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Show E Tricky Darlings ,J By Richard H. Wilkinson JOHN Carlton would never go so far as to say his daughter, Jane, was stubborn. He chose to call it an independent spirit, a desire to lead her own life, make her own way in the world. Actually Jane was a duplicate of old John in character and disposition. disposi-tion. Old John recognized the resemblance. re-semblance. I Knowing Jane J - Minilte as he did, and r;n;n loving her as he F'Ctl0n I did, gave Old John a decided advantage. He knew what methods to employ when he wanted her to do something. Jane was beautiful. She attracted men, lots of them. Old John frowned on Jane's reckless reck-less regard for love. He frowned on the young men who paid her court. All but one, it seemed to him, were worthless. The one, Phil Scot by name, a son of Old John's closest friend, appeared to possess the requisites of a good husband. In the first place he had a job. Secondly, he worked hard and had ambition to do big things. Thirdly, his attentions atten-tions toward Jane were honorable and sincere. Old John was too wise to suggest to Jane that she consider con-sider Phil Scot as a possible husband. Despite the fact that he knew that Jane did not regard re-gard Phil with disfavor, he knew, also, that the moment she became aware of her father's prejudice poor Phil wouldn't stand a chance. "Look here, Jane," he said one day, "I notice you've been seeing that young Scot fellow a good deal lately. I absolutely wouldn't stand for his type as a son-in-law." Jane's surprise gave way to anger. "Phil Scot," she said defiantly, de-fiantly, "is a darling. Of all the boys I know Phil stands head and shoulders above the rest. And," she added, "you'd better like it because be-cause he's the man I'm going to marry." Old John scowled. "He'll never be a son-in-law of mine. So you'd better begin forgetting him now." AN hour later Albert J. Scot, young Phil's father, completed a telephone conversation with his oldest and closest friend, John Carlton, Carl-ton, and summoned his son. "Phil," he began, frowning deeply, deep-ly, "it seems to me you've been paying a good deal of attention to that Carlton girl lately. I want it stopped! Understand! She's nothing but a flirt and a social .butterfly." Phil was aghast. "But, Dad, she's the daughter of your oldest friend! I thought. . . that is. . . well, you see I like Jane a lot. I was in hopes. . ." "Well, cease hoping," Scot senior cut in. A WEEK LATER Old John and Albert Scot were sipping drinks and exchanging congenialities on the veranda of the former's home. A car stopped out front and two young people came up the walk. pi'ipi' i! 1.1 ihj n,i;wnjm. ujl-Jt'f, ;'fy. Jane was beautiful. She attracted at-tracted men, lots of them. She was, in fact, a bit reckless about it all, and refused flatly to take the matter seriously. The two young . people stopped and smiled pleasantly. Jane Carlton said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, father, but John and I are married. We love each other, and, despite the fact that neither you nor Mr. Scot approves of the match, we're going to live our lives as we see fit." "And," said Phil Scot defiantly, "if you don't like it, you can lump it." Old John and Albert T. Scot exchanged ex-changed glances. They laughed. They slapped each other on the back and roared with delight. Jane and Phil looked on in bewilderment. be-wilderment. After awhile Old John wiped his eyes and explained the conspiracy the pair had concocted. Jane looked at Phil and Phil looked at Jane and Jane said: "How clever. You won't mind, then, when we tell you we've been married for two months! We've kept it secret till Phil got a raise in pay. He got it today and tomorrow tomor-row we're leaving on our honeymoon. honey-moon. You two can sit here and think up ways and means of running run-ning our lives when we get back." |