Show all 0 0 r H puah Q MG W 11 u service the maguires installment FOUR the story so far are giving a dinner Ing tons tor for the New sums shirley maguire and wealthiest citizen mike alike maguire fix be a flat tire for or her and kisses kessei her jaird are engaged but mrs is a happy go lucky editor and ile he tells her he Is a newspaper man out mayor of 0 the would like to see her son con town kathleen younger of a job the ne first to arrive for or tho the marry connie mays daughter of 0 cov daughter Is furious at mrs New sums dinner are lauras son ion tom and hla his patronizing sin airs h A A stranger had bad helped wife mary etta CHAPTER V mary etta was already moving toto into the living room laura put her hand on toms arm she did not mean to detain him more than a minute mary etta was suspicious of private conversations between her husband and his mother she had been determined when she married not to be mother in cawed business any better tom asked laura better I 1 made enough this week to resole the shoes ive worn out im sorry but mary ettas raking it in so I 1 should worry again laura winced but she said nothing because there was absolutely nothing to say and mary liar etta was already glancing toward them with narrowed eyes according to her philosophy a mans moth er made trouble between him and his wife if she could mary etta was exactly like a prickly cactus ready to stab at the least excuse she was determined to have from life exactly what she demanded of it and yet in spite of her clipped efficiency laura had occasionally glimpsed something in mary ettas defiant black eyes that resembled panic absurd as that seemed in con lection with her she was private secretary to harvey cobb leigh one of the most powerful cogs in state politics he was also a contractor in a big way and he accumulated money with very few scruples about honesty mary etta had gone straight from a business course in high school into his office she had brains and she could keep her mouth shut when she married tom she was already handling most of her employers private correspondence tom had not wanted her to go on working mary etta had pointed out the folly of doing anything else she was earning almost as much as tom in the big real estate agency where he was learning the business he planned to start for himself eventually but as mary etta said he lacked capital she saw no reason why they should skimp along on next to nothing when she could drag down a monthly salary check so she resign and she announced that she did not intend to until toms earnings took a decided turn for the better unfortunately they traveled in the opposite direction the depression knocked the bottom out of the real estate game early from being on a fairly decent salary tem was reduced to a strict commission basis this during the past year had all but dwindled to a thin mist there was no longer any question of mary ettas resigning her position for months tom had been coming to the point where he could contribute nothing to their common expenses while mary ettas salary continued to increase laura knew the situation was blistering toms sensitive male pride oh hello shirley murmured mary etta as her husbands older sister appeared in the doorway mary etta did not care for shirley she bluntly said that she thought shirley belonged in the lavender and old lace school but bat kathleen got on better with her sister in law mary etta held kathleen at arms length as she did all her in laws but she did not take it as a personal insult if tom asked kathleen to look them up when she was in town mary etta herself never proffered such an invitation of course she worked and she and tom had only a one room efficiency in an apartment hotel and took most of their meals out but as she bluntly explained it that mary etta just did not propose to be used as a convenience by her husbands family eyeing her hek brothers wife wondered as she had before how tom ever came to fall in love with anyone who made such an art of being thoroughly unpleasant privately kathleen thought tom was getting fed t up and she blame him H he e looked as if he had been on a steady diet of cockle burrs hello kits gunning for big game he asked asked with a grin kathleen made a face at him it all depends on how you feel toward 11 she said sad then hen I 1 mamma squeezed come sy idy his lascot sainted arm cow apt tae ta e they she pet e t horse look loo like mrs asters p the new sums were lust just eberg swiss ling jaird from gave their his I 1 mother window ys his closed arm felt shir car the looking out th e ley jerk which the sight wayward little he senses her of him alm ays gave estr acordi in no way probably was seemed so 60 to nary but ut he ays always th his clean cut d 11 her just sy jair he steady blue 1 eyes yet frohle and hell and represented eda ed all of heaven to shirley maguire along I 1 sas was m inching ilis mother that were a size too evening slippers was gown chiffon small her gray be depe n d but she could c ou expensive of y effect the ed on to spoil fing jarring note adding a costume in this case by it was the th e huge pink a 0 on a bosom that was al ready over shelved how do you do laura how very pretty y you ya look ok murmured mr blake while w chile his wife stiffened it was not an auspicious opening as laura knew she wished the gentleman would keep his gallantry at home but jairis father was never one to catch nuances he beamed on shirley and from her to jaird who had taken shirleys shirleye Shir leys hand was vas looks ing down 30 at her wih an expression that mat for a moment made of her heart a delirious singing bird Kyl handsome some couple ale murmured mr 1 I always said so his wife gave him one of those looks meant to drop a husband in his tracks and laura nervously hung flung herself into the breach jat what a perfectly charming dress be le P do you think so murmured the lady slightly mollified who could help it contributed tom lorn back stopping for laura mrs was making like a ship in full sail for the love seat in one corner of the room it was the most uncomfortable piece of furniture in the house and unless sat in at just the right angle it had a horrifying trick due to weak underpinnings of closing up under an occupant it really should have been relegated to the dust heap weeks ago only there just been any illi 1 I 1 I 1 1 X Q 4 