Evening Star Newspaper, September 27, 1936, Page 80

He H THIS WEEK It th THE DANCERS ALL STOPPED AND WATCHED THE GIRL WAS ENJOYING HERSELF, THOUGH SCARED Rl HYLLIS sat at a table in Corley’s and watched Perry Phelps dancing with the newspaper girl from New York and got madder and madder. ; The fact that Perry was oblivious to what he was doing made it worse. He was big and good natured and kind. He wouldn't have hurt her feelings on purpose. Therefore he was a fool. Or else he had fallen for the newspaper girl. Phyllis was neither alone nor neglected. She sat with Connie Smith and Jimmy Gres- ham and five newspaper men and the only reason she wasn't dancing was that she was mad. She resented the newspaper men. She thought.that Winchester, which is not far from Saratoga, was a charming place to spend the summer. But it had been spoiled when Burke, the heavyweight contender, chose it for his training camp. Now it was full of sports writers and fight fans and gamblers. Nobody talked about anything but the fight. Phyllis thought the newspaper girl was not good looking —not really. Her name was Jane Evans. Phyllis thought she wouldn't llvstrations by R. J. Cavaliere { mind if Jane were a knockout. It wouldn't be so humiljating. And then she saw the prizefighter at the bar. He looked much bigger in his street clotlwsthanhedidinmeringatlfistmining camp. Bigger and uglier. The newspaper man beside Phyllis saw the prizefighter too. The newspaper man, whose name was Mac, was nice, and quite the sort of young man with whom Phyllis would have been pleased to flirt under other and happier circumstances. He jerked his head at the other newspaper men and grinned. They all grinned and watched the prizefighter expectantly. They had been talking about how surly Burke had got as he neared the end of his training. Some- thing was going to happen. They all saw Burke drink a glass of whiskey and ask for another and drink that and ask for another and still another, pausing only to take a quick look over his shoulder at the door. “It’s a race,” Mac said to Phyllis. ‘““Can he get cock-eyed before I1zzy Mandelbaum catches up with him?" Burke took his seventh whiskey with one toss and moved out on the crowded dance floor. He bumped Perry Phelps and the news- paper girl. Perry Phelps just grinned and went on dancing. Burke saw a college boy dancing with a pretty girl. Burke tried to cut in. The college boy protested sharply. Burke took him by the wrist, whirled him around, shoved him away and grabbed the girl. Phyllis knew the boy and the girl. The boy was white with anger. But what could he do? He was scarcely half as big as the heavyweight contender. Phyllis could see the girl was a little scared but not so scared that she wasn't en- joying herself. The other dancers all stopped and watched —all except Perry Phelps and the newspaper girl. But before the dance was over there was a wild yell from the bar and a short, fat, red- faced man came bouncing out. “You big bum!” the little man yelled at Burke. ‘‘You louse!”” He grabbed the prize- fighter's arm with both hands. *‘Now Izzy,” the prizefighter began, *I only want — "' But his words were lost in the storm of language that poured from Izzy as he hung on with one hand and waved his other wildly in the air. Burke's head drooped in submission. Izzy started toward the door, leading Burke and still gesticulating wildly. He bumped into Perry Phelps and his fist hit Perry on the cheek. Perry Phelps just grinned. Izzy Mandelbaum disappeared through the door, leading Burke. *‘Strange thing," Mac said to Phyllis. “‘Burke is trained to the point where he just has to Magazine Section break loose. He'd love to punch anybody wh: & gave him the slightest excuse. He knocked tw: & of his sparring partners cold this morning. Bu A he can’t stand up to Izzy Mandelbaum. H | wouldn't think of laying a hand on Izzy.” ¢ Perry Phelps realized, as he drove Phylli i home, that she did not share his enthusiasr for the evening. She had gone into one of thos stony silences. Perry looked at her. There was enoug light from the dash so he could see her profile Her face was calm and beautiful — ominousl: calm and beautiful. Phyllis was normall: vivacious. She laughed easily. “I think," Perry said, ‘‘that Izzy Mandel baum leading Burke out of Corley's was on.