Torchy, Private Sec.

he extent of lettin' me come around once a week without makin' me assume a disguise, or crawl in through the coal chute. Course I'm still

venings only, from half after e

s I, "and it

sions of gratitude. I am merely indulging Verona in o

, "and even if it don't s

rom using such pa

an ditch the gabby ta

find entertainment in such--" Here Aunty stops and shrugs h

ayin' on the same side of the net, ain'

at's her specialty, and she remarks careless: "Quite a number of y

eyes and born without ears if t

e hall, givin' her the polite "Good evenin', Ma'am," I thought I heard a half-smothered snicker behind the draperies. Maybe it was that

the Corrugated now, and a few weeks back had shunted her off from a losin' stock deal, she wa'n't tryin' to decoy me into the fam'ly. Hardly! I

some friends of hers was goin' to close durin' a tour abroad. Nothin' swell, but real comfy and substantial, and

le hair, his long legs, and his woodeny face! Looked like his admission card must have been punched for eight p.m., or else he'd been asked for dinner. Anyway

Miss Ull,"

of these poutin', peevish beauts that can look you over cold and distant and say "Ho

ll and Westy. In fact, almost before the honors are done the

ing again," urges Miss Ull, and begins t

seashell ears and her big gray eyes watchin' me sort of q

st of the chorus

at?" sa

s planned to have the S. R. O. si

w silly!" says she. "No one else

e, that ain't so bad. I got the scheme, though. She counts Westy as better than a crowd. 'Safety First' is her motto

on the steamer coming back from the Medit

nners," says I. "

to know her. I'm rather sorry for her too. Her home life is-well, not at al

, ain't it," says I, "bein' nice

angelic qualities at last! Go on, Torchy, think of some

e been kiddin' the guest of honor. I might talk easier too, if we could

the piano herself. Then she must have Vee come show her how it ought to go. Next she wants to practice a new fancy dance, and so on. She keeps Westy trottin'

en the big hall clock starts to chime ten, and in through the draperies marches Aunty. It ain't any accident

if Doris is to be with us again, would you mind my

e disturber as ever. I got a little more of her history sketched out by Vee that night. Seems that Doris didn't rea

chin' her eyebrows expressive,

Ull. You know there's about five hundred per cent, profit in that game when you get it goin', and while Pa Ull might have started small, in an East 14th Street basement,

en Pa and Ma Ull sat down to pick out a young ladies' culture fact'ry for her the process was simple. They discarded all but three of the catalogues, savin' them that was printed on the thickest paper and havin' the most halftone pictures, and then put the tag on the

a faint picture of what Doris was like after four years at Hetherington Hall and a five months' trip

, either,-a little crude perhaps; but he has learned to wear a frock coat in the shop and not to talk to

t 14th Street

s. They don't get on at all well. So when Doris told me how lonely and unhappy she was at home and

e where I cut next Fr

her long eyelashes coy, "you we

gain, will you? Suppose I could duck mee

of him, you shouldn't run

ickin' around does make a room so crowded. I did

t. "Just two during the last ten da

ust think he hold

ed over; for as near as I can judge she was never very strong f

cheery and hopeful through the Ulls' front door and into the front room. No Westy in sight, o

been sent up from the store as stickers. The samples of art on the walls struck me as a bit gaudy too, and I was tryin' to guess how it wou

r if I've got time to work up some s

es towards me smilin' and excited. "Oh, I say!" he breaks o

e's told you that the Pan

ut me. Just happened, you know.

en, and my breath came a little short; but I

Isn't it wonderful?" sa

s, grippin'

he, "in there. She's-sh

aced. Then I takes a brace. Had to. I don't know how well I did it either, or how convincin' it sounded, but I found m

"I can hardly realize it myself. Awfully bad case I had, you know. A

says I, st

h nowadays, but somehow I think I ought. Yo

admit it was some able-bodied affair,-a good deal like shuttin' off the air in

he foxy pair, though? Well, well! Here, let's have another shake on that.

can't help that. And it makes no difference at all to me if he isn't really refined

to him about then; but I did. "Westy," says I, "take my

do it right away I know I never can at all. Besides I've made up my mind that Mrs. Ul

shoulder. "In that case I'll just slip i

panicky. "I-I wish you'd stay. I-I don

reg'lar,

d sort of introduce me, you know, and-and help

on him fonder, or promised to stand by him closer. I calls the maid myself, discovers that Mrs. Ull is in the upsta

ays I; "for from all the dope I've

and out among the chairs and tables before we hears a heavy pad-pad on

weird way her dress fits her, like it had been cut out left-handed in a blind asylum-well, she's a mess, that's all. It's an expensive lookin' outf

y, and then remarks unexpected: "It's about Doris, ain't

Then it was my turn to go panicky. "Excuse me, Ma'am," says I hasty, "but t

paddles over to a high-backed, carved mahogany chair and settles hersel

es on. "I'm always the last to get wise to anything that goes on i

t-it's just happened. And I thought you ought to know f

a hoot what we thought. But as Westy finishes and bows real respectful, holdin' out his hand friendly, the change come. The hard lines around her mouth softens, the narrowed eye

did you?" says she, with a break

says Westy. "You're Doris

even the way Leo has. But then, I ain't had the chance. I've been at home, lookin' after the boys and-and Doris. I saw she was gettin' spoiled; but I didn't have the heart to bring her home and stop it. She's young, though. She'll get over it. You'll help her. Oh, I know

so choky under my collar, that I couldn't have done it myself. Bu

e. And I'm sure that both of us are going to be very fond of you.

am'ly scene. And when the two girls showed up with their arms locked about each other, and Vee leads Doris

spine like a splinter of ice. "If I ever had the luck to get that far," thinks I,