mrs wa was s making like a ship in full sail tor for the love seat scat thing to fill up the wall space so laura had trusted to luck and pushed it back into the most inaccessible corner only of course if there was any weakness in the armor belle could be trusted to discover it laura had a horrible vision of jairis mother being precipitated into the middle of the floor and refusing to trust her weight again to anything in the maguire house but kathleen caught the storm signal and acted dear mrs News urno she exclaimed rather breathlessly what do you think of the plans for the june fete quite dexterously she interposed her slim self between the lady and the point of collapse mrs delighted to be allowed to tell about the very important committee of which she was a member pert permitted bitted herself to be ensconced in a substantial s ab wing chair and laura sighed with exquisite relief while kathleen winked at her over the guest of honors elaborately mar celled head shirley whispered jaird in a voice that was not quite steady do you remember that you were wearing blue the first night I 1 kissed I 1 I 1 you did she remember r shirley looked looke down at the soft clinging folds of her blue lace gown I 1 she looked stately and a little aloof like a girl very cool and remote in a painting and not quite real but inside she was a cauldron cauldren caul dron of seething ething se emotions did she remember her heart sobbed it said all sorts sort s of frantic things but her lips only smiled very faintly yes I 1 remember said shirley as if it did not matter jaird looked white and baffled laura under the cover of belle monologue on New sums tiresome connection with prominent her own all prominent social functions in covington managed to whisper to kathleen where on earth do you suppose father is your kathleen spread her hands hopelessly heaven alone knows want to see if he can be located me hes got to be 1 groaned laura hulda cant hold dinner forever r AS aa er s D I A 11 1 T 1 Q ay joaw A ya kathleen slid out the door A breakfast laura had been impressive about the solemn significance of the occasion but mike was just as likely as not to forgett forget to como to dinner when there were guests but to her relief as she came down the hall kathleen heard his vole voice at the rear he usually came in the side door because there was a short cut across a vacant lot that saved time from his office dad I 1 she called imperiously dont you realize youve only ten minutes to make yourself presentable she jerked open the screen door as she spoke she meant to chase mike up the rear stairs as quickly a as s P possible os sible only it gasn wasn t mike into whose arms she catapulted ohl cried kathleen exactly grinned the tha black headed man in faultless white flannels kathleen beamed mike maguire this is ritchie graham a gentleman and a scholar after my own heart kathleen stared into the sardonic gray eyes of the irritating young man who had rescued her from the ditch and kissed her and laughed about it the man she had most ardently desired not to see again ive brought him to dinner announced her father with triumph 1 I hope it is all right miss maguire murmured ritchie graham he was grinning he knew she was furious so did mike and they both laughed they were undoubted ly soul mates thought kathleen with helpless rage even though they did not look a lot alike mike was almost as tall and lank as his guest only he was fair he had a thin clever boyish face blue eyes that were irrepressibly gay and a droll mouth his crisp russet hair was lightly grizzled at the temples he was forty five but he carried off his years as insouciantly as he did everything ery thing else 1 I suppose both of you would go into a decline if I 1 said it all right like ned you would growled kathleen do come in and stop cluttering up the door sill mike sniggered ered dont mind the kittens claws he admonished his companion she only scratches those she loves come up to my room my boy while I 1 slick down these old gray locks kathleen stood at the foot of the stairs and glared after them how on earth was she going to tell laura that as usual mike had spoiled everything ery thing by one of his preposterous gestures in behalf of a perfectly strange man who had no earthly business to have precipitated himself into an already overstrained over strained situation CHAPTER VI As a matter of fact the crisis resolved itself without fatalities it was exactly like mike to sow dragons teeth and reap love apples just as kathleen was turning back to the living room the telephone rang kathleen alex was speaking and his voice was a trifle thick a bit inclined to run up the scale at the end of words tell mother I 1 cant make it for dinner alee I 1 how could you sure im a rat to do the when ashes staging a family shindig but how it is and you cant do anything about it so take the air im not talking about that you know what I 1 mean do I 1 what of it you dont need to tattle to mother do you dont worry I 1 shant she still thinks you are worth getting all hot and bothered about kathleen soberly replaced the receiver she and alee alec had fought from the time they were both in rompers there were less than two years between their ages to the casual observer they seemed always at the point of mayhem actually they were tremendously fond of each other and kathleen although she had no intention of telling laura so was heartsick about alee alec he had been drinking that was why he was vas not showing up tor for dinner that meant he had been somewhere with myra boone darn with blon dined hair and mot heaten morals moral sl muttered kathleen under her breath she see how alee alec could go that sort of thing it waff such a pity he had to finish school the year brand new electrical engineers were a drug on the industrial market alee alec was a bundle of nervous energy he was better suited or anything on earth than idleness mike had tried to find him something to do on the newspaper but alee alec hated it he was c created to make things happen not to write up the exploits of others with no outlet for his dynamic desire to mane make the wheels go taster faster alee alec was or so it seemed deemed to kathleen cooking up a merry little hell all his own aided and abetted by the worldly mrs boone a wealthy divorcee thirteen years his senior TO BE CONTINUED I 1 |