night? You look a lot better, anguag, Hou:'d gau

She'll be twenty-nine. Don't that seemold? "

" Maybe to you; not to me," said theman in bed.

" You're about forty, aren't you? " saidMiss Lyons.

" Just about."" And how old would you say I am? "" Twenty-three."" I'm twenty-five," said Miss Lyons.

" Twenty-five and forty. That's fifteenyears' difference. But I know a marriedcouple that the husband is forty-fiveand she's only twenty-four, and theyget along fine."

" I'm m rried myself." said the manin bed.

" You would be! " said Miss Lyons." The last four cases I've been on was allmarried men. But at that, I'd rather

' have any kind of a man than a woman.I hate women! I mean sick ones. Theytreat a nurse like a dog, especially a

Iike \I.ss Halseg? "

pretty nurse. What's that you're read-ing? "

" Vanitg Fair," t replied the man inbed.

"Vanity FcLir. I thought that was amagazine."

" Well, there's a magazine and abook.This is the book."

" Is it about a girl? "" Yes."" I haven't read it yet. I've been busv

making this thing for my sister's birih-day. She'll be twenty-nine. It's a bridgetable cover. When vou get that old,about all there is left is bridge or cross-word puzzles. Are vou a puzzle fan? Idid them religiouslv for a r.vhile, but Igot sick of them, Thev put in such crazywords. Like one dav thev had a wordwith only three letters and it said 'A

t Vanity Fah: a novel by Willian Nlake-peace Thackeray. The heroine, Becky Sharp,is a social climber rvho marries for money.

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e-longated ffsh' and the fust letter hadto be an e, And only three iettes. Thatcouldn't be right. So I said if thev putthings wrong like that. u'hat's e use?Life's too short. And s'e onlr-live once.When you're dead. r'ou star,' a long timedead.

" That's g'hat a B. F. of mie used tosay. He \\-as a cauon! But he wascazl'about me. tr miqht of maried himonlv for a G. F. telljno him lies aboutme.

-{nd called herself mv friendl Char-lev Pierce.-

* \\-ho's Chalev Pierce? "* That \\-as m\- B. F. that the other

Eil lied to hrm about me. I told him,I said, '\\rell, if you believe all themstories about me, maybe we better partonce and for all. I don't want to be tiedup to a somebody that believes all thedirt they hear about me.' So he said hedidn't really believe it and if I wouldtake him back he rvouldn't quarrel withme no more. But I said I ought it rl'asbest for us to part. I got thei announce-ment t$'o \-ers ago. *-hile I s-as stil"l ifu'ainin E :i B-ti-mo:e.-

* Did he ma:rr- e erl that lied tohim about r-ou'.r "

'Yes. th poor fi-

went like we was at a shorv. He's bettethan a show. But finally I noticed howlate it was and I asked him did't hethink he better be going and he saidhe'd go if I'd go with him, so I askedhim where could we go at that hcur ofnight, and he said he knerv a place justa little ways away, and I didn't u'ni togo, but he said we wouldn't stav fironly just one dance, so I rvent \\'ith hrm.To the Jericho Inn.

'I don't know rvhat the \\'omanthought of me where I stav, going outthat time of night. But he is such awonderful dancer and such a perfectgentleman! Of course we had more thaone dance and it rvas after hr-o o'clockbefore I knerv it."

" What about r-ou G. F.. \f aiar:Does she knou'? "'

"About Rov and I: \o. I alq-ar-s s;r'that what a person don't knou donrthurt them. Besides, there's nothing forher to know-yet. But listen: If therewas a chance in the world for her, if Ithought he cared anything about her,I'd be the last one in the world to ac-cept his intentions. I hope I'm not thatkind! But as far as anything serious be-tween them is concerned,','iell, it's cold.I happen to knou that! She's'not thegirl for hirn.

" In the ffrst place, while she's prettyin a way, her complexion's bad and herhair's scraggy and her ffgure, well, it'slike some woman in the funny pictures.And she's not peppy enough for Roy.She'd rather stay home than do any-thing. Stay home! It'll be time enoughfor that when you can't get anybody totake you out.

" She'd never make a rvife for him.He'll be a rich man in another year;that is, if things go right for himin Wall Street like he expects. Anda man as rich as he'll be wants a wifethat can live up to it and entertan and

step out once in a while. He don't wanta wife that's a drag on him. And he'stoo good-looking for Marian. A fella asgoodJooking as him needs a prettywife or the first thing you know somegirl that is pretty will steal him ofi ofvou. But it's silly to talk about themmarrving each other. He'd have to askher fust, and he's not going to. I know!So I don't feel at all like I'm trespassing.

' \lr'a*, you know the old saying,e.,'enthing goes in love. And I

-

ButI'm keeping you from reading yourboak. Oh. r'es; I almost forgot a T. L.that \Iiss Halsev said about you. Dovtu kn:'n- r,r'hat a T. L. is? "

- \-,, -r c:.- \\ -1" en. r'ou qir-e me one and

Il1 ='..

'"'-u tlds ane."'- B'r: I i:r..'en't ta-ked to anvbodv but

e Doctor. I can gii'e vou one frommvsell, He asked me hot' I liked youand I said all right."

" Well, that's better than nothing.Here's what Miss Halsey said: She saidif you were shaved and ffxed up, youwouldn't be bad, And now I'm goingout and see if there's any mail for me.Most of my mail goes to where I live,but some of it comes here sometimes.What I'm looking for is a letter fromthe state board telling me if I passed mvstate examination. They ask you thecraziest questions. Like 'Is ice a dis-infectant?' Who cares! "

" Good morning," said \{iss Lyons." Did you sleep good? "

" Not so good," said the man in bed.*I-"

" I bet you got more sleep than I did,"said Miss Lyons. " He's the most per-sistent somebody I ever knewl I askedhim last night, I said, 'Don't you neverget tired of dancing?' So he said, well,he did get tired of dancing with somepeople, but there was others who he

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