Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1912 — THE GIRL from HIS TOWN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE GIRL from HIS TOWN

By MARIE VAN VORST

Uhstntfces hr M. G. KBTTXEI

(Copyright, ISIS, by The Bobtu-Merrlll Oil) SYNOPSIS. Dan Blair, the 22-year-old eon ot the flfty-million-doUar copper kins of Blair* town, Mont, le a arueat at the English home of Lady Oalorey. Dan’a father bad been courteous to Lord Oalorey during his visit to the United States and the courtesy Is now being returned to the young man. The youth has an ideal girl In his mind. He meets Lily, Duchess of Breakwater, a beautiful widow, who Is attracted by his Immense fortune. CHAPTER ll.—Continued. Only Lady Oalorey hesitated, disappointed. • , 2 “Too bad —I had specially arranged for Lady Grandcourt to drive over with Eileen. I thought it would be a ripping chance for her to see Dan.' 1 ' When at length the duchess had succeeded In getting Dan to herself toward the end of the day In the red room, after tea, she said: “So yon wbn’t marry a London heauty?” 2.. 2 4.: And rather coldly Dan had answered : "Why, you talk, all of you, as If I had only to ask any girl of them, and die would Jump dowfi' my throat.” "Don't try It,” the duchess answered, “unless you want to have your month full!” Dan did not reply for a second, but he looked at her more seriously, conscious of her grace and her good looks. She wag certainly better to look at than the simple girls with their big hands, small wits, long faces and, as the boy expressed It, “utter lack of get-up.” The duchess shone out to advantage^ “Why don't you talk to me?" she asked softly. "You know yon would rather talk to me than the others.” "Yes,” he said frankly; “they make me nervous." “And I don't?” "No,” he said. "I learn a lot every time we are together." “Learn?” she repeated, not particularly flattered by this. “What sort of things?" "Oh, about the whole business,” he returned vaguely. “You know what 1 mean.” . ' 2 ■. “Then,” she Mid with a slight laugh, “you mean to say you talk to me for educational purposes? What a beastly bore!” . . , Dan did not contradict her. She K' as by no means Eve to him, nor was 3 the raw recruit his simplicity might .give one to think. He had had his (temptations and his way out of them jwoa an easy ono; for he was very alow to stir, and back of all was his Ideal. The reality and power of this (ideal Dan knew best at moments like these. But the Duchess of Breakwater !was the most lovely woman—the most dangerous woman that had come Us way. He liked her—Dan was well on the way to lore. • . 2 The two were alone in the big dark room. At their Bide the small table, from which they bad taken their tea together, stood with its empty cups and its silver. Without, the day was cold and windy, and the sunset threw along the panes a red reflection. The light fell on the Duchess of Breakwater, something like a veil—a crimson veil slipped over.her face and breast. She leaned toward Dan, and between them there was no more barrier than the western light He felt his pulses beat and a tide rising within hiin. She was a delicious emanation, fragrant and near, and as be might have gathered a cluster of flowers, so In the next second he would have taken her in his arms, but from the other room Just then Lady Oalorey,'at the plSho. played a snatch from Mandalay, striking at once into the tune.. The sound same suddenly, told them quickly some one was near, and the Duchess of Breakwater involuntarily moved aHMj, tad 80 knocked.-the small tray. Jostled it, and It fell clattering to the CHAPTER 111. The Blalrtown ftjtfplst Btairtown had a popuSßbn of some eight thousand. There was a Presbytarlan church to which Dan and hU father went regularly, sitting in the hare pew when the winter's sttWto heat and rattled on the,panes, or to the summer sunshine, when the smell of the pews and the panama fans and the hymn books came strong to them through the beat ~ T One day there was a missionary sertaj* hto - * *7 miij' ... 2. -2" ' Presbyterian cuurcu nfin Blair odArd . • » 2 ~ _ m 2. . « flit looKPu up snQ it BjSQ© a mark in white dresfl #ows glftvofl ami fifOldfiQ huff Wftfl -tPR

