Townsend Harris High School - Crimson Gold Yearbook (Flushing, NY)

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J . f 1 x v.. S H51 4 . Q39 .4 ux.. S JJ l , J 5 1 vm ,ri iilllr 3 PM lllli ,asia Q r All , If W5 fs 4 . f r Vifl .JB Page Fifzy this time. Covertly raising her eyes, she looked at this prime offender. There he was, still staring in that un- canny and annoying fashion, first at the three men, then at her. This was much too much, the very height of effrontery. The fellow sim- ply could not be made to behave, and that galled. Edith seldom, if ever, blushed. She blushed now, the hot, angry blush of mortification, aroused ire, and hurt pride. She felt inclined to treat the nervy fellow to the same dose she had wanted to deal out to the impudent Jimmy. Fortunately for all concerned, she still retained sufficient grip on herself to recognize the utter futility-and the possible dire conse- quences-of such an action, So, be- ing innately intelligent, and intensely feminine, with a disdainful, contemp- tuous shrug of her shoulders, Edith once more resolutely took refuge be- hind the work of Beach. There are few things better con- trived to put one to sleep than oc- cupancy in a swaying, lurching subway at an ungodly hour of the morning, or a book one cannot find interest in to save one's soul, or a completely ex- hausted body. A combination of all these things at one and the same time cannot be beaten as a sleep-producer, even the strongest willed must soon succumb to such a union. What wonder, then, that with dreamland just in the offing, Edith felt dimly, through the haze that was her fast evaporating consciousness, that she must not fall asleep, that this would not do at all. For an instant she struggled with the hosts of Morpheus. Then with a start, she roused herself and almost instinctively looked toward the other end of the car. All thought of sleep now vanished, every last vestige of tiredness now left her, Morpheus' hosts were utterly routed. That fourth man, the fresh, persistent, annoying fellow was slow- ly, and with some circumspection, walking toward her. Darn! -Unashamedly, and in a most unladylike manner, she swore un- der her breath-and again made a pre- tense of reading. The fellow stood before her. Edith looked up at him through a red blaze of ire. At a saner and cooler time she would have decided that besides being well-dressed and of some refine- ment, he was also nicely tall and more than a little handsome. As it was- well never mind what she decided- sufficient unto the thought is the deed thereof. . -p . ah 5 0. Q rr ' rs N : XX l X i XX. . lu. J I ll ln I . - r -M F XX' Q X. V l f 7 4 M ly K 1 5 llllllllll ' x will Q ,f y tl' r 'N L Wi? V Z - f' , 'l-.rw--www-fgoef, He sat down beside her after a moment. Edith set herself for what she thought was coming. Inwardly she was seething, outwardly she gave no sign of her inward emotion. That is, she thought she didn't. Presently the man asked-Edith could have screamed at its pitiful cas- ualness- What is the name of that book you are reading?,' If Edith had noticed, she would have seen that the man was as greatly agitated at having to talk to her as she was because she didn't want to talk to him. But Edith at this time was not noticing such minor details.

