Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/226

nice, for his grey eyes took on that mysterious luster which Elsie had noticed on two rare occasions,—but this time he looked at Lillian.

And so often after that did Lillian catch his attention with “nice” words and her mischievous blue eyes, that Elsie began to feel gradually deserted. Not always, however. Sometimes a week passed when Albert had no more than a casual greeting for Lillian. But again by some pretty remarks vampishly mouthed, Albert’s attention was drawn to the other girl this not only to Elsie’s chagrin but also to her amazement. For by this time she had convinced herself that there was nothing in Lillian for a man of Albert’s sensibility to admire. She was no more than a flippant girl that flirted with anyone who would. While Albert, Elsie thought, was a soul too big and dignified to be affected by such hollow pretensions. Maybe she should not have displayed her offence—or was it jealousy—, but she so hated to join their school of pretenders. And thus, while she went on pitying Albert and resenting Lillian, six months had elapsed, in which Lillian had completely won Albert’s attention, if not his person, too.

But, as I said, though Elsie’s fingers were busily duplicating colorful peacocks one after another, her brain was no less attentive to the equation that always checked wrong. But finally she had it! Why not introduce an “unknown?” That was it. An unknown. But what was that unknown to be?

Well, here it was. Her rather youthful uncle, Francis Mach, whom she had never seen but on photographs, had secured a position in the mickle-plating department of Bradley and Hein. He had studied chemistry at the Lisle College and for the last few years had worked with a plating firm in his home town in Iowa, where Elsie’s grandparents had moved after her mother’s marriage. He was coming over to his new location that Friday evening, and was to begin work next Monday. Truly the anticipation of his arrival pleasantly distracted Elsie since the time she first learned of it two weeks ago. But the reality of that other concern was so overpowering that she was even able to draw on the anticipated event for speculative unknowns not entirely a credit to her own initiative.

“No one of my friends need know that he is my uncle”, she planned. “And I’m going to show that overgrown baby that he is not the king around here, that he thinks he is”. And she smiled at Lillian.

Sunday evening at the theater, Elsie introduced her uncle to Albert and Lillian as Mr. Francis Mach, formerly of Des Moines, now chief engineer at the plating department of Bradley and Hein. Then she and Francis passed on nonchalantly, leaving the two rather wide-eyed with surprise. Elsie had no scruples about pretentions now. If Albert had lost