Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

i 506 going to be no more waiting. ing for me to-day. Somehow, it didn’t seem ae eal. Da MURAL Vn er tye Re? koe AM eds pry VADs 4 ate p gle We ba, His ns F Ny , Au! ' > aaa : : d i SSE looked at him again. its arms was ‘crossed masterful and he was gazing straight at me with them sober brown eyes of his. And though his lips tried to be stern, there --was the hint of a little crinkle to ’em that made you think, if he hadn’t been posing for his photo, he’d of been laughing. And his hair—it was brushed back slick @ la shiek, but over the temple a stray lock com- | aeaccd to edge away from the rest, and I knew that as soon as the camera had clicked he would be tossing it back with that quick jerk of his head that made him so boyish. My Andy! I looked at them brown eyes again, meeting mine so steady and sober, and of a sudden everything did seem real —terrible real. A sizzle sounded from the back of my neck and a crisp smell of scorched shingles filled the air. At that minute come the pad- _ pad of my landlady’s hoofs on the landing and a pause outside the portal. Then a STE ae “Hah, I smell a rat!” sneered a voice and the door pushed open. It was my last ~ day and I could afford to be snappy. ~ “Rat, nothing,” I come back, haughty. “It’s my own hair She sniffed again and jerked the wire from the light socket. “ Blowing out the fuses and leaving the house pitch dark!” she snorted. “Tt’s shady enough now,” ft commented, daring and malicious. She eyed me, bel- ligerent but uncomprehending. “ Fussing, fixing, crimping,” she resumed. ‘“‘ What’s the girls coming to nowadays?” “Vou said it—they’re coming to,” I re- marked, but it went over her head like a transformation. Delivermg me a look which would of blasted a hardier flower than I she slammed 4rom my boudoir with a remark that a par- rot wouldn’t of repeated. And that was ‘the one tie I had to sever! — Yet I was kinda glad after all that I was only a lone orphan in the great city. Tf I of had folks they’d be making a lot of fuss over me and, according to schedule, wept & He was com-— ‘When I married Mr. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, . for the pride. And I wondered as I thought of it why any woman should weep on the day that was another woman’s hap- piest. There just wasn’t no sense to it. It was at relic of the barberless past when tough guys in whiskers and leopard skins would sneak up on the fold and frisk away the fairest. There was some idea in taking on then—at the sight of the youngest and tenderest being hauled off by her long and : beaatnoas hair, growed especial for the pur- ‘pose—unconscious, with a brutal bruise on her wan, white cheek. And they wonder why us present day dames totes the short and snappy boy ee oes es face enamel! And so I clumb into my chic new blue bridal crape, crowded myself with a cun- ning little bonnet and sailed downstairs to turn over the key to my attic prison. The landlady was real willing to pocket it. plus two weeks’ back rent, and now that I was leaving, began to be almost pleasant. “ Well, well, Miss Corbett,” she remarked with a twisty smile, “so you’re really gon- na be married! My, to think this is the one happy day of your life! For you can’t count on the rest of ’em, deary, and never know what you’re létting yourself in for. O’Dinkle—just a trusting, young girl—I understand I was to make a home for Azm—not for twenty odd others.” She sighed gusty, blowing the strings of hair outta her pale blue eyes, and folded the bills I had give her. “ Marriage,” she continued, weary, talk- ing through her nose like a kazoo, “ is like eating in a strange restaurant. You'll may- be get what you want and you'll maybe not. But there’s one thing a sotta pay for it.” She tucked the green joy-givers down in- side her chest and waddled = me to the front door. “ Well, so long, deary,” she called, almost cheerful. “ Gord knows I certainly hopes you'll be happy.” I shook off a creeping chill, squared my shoulders and subbed down to the office where I had promised the boss to put in a final half day before giving him the perma- nent opportunity to discover what a sterling EOmMIchbooks.co