PUTTING IT TO THE TOUGH.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 246, 30 January 1917, Page 4

PUTTING IT TO THE TOUGH.

(All Rights Reserved.) OUR STORYETTE.

"And so they quarrelled and never made it up again, and the little rift in the lute widened till it became a yawning chasm between cliffs that had been torn asunder—it all seems rather unnecessary, doesn't it;- Heavens! what fools those mortals be!" Tom Drake quoted the phrase slowly and with a melancholy air.

"Betty wasn't the fool the man was!'' said she, emphatically. "Poor chap, I expect he is rather sick about it. - '

"Not he—great, stupid, stuck-up prig!" "You don't give him much of a chance, Mrs. Everson. I knew him years ago—we were at Christ Church together. He was stolid, perhaps, and a bit slow on the wing; but a real good chap—one of the best. Reckoning a bit too much, perhaps, in these democratic days upon his ancestors and all their past glory-proud as lucifor— but by no means a fool." : 'Any man who makes Betty cry is a horrid fool, and I don't care who hears me say it. Oh. you needn't look like that. I have a brute of a temper where Betty is concerned, and the sooner you realise that fact the better." "My dear lady!" Even Tom Drake, most phlegmatic of mortals, was startled.

"Oh, yes, I mean it. But what is to be- done? She hasn't seen him for three years, and she hungers after him still —I know it, although she denies it utterly."

"You won't let me invite him to dinner to meet her, you won't let mo take you both to tea at the club, when 1 know ho would be there--what else can I do? Go up to him and take him by the scruff of the neck and shake him. and say. 'Mrs. Everson—whom you have never seen—wants to know why you don't marry Betty, you fool!' He is a bigger man than I am, and he would probably wonder, after I was dead, which Betty I meant." Mrs. Everson sniffed coldly and scornfully. "There is but one Betty!"

'Look here, dear one, you won't listen to me and my miseries till I—.nvertinj; the usual situation—deliver the fair Andromeda into the dragon's maw. But I may not do it by the usual means. I must not precipitate •vents. I expect Miss Betty is merely reaping the harvest of brutality she nas already sown " \ "Tom! How can you?"

"This is a beashly club—not a single gentleman in the placsh!" The only occupant of the smokingroom turned in amazement and regarded the new-comer with disgust

"Hallo, old chap, is it you! I'm Drake—Tom Drake—used to be at the house with you. You always were a prig, old chap." He leant his back against the door, and laughed as he swayed to and fro. "How's little Betty?" he rambled on. 'You behaved badly to her, old chap. Low game I call it—make love to a girl, break her heart, ride away. You never rode badly, old man; you could .'o that, at least. Can't think what mis girl saw in you—you're such a wastly ugly beggar!" He gazed reflectively and rather vacantly at the tall man who sat in the chair as if turned to stone.

"Nothing to say in defence, old chap? No message for poor little Betty? Getting thinner and thinnerfading away, in fact. Poor little Betty! Wouldn't have thought you could have been such a low cad, old chap. Don't know what you're missing." He pulled himself up with studied dignity. "I wouldn't have thought it of you," he said, severely. "Always thought you a gentleman. She said I ought to wring your neck. Think I will, old man." He advanced threateningly towards his vis-a-vis. The other rose slowly, 'ike » man in a dream. "Look here. Drake, old man. you're drunk. You'd better let me take you home in a cab. I would never have thought you would be such a fool." Drake laughed loudly. "I know I am. Curious thing. Can't understand it, old boy! Why don't you go and see Betty?''

"You don't know what you are talking about. Shut up! Tell me where you live, and try and walk straight, for heaven's sake!'' "I don't know where Retty lives. Mrs. Everson knows. She told me. Said you were a beastly cad " The prig escorted his pugnacious friend to the address lie had given. At his pressing invitation, which savoured almost of force, and to avoid r row in the street, he accompanied him up the steps of the small box in Mayfair. The man who opened the door, with an absolutely expressionless face, stood on one side as they entered, and murmured something vaguely about the drawing-room. "She's upstairs," said Tom, with great deliberation. " Come up. obi man.'' Rather than make a scene before the Sphinx, the prig screwed his eyeglass tighter, loosened his collar with Uo immaculate fingers, and .suffered himself to be half dragged up the narrow stairs. Tom's hand hovered for a moment over the handle; then he turned ; t, Hung the door open, and staggered into the room. •'I brought the prig to see you," he said, hoarsely. Two women seated on the sofa turned startled faces towards the do'.r. Both faces turned white, as did the prig's Mrs. Kverson took Tom gently by the arm and led him from the room. At the door he turned. "1 can't think what she sees in you, you're so beastly ugly, old diap!" He shook his bead solemnly, mid in answer to the gentle pressure be departed. - The other two were left alone. The girl on the sola had turned her head away ; her small, clenched hands lay together in hei lap. "Retty, have you nothing to say to me ?" There was no answer. He hesitated, his hand on the door. Won't von say ''Good-bye'?" Still no answer He opened i*. and closed it gently. Had she !>.->pn IroKng she would have noticed that b« remained inside—but ih* did not.. Ths haughty and was lowered to

the cushion; the small white han gripped it in their pain; hard sobs hook the small frame from head to foot. Ho crossed the thick carpet noiselessly. He bent over her and gathered her up in his arms, the little golden head rested against his shoulder, the eyeglass slipped from his eye, and his firm lips trembled slightly. "B"tty dear," he said. "Oh, my darling, at last! We will never fight again. Betty—life's too short, and loves too sweet. Look up and tell me you love me." Shyly she raised her head, and hungrily her eyes devoured his face. '•Do you really think I'm beastly ugly:-" be whispered, tenderly. Hetty's arms went softly round his neck. "There's no face in the world like it for me." she whispered. He held her close and kissed her. "Then I don't care how beastly ugly I am. I am content merely to be a foil to you." When the door closed on Tom Drake and -Mrs. Kveison ho wasted no time. He caught the startled lady round the waist, whisked her into a small room, and shut the door. Then lie threw back his head and laughed long and loud. "Tom, what to you mean, are you really drunk?" "Drunk, my dear, not much; it was all a put-up job. I'm a second Garrick —he was nothing to me in my drunken scene. You s-n'd you would not marry me until I had settled Betty's little affair. That made me a desperate man. 1 might not settle it my fair menns, I had to employ foul. I went to the club, and found the prig there- alone in the smoking-room. I saw my chance and took it. Now. if you would listen outside that door a thing, I know, you could never do—you would hear them billing and cooing like two turtle doves in the spring. And now. madam, when is it to be?"

She sank into a "chair and laughed till she cried. Tom did not laugh # he was too busy. As lie wiped her tears away he kissed her lone; and ardently. (The End.)