Marion Marlowe's Disappearance, or, Almost a Crime — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

boy, why didn’t you write me you were com- ing?” | What fun would that have been?” asked rt, as he nearly shook her hand off, “but | F have given a dollar to have seen your face when you got the flowers. Oh, | say, did you get onto the Alberto Canfield, Mar- “Did 1? Well, I should say so, and it gave Steen awiul shock, Bert. Why, for a mo- ment I thought you'd gotten so high and m righty that perhaps you wouldn't notice “Um! “Well, I am pretty swell, I admit,” ger ‘than it used to be. Wear the same sized hat, Marion, only a better quality. This one ‘is a ‘plug.’ Do you think it’s becoming ?” “You are the same old Bert,” said Mar- ion , looking around for Miss Ellis, but her ec ompanion had walked on, leaving them alone together. : “Get i in, Marion, and then tell me, wibere shall it be? Sherry’s or Del’s—the Imperial ws “ol or the Waldorf?” ee = “Oh, let’s go toa quieter aan than any of } “those, Bert,” said Marion, laughing. “I Want to go somewhere where we can have a te we are sure to meet lots of people i in all those places that you mentioned.” — “Thats right,” said Bert, pompously ; “and te * know the whole lot of them. A lot of old —— - duffers that my esteemed pop ef: nobs with | and ‘some eee ed ‘Chawlies’ that I met abroad, don’t you know—besides some _ dowagers and rosebuds that would break a aa man’s corset strings—that is if a man had them, Marion.” © Op, — MY QUEEN. - “What do you mean?” sai d Bert, gayly, “but my head isn’t a bit big- - quiet little chat. Just you and I alone, and — 13 asked the young girl, wonderingly. “I understand about the duffers and ‘Chawlies,’ but what do you mean about the others ?” They were rattling along at a pretty good pace and Bert had to raise his voice for Mar- ion to hear him over the noise of the stones. “Why, you see, the old ladies fill a fellow up with such guff, you know, Marion, telling him he’s ‘such a nice boy’ and all that sort of thing, and then the rosebuds make eyes at him until he gets conceited. Oh, it’s lucky I wasn’t ‘born to the purple,’ Marion,” he added, thankfully. “Why, sucking a cane now and wearing my hair I’d have been over my collar. I tell you, it runs in the blood; there 1 is no help for it.” “Well, Iam eae you are safe from that,” said Marion, laughing, “but now, tell me, Bert, what are your plans for the future °” - The handsome face of the young man grew serious in a minute, but there was a little mischief still lurking in his language. “Well, you see, I have no plans—I’m not allowed to have plans,” he admitted, frankly. “If I had my way I’d marry you right off, Marion, and we’d have a home on Fifth ave- nue, and live happily ever after.” . _ “But that not being possible ” inter- rupted Marion, laughing. “I shall go to college instead,” sighed Bert, “and I can’t say I fancy the alterna- tive.” His comical look of sorrow amused Mar- ion greatly, but she was so deeply interested in his plans that she hardly took time to laugh at him. (¢ : A college course is exactly what you need, Bert,” she said, quickly, “and where COMNMIC DOO S (CO)