Part 2 (1/2)

”Who is she, d.i.c.ky?” I tried to make my voice careless. ”I did not catch her name when you introduced us.”

”You'll probably see enough of her so you won't forget it,” returned d.i.c.ky, grinning. ”She's one of the busiest little members of the 'Welcome to Our City Committee' in the set I train most with. She won't rest till you've met all the boys and girls and been properly lionized. She's one of the best little scouts going, and, if she'd cut out the war paint and modulate that Comanche yell she calls her voice there would be few women to equal her for brains or looks.”

”But you haven't told me yet what her name is,” I persisted.

”Well, in private life she's Mrs. Harry Underwood--that's Harry with her--but she's better known all over the country as the cleverest producer of ill.u.s.trated jingles for advertising we have. Remember that Simple Simon parody for the mincemeat advertis.e.m.e.nt we laughed over some time ago, and I told you I knew the woman who did it? There she is before you,” and d.i.c.ky waved his hand grandiloquently.

”Lillian Gale!” I almost gasped the name.

”The same,” rejoined d.i.c.ky, and turned again to his program, while I sat in amazed horror, with all my oldtime theories crumbling around me.

For I had read of Lillian Gale and her married troubles. I knew that Harry Underwood was her second husband and that she had been divorced from her first spouse after a scandal which has been aired quite fully in the newspapers. She had not been proved guilty, but her skirts certainly had been smirched by rumor. According to the ideas which had been mine, d.i.c.ky should have shrunk from having me ever meet such a woman, let alone planning to have me on terms of intimacy with her.

What should I do?

When the curtain went down on the first act I turned to d.i.c.ky happily, eager to hear his comments and filled with a throng of thoughts to wipe away any remembrance from his mind of the unhappiness that had promised to mar my evening, and which I feared he had read in my eyes. But just as I opened my lips to speak, he interrupted me with a startled exclamation:

”Sit down, Lil. h.e.l.lo, Harry.”

d.i.c.ky was on his feet in an instant and Lillian Gale was seated next to me with d.i.c.ky and her husband leaning over us before I had fully realized that the woman, the thought of whom had so disturbed my evening, was so close to me.

”I want you to know Mrs. Graham, Harry,” d.i.c.ky said.

I glowed inwardly at the note of pride in his voice and looked up to meet a pair of brilliant black eyes looking at me with an appraising approval that grated. He was a tall, good looking chap, with an air of ennui that sat oddly on his powerful frame. I felt sure that I would like Lillian Gale's husband as little as I did the woman herself.

I was glad when the lights dimmed slowly, that the second act was about to begin. Mrs. Underwood rose with a noisy rustling of draperies. She evidently was one of those women who can do nothing quietly, and turning to me said, cordially:

”Be sure to wait for us in the lobby when this is over. We have a plan,” and before I had time to reply she had rustled away to her own seat, her tall husband following at some little distance behind her, but apparently oblivious of her presence as if she were a stranger.

I didn't much enjoy the second act, even though I realized that it was one of the best comedy scenes I had ever seen, both in its lines and its acting; but I had a problem to settle, and I longed for the quiet hour in my own room which my mother had trained me to take every day since childhood.

Of course, I realized that Lillian Gale meant to have us join them for a supper party after the theatre. The invitation would be given to us in the lobby after the last act. Upon the way that I received that invitation must depend my future conduct toward this woman. I could not make one of the proposed party and afterward decline to know her.

My instincts all cried out to me to avoid Lillian Gale. She outraged all my canons of good taste, although even through my prejudices I had to admit there was something oddly attractive about her in spite of her atrocious make-up.

But, on the other hand, she and her husband appeared to be on most intimate terms with d.i.c.ky. Would I seriously offend him if I refused to treat his friends with friendliness equal to that which they seemed ready to shower upon me?

”Would you like to walk a bit, Madge?” d.i.c.ky's voice started me into a recollection of my surroundings. I had been so absorbed in the problem of whether I should or should not accept Lillian Gale as an intimate friend that I did not know that the curtain had fallen on the second act, nor did I know how the act had ended. My problem was still unsolved. I welcomed the diversion of a turn in the fresher aid of the lobby.

As we pa.s.sed up the aisle I felt a sudden tug, then an ominous ripping. The floating chiffon overdrapery of my gown had caught in a seat. As d.i.c.ky bent to release me his face showed consternation.

Almost a length of the dainty fabric trailed on the floor.

I have schooled my self-repression for many a weary year. I feared my gown, in which I had taken such pride, was ruined, but I would not let any one know I cared about it. I gathered it up and smiled at d.i.c.ky.

”It really doesn't matter,” I said. ”If you'll leave me at the woman's dressing room I think I can fix it up all right.”

d.i.c.ky drew a relieved breath. His heartily murmured, ”You're a thoroughbred for sure, Madge,” rewarded me for my composure. I was just woman enough also to be comforted by the whispered comments of two women who sat just behind the seat which caused the mischief.

”Isn't that a shame--that exquisite gown?” and the rejoinder. ”But isn't she game? I couldn't smile like that--I'd be crying my eyes out”