Show beauty and beethoven by R RAY BAKER 1 assy 1 1919 by the th mcclure mcclur newspaper syndicate there was nothing angora or other li about Beet beethoven boven ile he earne came of a faintly of 0 ordinary striped gray and black eats cats hut but lie he was far from being nn an ordinary ordin ory cat at least such wits was the lie ot of velma blake who occupied two rooms on the third floor bak in ili the jordan flats and who adopted the lie feline wanderer and him velma uns is employed as head ot of till the music department in the E emporium live and ten cent e she was if pretty busy girl and also slie site was a pretty busy buoy girl with or without the commit comma the phrase 11 fits t she had little time to spend in the care of pets but when nhen a stray cat knocks at ones door and one happ happens ens to be fond of that species I 1 of what din can one on e 6 do but offer a home she took him in and fed him aai as lie he to make himself coll coin foi table and befu infused ed to leave the vicin vicinity I 1 ty of her rooms i when lien sh she e set ill him in out in the lie hall she was forced to the that she was elected to be the crea tureA mandatory velmas velma roommate care for eats cats cat s why you get a do dog 9 she he demanded but she managed to rec reconcile onIle herself lit in time to the add addition to the little family faintly beethoven Beet hoien proved to be it a mysterious lous being lie ile would vanish for two tuo or three dabs at a time nod and then suddenly reappear and remain at home for a period of equal length making ills his arrival known by the u usual ual calling serenade velma got used to these comin coin ings and goings s for there wits was a certain amount of regularity about them and toon soon she he was able to forecast almost with kith certainty certainly the day and hour file wanderer Aa would return froni from his sojourn at the lie front of the apartment house liou sp in the basement lived ned ha sare re a bachelor young man lie ile the rooms with an air acquaintance but his life was rattler rather lonely one Y for tile lie two had little in common a although they hey got along well uell enough together like velma ned was ris a cat fancier and like her lie ile had taken possession of one that paid him a visit on two or three occasions oica when nhen ills his living room window was open the roommate voiced some objections but these were overruled the beauty as the cat K was christened soon occupied a welcome place in the household it if two rooms and a bath may be cabied called such like beethoven beauty went away on strange missions which lie he never explained or even tried to explain neda duty as clerk in a haberdashery kept kepi him away from home most of K the dan da and it is next to impossible i to follow 0 a cat in tile the dark so beautys whereabouts luring during these f periodical absences remained a secret ned N was as of 0 a timid nature that Is she he was vlas timid when hen a member of the sj S j other ti ier s sex ex nas BBS in proximity however tine he had a struck up an acquaintance with velma blake and had got to the le II 11 stage where til tere lie he could relapse into a ij if day dream when crossing the busiest j corner of the busiest street 41 lie he mustered sufficient courage once 1 i a week to take velma to a theater or 11 i some other kind of entertainment but 2 21 had never been in her apartment that t being against the rules of the house 11 31 consequently lie was nas never introduced S to her beethoven Bee Beet thoen timen y such stich trivial subjects as cats are not often discussed ed between young men 11 and young women who are keeping I 1 tom vom pany there are more important matters such its as music bon bons rui nui vaudeville and clothes so why should ili a couple or of stray pets get nto ito the conversation it would be queer way to carry on a love of at ale aar r would it not can ou on imagine couple holding hands and at the biame gi ame me time a heated argument con arning the merits of their respective eats ats so in spite of the fact that oth velma and ned were very fond it f their pets pet the subject never entered air talk two things puzzled ned and the tore re he thought about them the more aled he became one wits was the ullar har and repeated disappearance beauty arid and the other was how to a velma tor for his lifelong partner ither her a strange combination of ivor for a young man but ned could understand nader stand the girl any more than could the cat maillar mysteries concerned velma at was the strange absences of th oven and the other was how to ned tor for the head of her family ne of them had bad been able to look 0 the others mind there would have 11 no trouble about solving one of puzzles and of course coarse that was more mere important one of the two robit bt when tt it seemed that ned and e lina a were beginning to understand other sor something happened that e them both rals miserable erable ned had ged to take velma to a theatrical or mance but she sent ent him a note ng ac abe would be busy that evening could not see him made him downcast tor for a while he recovered from tile attack ol of blues and invited his ht roommate room matt he e show allow in velmas stead on tile alto to the theater they met velma B a young man mall evl al formed the same conclusion anA analil oil ii almost any other fellow would formed in similar circumstances ile he decided that he had been throw li over and having a proud a sensitive nature he resolved to stay away from velma ile he did not know that the head of the music sales department of tile the entire nationwide nation wide chain of emporium stores store 5 was in the city that evening to take nn an inventory of the two local establishments and that hat velma and this official were simply on their way from one of the lie stores to the other when hen ned saw caw when velma said she would be busy that night she meant it in a literal arai sense rise and she was not entertaining some other young man notwithstanding appearances velum velma felt as bud bad about it as ned but site she lik likewise evale possessed at considerable amount of pride and knowing she he was in the right although realizing the circumstantial evidence was wa against her aishe would not permit herself to take the first step toward a one evening shortly after the busy one while she was trying to read and failing because of thoughts that intruded she suddenly came to a realization that beethoven had bad disappeared 1 I F ared he had been in the room only a moment previous Iong rind must liae slipped out when velma velm a went to the ice fee box bos at the end of the hie hall ball here was vas a chance to give her mind dh erslon and at the same time perhaps fathom the mystery of the missing ing vat cat she stepped to the door and looked out yes fur far down donn the hall was beethoven just starting down the stairs she fol followed loed him to the second and then to the first floor and finally into the back part of the basement which was used as a storeroom and which contained the furnace from a distance slie she saw tile cat crawl through a window of the lie basement and she hurried upstairs rind and darted outside beethoven was it as walking close to the tha building bull ding peering into various windows that came in his way she saw him stop before one near the front of the house and as she watched a hand came out of the aperture and seized the alie cat drawing him inside without stopping to consider whose room beethoven had entered velina hurried to the window and stood looking down at ned holding the cat in his arms what are you doing with my cat she demanded in what was intended to be stern tones your cat ned inquired trying to be somewhat cold what do you meana mean this is my cat iles hes mine and its his name Is beethoven she snapped each looked defiance at the other for a moment then smiles took the place of scowls on both the faces we both seem to own him velma said demurely kicking a pebble with her small boot what can we ine do to settle it A desperate thought entered neds neda mind here was a chance to find out his fate and all the uncertainty he had been laboring under for months fearing lie he would be lost it if he hesitated he gave voice to the big idea without n waiting alting for a chance to chango change ills his mind standing there framed by the basement window a cat crawling over hit his shoulder looking up eagerly and somewhat timorously at a girl outside who was kicking a pebble around foolishly lily to hide her contusion confusion lie he said theres only one way I 1 knowlens know Lets I 1 form ormi a permanent partnership of ourselves and that will make all three of us happy at least I 1 am in hopes that it will she gave the pebble a furious kielt kick that sent it spinning away it sure will was nias her reply |