The Argosy, Vol. 90 No. 1 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

THE ARGOSY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1917 Vol. No. 1 —Carolyn Wells Author of “The Maxwell Mystery,” ** Anybody But Anne,”’ etc. CHAPTER I. VICKY VAN. ICTORIA VAN ALLEN was the V name she signed to her letters and checks, but Vicky Van, as her friends called her, was signed all over her captivating personality, from the top of her dainty, tossing head to the tips of her dain- ty, dancing feet. I liked her from the first, and if her par- ties were timed by the small and early numerals on the clock-dial and her bridge games kept in circulation a goodly share of our country’s legal tender, those things are not crimes. I lived in one of the polite sections of New York City, up among the East Sixties. At the insistence of my sister and aunt, who lived with me, our home was near enough to the great boulevard to be designated by x Arcosy that enviable phrase, “ just off Fifth Ave- ’ . We were on the north side of the street, and nearer the avenue, on the south side, was the home of Vicky Van. Before I knew the girl I had seen her a few times on the steps of her house or enter- ing her little car, and half-consciously I had noted her charm and her evident zest of life. — Later, when a club friend offered to take me there to call I accepted gladly and liked her from the first. And yet, I never said much about her to my sister. I am, in a way, responsible for Winnie; and, too, she’s too young to go where they play bridge for money. Little prize-bags or gift-shop novelties are her stakes. Also Aunt Lucy, who helps me look after - Win, wouldn’t quite understand the atmos- phere at Vicky’s. It was not exactly Bo- Comicbooe S CO