Show I 1 e kate breaks ake e a news a by JANE OSBORN fl t ca 1121 1923 by mcclure syndicate kate was known to the residents of mapleville Map leville as the city messenger every morning she went to the big city thirty three miles away where here the she shopped on commission tor for the what made her allt ferent from sin an ordinary commission shopper was that she also performed errands errands strange and rare many of them for doing these errands she charged for the time expended at the rate of 0 a dollar an hour but what with always cheating herself a little in the figuring of 0 the time and railroad and street car fare are kate did not become rich often she came home from her rounds in the city very very tired but she could not rest until unell slit she had reported to her clients she was hurrying along to the station one morning when mrs granger hailed her from a second story window mrs granger had a curling iron in the he hand which slie site used to beckon kate and she wore a dressing gown site she asked kate to come and as the grangers brangers Gr angers were good customers kate decided to take a later train find and did as she was told 1 I just phoned aou OU but they said you had gone what a ble blessing asin g I 1 saw youl you I 1 began mrs granger ive a queer sort or errand but im sure you can do it you tou see im starting this morning to the shore motoring down with friends to be gone a week and ive a thousand things to attend to you tou know my nephew I 1 toni tom benton no well it matter he be been here long but hes living here us now commutes to the city very nice young man no trouble hair bair not what call real red but reddish and such nice eyes but that mutter matter As I 1 was saying im getting off and to add to the confusion I 1 just got a letter from my sister toros toms mother out in oregon and she says that toms fiancee has just eloped I 1 tell you that toms engaged did I 1 or that Is lie was until this happened you see the diffin difficulty alty it puts him in a very trying posit position lon and hed given lier her such a nice ring too well my sister wrote to tell me of it and asked roe me to break the news to toni tom fearing that hed take it hard and not liking to s write rite telling him of it you know she thought id let him down easy and of course she does want him to know before he gets a letter from the girl of course I 1 know the writing the idea Is that tom must be told before he gets that letter ile he might take it ery hard red haired people are so impulsive though of course his a real red just that nice shade like dried oak leaves you get the situation dont you id telephone only ot of course I 1 break the news gently that way just drop in at toms office ask to see him and well somehow let him know that that girl has gone and eloped without giving him a shock im sure you can do it youre so tactful ills office Is well I 1 cant remember now but find it in the telephone directory iles hes an architect tom benton find it kate protested with what courage she could but mrs granger paid no attention do it I 1 know she insisted and of course ill make it worth your while site she pressed a ten dollar bill into kates hand take this to pay expenses taxi tail fares farea and everything and ill give you ten dollars more when I 1 get back to pay for the work theres a dear and with that mrs granger disappeared into her dressing room to continue her preparation for her trip and kate was left to make her way to the front door of the granger house and then on 1 down to the railroad station kate was anything but a flirt still she ahe had flirted if casting a bit of a smile at a strange young man at a railroad station might be called flirting he went in on the the train that kate tried to catch on saturdays ile he was always on the platform when kate rushed in at the last minute and he be had bad not been very skillful in hiding biding from her bet the fact that he found her eba charming ing kate had of course become conscious of the strangers glances and she might have squelched him quite quickly by always going in the waiting room instead of standing out there on the platform but there was something about this young man that put ideas of squelching to rout lie ile had such buch nice eyes kate told herself and that seemed to make a difference so when kate went into the office of if mr air tom benton on the errand from mrs granger and found that young man inn to be none other than the nice eyed young man of her platform flirtation she was wag immediately put pot at something of a disadvantage in the errand she had to perform she felt indignant of at first indignant to think he could be engaged at the same time that he was looking admiringly mirin gly nt at her lie he had bad no right to be engaged y she reflected lie he really engaged that was something of a F yet it was extremely difficult to proceed he would of course be terribly disturbed when she told him and sloe she would bal p to sit by and see b him I 1 in agitated because of another girls fickleness he seemed very much pleased to see liar he U was glad she had bad found his bis offic he h bald he tried very hart bara to find and hers her but had been ful apparently he b imagined that she sh was a girt girl aho w ho worked in the city ile n did not even know that she was the th city messenger ive been bold enough to follow you lie he told lier her but you always alway go 90 in a different Terent dIf direction slid and you come in on my lay train only on saturdays you were a good sport to look roe me up 1 I look you yon up said kate blushing and feeling very indignant to think that ile he thought thou glit she had been so bold 1 I was as surprised as you just now I 1 bad no idea that you were jou you though your aunt did say that you had bad reddish hair and nice eyes do you think I 1 have nice eyes he be said with boyish eagerness did I 1 say so you tou indicated that you thought so said mr penton benton anyway they look honest dont they he be asked and then well if you know I 1 was myself then why did you come to see me and bow Is it that you know my nun aunt ti you see began kate 1 I happened to stop there this morning and she was talking about you and we were speaking of 0 engaged people and site she said that since your engagement oli oil hang it all said tom benton youre not going to let that engagement stand in the way of our friendship are you he was very much in earnest and seized one of her hands in two of ills his and looked entreatingly into lier her eyes I 1 bieni ri eni dont said kate you see she had a letter from your mother this morning and your mother sald said well the truth of the matter Is that she your aunt nant irant to telephone to you about it she wanted to tell you but site she was just starting oil off for the shore so site she asked me to tell t ell you I 1 might as well tell you outright the young lady you we were re engaged to has eloped she stopped abruptly expecting to see tom grow pale or otherwise embarrassed eming barr assed but noth nothing ing of the sort happened so she eloped said benton well not surprising you see wed been engaged in a way tor for a year or so but seen each other lately we became engaged on condition that it if either saw anyone we liked better wed be frank and tell the other and be no hard feeling well I 1 told her a month ago and she wrote back saying slie she was just trying to get up courage to tell tile me that she had promised to marry bill pepper an old flame of hers I 1 it say ray anything to my family ind and she say anything to hers bers because they like bill so ashes eloped well im glad and tom laughed heartily bear tily kate felt indignant and looked it this was a pretty way tor for a man to take the lie elopement of nn an ex er fancee I 1 acee A since youve met another girl you care for said kate very primly 1 11 I suppose that accounts for your indifference I 1 fancy be the next one to elope bully idea said tom suddenly putting two strong arms around the surprised rate kate suppose we do I 1 always did dislike long engagements lets do it before my aunt comes back and give her a surprise I 1 and they did |