Wanted: A Husband

m-tu m-tu m

ish noises which fell strangely upon the ears of Miss Maud Raines and Miss Helen Barrett, panting after their long ascent, outside the doo

g sprite!" said Helen as

-flub" sounded in progression

ooked at each othe

rth!" said

d, in familiar melody, gemm

u m-tu m-tu

ten pounds fro

n the floor,

ld you

hi

hi

(Floppi

oing it," whispered H

ts strange accomp

u m-tum-tu m

ty pounds from

before. (Floppi

t some mor

a steam roller in full career toward the two entrants, was startled into a cry. She came to her feet with a bound, without pausing to touc

said Mau

up to, Darcy

," said Dar

cal music on the s

for breathing," e

ut?" queried Helen. "I

What

t know. Jus

ud's grim commentary.

ned John L. Sullivan

modeling yourself on?"

of course," retorted Darcy easil

rcy," approved the kind-hearted He

ggestion. "Monty is crazy for me to

e can't see you lear

ic!" said Helen, when they had withdraw

she cuts! And it's all such a waste," concluded M

cy for some weeks, had no sooner said, "Hello!" in his usual offhand way, when he

wing Darcy!" said

r down," said he absently. "

" aske

e way I wanted it t

ised her, a look of puzzlement came into his eyes. He leaned forward, and with the inoffensive

said Ho

arm and the long, slender

ng?" he

y no

subtly altered face. "

horus long enough

'll make the ingénue hustle for her job,

tell them,"

ced? Why, a blind man could feel t

at has noticed it so fa

d the illustrator thoughtfully. "They see

esult was a new zest in her designing, taking the form of experiments aside from the beaten track which did not always meet the approval of B. Riegel, active head of B. Riegel & Sons, manufacturers of wall-

which she had spent much time and thought, and with which she was well content. Not so Mr. Riegel. Being first, last, and between times a man of

d Darcy. "Who wants restfulness?

sleeping-roo

an she might as well not have spoken. He

re, and here," he

s it is," said

yah'r game," had put fire in her blood. There was a reflection of it in her cheeks when Mr. Riegel looked up at her in surprise and annoyance. He saw the same familiar figure in the same shabb

way a trial," sugge

bout this business tha

esign, after all, isn't it

the Philistine blight of Mr. Riegel, she bestowed it safe in her imitati

e perplexed employer. "What're

n Balke &

." He whirled around in his chair, presen

dollars, please," sa

est. Mr. Riegel's own person was the last medium in the world upon which he desired to test them, for much stress had been laid upon their lasting quality. He was sprawling out, fairly above them, beyond human help, it seemed, when something happened. Darcy, standing in th

of wonder, skepticism, and respect. "Say," he said, "you couldn't use a job in the trucking depar

confidence had been stiffened by

e gone up," sh

ve! Beg y' pardon,

me is

you think your work is worth te

ou've been paying me ten do

physical prowess of this queer specimen. To catch him in mid-flight and re?stablish his equilibrium had required no mean quality of

my competitors might. Lessay twenty-five for the next h

aid Darcy,

h it, ending her journey by taking the long flights of the apartment two steps at a time and singing as she sped. Outside the door she had notice

were getting on," said the a

endi

ight in the gymna

rl, having no mind to hear her felonies discussed

ing what a beast of a raw, rainy

blandly. "I suppose it i

uppose," conjectured Maud. "T

lt the morning papers for the incoming steamship entries. Her myth involved so many

out the Britisher, G

? Of course.

Helen and Maud in a br

years since I've seen him. To put it Englishwise, he was by w

shortly. There was a gleam in Gloria's ey

gnalize the universal peace, I suppose," l

ngland," said Maud, musingly. "Particularly in the

ith carefully assumed sadness, smothering a private and murde

engaged to an Englishman on active service, I'd

ght red to Darcy's cheeks and a livelier gleam

ot tel

the girl, staring at her

le thing. You know, I cla

y suppressed a gasp. Wh

actress urged

as exactly what the feminine Macchiav

ly. "Very well, then.

bious nod, Glo

ve. He'll be here about the middle of Octob

Helen eagerly. "In

uld make it a triple wedding. That's the little

ion of a titled adjunct to her marriage

ater. So they'll be married quite quietly from my apar

pefaction of despair. She was roused by H

eally quite been able to believe it up

f her phantom plans for which she was wholly unprepared. Doubtless Gloria had something in mind; but what could it be? When the day of inevitable reckoning should come, Darc

think Darcy

artner as aesthetically and femininely negligible, the other girls failed to appreciate the vital changes that were in progr

hy," granted Mau

nd lively," added Helen. "But sh

from the prophetic comparison which suggested itself to her annoyed

her. And then keep a watchful eye on

"Gloria! What have you let me in for?

ned the actress airil

a. Sufficient u

ays, I should think," inte

to a head sometime, some

e this so dread

t really engaged-the cat! She as much as said that Montrose Veyze was just

e knew the

afraid.

e going to

y child," said Gloria striking a sacrificial attitude, "and I'

side of the water?" suggested Dar

le. "Not that any one

ement is broken, they

jilt

never be

not," asse

ar! I'll never dare show m

your old face, now, you might be justified in not wanting to sh

he didn't say that, anyway.

y. "Though all of'em don't change for the worse. Darcy, how much do you

y-eight and a half, as

us said, 'to talk of many things; of shoes, and sh

u prepared, in the sight of heaven and earth, to spend seven

u to me! It reminds me.

re you going to do

thwise and back in the e

n o'clock in the morning. Meet me at my place. We'll have a