soloist. He knew her. that Is, he had a nodding acquaintance with her. It wae the girl at the drug store who sold Boda water, and he had asked her some hundreds of times for a “vanilla or a chocolate" but it wasn't this vulgar memory that made the little boy listen. It was the girl’* voice. Standing back of the yellow-painted rail, above the minister’s pulpit, above the files, the red pews and the panama fans, she sang, and she sang into Dpn Blair’s soul. To speak more truly, she made him a soul In that moment. She awakened the toy; his collar felt tight, his cheeks grew hot He felt his new toots, too. hard and heavy. She made him want to cry. These were the physical sensations —the material part of the awakening. The rest went on deeply Inside of Dan. She broke his heart; then she healed it. She made him want to cry like a girl; then she wiped his tears. The little boy Battled back and grew more comfortable and listened, and iwhat she sang was, -2 v. “From Greenland’s Icy mountains, From India’s coral stra —ands." Before the hymn reached Its end he was a calm boy again, and the hymn took up Its pictures and became like an Illustrated book of travels, and he wanted to see those pea-green peaks of Greenland, to float upon the Icebergs to them, and see the "’ dawn break on the polar seas as the explorers do. '.' 2- He should find the north pole some day! Then he wanted to go to an African Jungle, where the tiger, “tiger shining bright,” should flash his stripes before his eyes! Dan would gather wreaths of coral from the stra —ands and give them to the girl with the yellow hair. When he and hla. father came out together from the church, Dan chose the"street that passed the soda fountain drug store and peeped in. It was dark and cool, and behind the counter the drug clerk mixed the summer drinks; and the drug clerk mixed them from that time ever afterward—for the girl with the yellow hair never showed up in Blairtown again. She went away! CHAPTER IV. In the Coral Room. “Mandalay” had run at the Oalety the season before and again opened the autumn season. Light and charming, thoroughly musical, it had toured successfully through Europe, but London was Its home, and Its popularity was chiefly owing to the girl who had starred in it—Letty Lane. Her face was on every postal card, hand bill.

cosmetic box. and even popular drlnka were named for her. The night of the Osdene box party was the reopening of and the curtain went up .after the overture to an outburst of applause. Dan Blair had never “crossed the pond” before this memorable visit, when he London tbenters and London ltpelf. indeed. were unexplored by him. He had seen what there was to be seen of the opera bouffe in his own connM sx Gaiety he had yet to enjoy. The opening scene of “Mandalay” is oriental; the burst of music and the tinkling of the silvery temple bells that he lifted his head, pushed his chair back to enjoy. He was thus close to the duchess. With invigorating young enthusiasm the boy drew In his breath and waited to be amused and to hear. The tunes he already knew before the orchestra began to charm his c&r. v - An Undine tt Plymouth Dan had !»,« kMD to tool that *“ dene Park he had been dally* hourly liSfnT-r y?uV£?2L£ £

not taken Into consideration by an) of them. No one had treated him llk« a Junior. He had gone heck to neck with their pace as far as he liked, furnished them fresh gpmsement, and been their diversion. In all his rare unspoiled youth, Blair had been and denly dropped down in as ; effetn ael | that had whirled about him, and <m« by one out of the inner circle had called him to join them; and om by one with all of them Das had whirled. .... 2-.. V Lord Oalorey had talked to him frankly, as plainly as If Dan had been his own father, and found much of the old man's common sense in his fine blond head. Lady Oalorey had come to him In a moment of great anxiety, and no one, bat her young guest knew tow badly she needed' help. He had farther made it known to the lady that he was not in the marriage market; that she could not have him Tor any of her girls. And as for the Duchess of Breakwater, well —he had whirled with her until his head swam. He had grown years older at the Park in the few weeks of his visit, but now for the first time, as the music of “Mandalay” struck upon his ears, like a tipple of distant seas, he felt like the boy who had left Btairtown to come abroad. He had spent the most part of the day in London with a man who had come over to see him from America. Dan attended to his bust ness affairs, and the people who knew said that he had a keen head. Mr. Joshua Ruggles, his father's beat friend, whom Dan this afternoon had left to go to his room at the Carlton, had pat his arm with affection through the boy’s. “Don't look as though it were any too healthy down to the place you're at, Dan. Plumbing all right?” And the boy. flushing slightly, had said: “Don’t you fret. Josh, I'll look after my health, all tight.” .“There’s nothing like mountain air,” returned the westerner. “These old fogs stick in my nostrils; feel as though I could smell London clean down to my feet!” From the corner of the box Dan looked hard at the stage, at the fresh brilliant costumes ant! tbe lovely chorus girls. . “Gosh,” he thought to himself, “they 1 are the prettiest ever! Dove-gray, eyes of Irish blue, mouths like roses!” Leaning forward a little toward tbe duchess he whispered: “There Isn’t one who isn’t a winner. I never struck such a box of dry goods!” * The duchess smiled on Dan with good humor. His naive pleasure was

delightful. It was like taking a child to a pantomime. She was wearing bis flowers and displaying a jewel that he had found and bought for her, and which she had not hesitated to accept She watched his eager face and his pleasure unaffected and keen. She. could not believe that this young man was master of ten million pounds. When Lfetty Lane appeared Blair heard a light rustle like rain through the auditorium, a murmur, and the house rose. Theri was a well-bred calling from the stalls, a call from the Lane—Letty Lane!” and*aa though she were royalty, there was a flattering of handkerchiefs like flags. The young fellow with the others stood in the back of the box, his hands in his pockets, looking at the stage. There wasn’t a girl in the chorus as pretty as this prima donna! Letty Lone came on in “Mandalay" In the first act In the dress of a fashionable princess. She was modish and worldly. For tho only time in the play she was modem and conventional, and whatever breeding she might have been able to claim, from whatever class she was born, as she stood there in her beautiful gown she was arace itself. M charm. She was distinctly a star, and showed he* appreciation of her audience’s admire Goo.

He Liked Her —Dan Was Well on the Way to Love.