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morning, if you will. She glanced around. For the first time, she really noticed her fellow passengers. Hm! only four persons in the car, all seated down at the other end-and four men at that! Decidedly, Edith didn't like this, not by a long shot. In case you have not already gath- ered as much, men, for the time at least, were Edith's pet aversion. None- theless, being a young woman of otherwise healthy inclinations and more than a little curiosity, she looked closer. Three of the men, those farthest from her, were sitting together on a seat flung across half the width of the car. On each end of the seat was a man of an entirely disreputable ap- pearance, badly in need of a good tailor and a better barber. Between them, propped up by his two com- panions to prevent him from falling to the floor of the car, was a slightly better dressed and manifestly deeply inebriated individual. All three were alike in their general seediness of ap- pearance. -I Kgs Q K - , 75? .1 JN ,ll f Us -X gf' 1 .F X LTI T4hsLgEWET gs gf 'X .f fxa, :hir Q A - 3 I. s,x MMLM3 a The fourth man, younger, more cul- tured looking, of infinitely better as- pect than any of the others, was seated halfway between her and the other men on a seat running along the length of the car. Edith perceived that something was troubling him-something to do with the three others-and, oddly, with her. First, he would stare in a half-puzzled, half-befuddled, and altogether pro- voking manner at them, turn in his seat and then stare in the same way at her. Edith thought, for the mo- ment, that this young man, too, was slightly under the weather, at any rate, he was letting himself in for a lot of trouble by acting in such a forthright fashion-as far as she was concerned. Certainly, she did not much mind his staring at them, she did mnd, re- sented would be the better term, his staring at her. The intermittently in- tent contemplation of his black eyes made her feel positively uncomfort- able. And she did not want to be made to feel uncomfortable. Her sensibilities had been jarred awry sufficiently for one evening fthe thought of the lnglises and jimmy, ever recurrent, still rankledj and this was just about the last straw. Grrl- if the female of the species can growl, Edith did growl, a very masculine- sounding growl, too. Even though the other men were acting so queerly, she was still too sleepy and, probably too angry, to see that this man was staring as hard-- if not harder-at the three others, and. everything considered, we can hardly censure Edith for her resentful atti- tude toward the fellow. But there was no denying that the fellow was trying to flirt with her, in her present mood she had no doubt of it. lX'ell, she knew a trick, tried and true, that had discouraged many a would-be he- flirt. Once more, with low-bent head, she attempted Beach, leaving the man to the more or less edifying study of the top of her hat. But this fellow was persistent. He did not turn tail and flee at the first skirmish. Somehow she knew that her little artful dodge had not worked .V 0 'l+. I- S a I A at V x 6. -23. af l 3 .1 . as 3521 ggi, ' l ga T 1 no . Md. Page Forly-Nine

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Indeed, she replied to the fellow's query, with the frost of the Arctic in her voice, What business is it of yours? I sure do admire your nerve. Why what- She was about to continue in a vein considerably warmer than Arctic or any other kind of frost, but the man, panic-stricken though he was, was not to be interrupted. Listen, miss, please do no fly off the handle. I- I. He stopped, hesitated. She was struck by a strangely fearful note in his voice. Somewhat mollified, she said to herself, Queer duckf Aloud she said, W-e-l-l, I like that. Say, what's biting you, anyway ? NO. Edith had not forgotten her grievance against mankind. The man seemed to be trying hard to brace himself. Even Edith, little hot-head though she was, could see that he was trying to get a grip on himself-and she wondered at it all. He nodded toward the three nonde- scripts. It's about them-Now take a good look at them-Don't you see something unusual- Edith did as she was asked more for the sake of humoring this almost- raving maniac than with the hope of seeing anything out of the ordinary. With a decided thaw in her voice she said, Yes, that middle one looks like he's been on a big bust, making lot's of whoopee-and the other two-not much better! What's so funny about that? And then Edith did see some- thing very much out of the ordinary.- Look at that!-the middle one-his head-his head-is rolling-as if he had a broken neck! And those others-H Edith didn't know exactly what was wrong with those others, but that there was something wrong she was absolutely certain. To tell the truth, the strangers questions, said and unsaid, and this sudden enlightment were making Edith more than a little uneasy, to make a molehill out of a mountaing but she would not let this man see just how uneasy-not on her life. Firmly, she went on. Well what of it? Plenty. Now, I am going to tell you something that may shock you good and proper. But don't, what- ever you do, faint or cry out. just hold tight and keep cool-that fellow in the center is dead-murdered-by those others in all probability. Edith gasped. Words failed to come. Which was, perhaps, just as well. Remember what I have said. If you start cutting up any ructions, we will be in one mighty bad fix. They -well they look like they'd stop at nothing to- Good gosh l-But how do you know all this? The man smiled at the feminine in- nocuousness of the question. Edith, now almost completely mollified thought it a very pleasant, comfort- ing smile. He continued, sure of his ground, You see, for one thing-I'm a doc- tor. One look at that seeming in- ebriate-the way his eyes bulge out of their sockets-you can't see it from here-but it was enough. Edith, be it known, was not the fainting kind. Yet now she felt dizzy, nauseated, oppressed by an irresistable weight of fear and fright such as she had never known. The full realiza- tion of her appallingly narrow escape from God knows what-in her terror she thought it was as bad as that- almost proved too much for her. But she was made of sterner stuff than even she herself knew. After a few seconds this revulsion of feeling passed, leaving her with badly quak- :ads M l . A in Q '5' X 4 li gal ral gl Q K-1 Si i .l 0 l In V Av ab . ' sv-fe 4 ' 'e A E S 9 Zu, 6 S -in KX :- Page Fifty-One