly arrived and the event was joyfully received. re-ceived. He popped his head through the door to see his pet sister and someone some-one In a most familiar suit, clasped in each other's arms. "What, ho!" laughed Crawford "not a word of welcome to her brother." broth-er." He stood by not quite believing his own senses. "Oh, Dicky, I was so excited at seeing see-ing Joyce " she turned then and gave him a sisterly hug ard kiss, "that I forgot that you were to he on the same train that brought her. You've heard me speak often of Joyce Kimble Kim-ble well, this is she Joyce, this la Dirk." Of course brother . Dick nenrly passed out during that moment when the girl's hand lay well within his own and the curiously glowing eyes gave him a complete glance, but he managed to make a show of common com-mon sense. "I hope she has come to make a long stay." he said calmly to sister Jane. "I fancy this chum of yours already. Do you know," he added turning directly to Joyce. "I believe I saw you once In a Chinese restaurant restau-rant in New York. Were you perchance per-chance ?" "And I don't know whether you have a thousand doubles," she said demurely, "or perchance I merely fancy that I saw you in every train, hotel " "I'll just go and see that everything's every-thing's all right." put in sister Jane. "Everything's all rinht already," uld Dick with a nioM deliberate look at Joyce, who biiiaed in a moat sat-Ufactorg sat-Ufactorg way. |
