... By FRANCIS BUTTERS. HELEN CHRISTY drew a quick breath. Oh, but it's lovely, she gasped, her eyes gleaming. The salesman smiled. I thought you would like it. The only mink coat we've had this season, Madam, and I doubt if we shall have another. That is why I wished you to see it first. The best bargains should be reserved for the best customers. He slipped the coat from the hanger and ...

... The Fugitive of Frog River Bruton was a drug peddler but he was not entirely demoralized --as escaped Japanese prisoner Colonel Itagaki discovered By Michael Hastings MIND-TORMENTING sound came from the jungle blackness. There was an idiot medley made up of the high screeching of cicadas, the hollow-tube booming of frogs, and the relentless toc-tocking of brain-fever birds. Near the water the ...

... Rusty. v By William MacMillan 1 WAKENED abruptly from his afternoon siesta by a love- happy squirrel, the big black bear wrinkled his nose at the impudent little serenader and sent him scuttling with an angry woof. Then, painfully heaving his vast bulk to a flat rock crowning the ridge, he quartered the valley below with speculative eyes. Still stiff and muscle-bound from his long winter ...

... BUBBLE W SQUE^K A SERGEANT stationed in Germany was given a pass to visit Paris. He was very excited about visiting the famous city, but he was most anxious to see the Monna Lisa in the Louvre. When he returned to Germany one of his friends asked him if he had seen the famous painting. 44 Yes, he said, with little enthusiasm. 44 You don't sound very excited about it, replied his friend, 44 I ...

... Gerald Kersh IT was not often that Mr. Riley needed a drink, and when he did he preferred to drink alone --one sherry, two sherries; a little of some thing; not much; hastily bought, quickly paid for and hurriedly swallowed. In this manner he avoided drinking-companions. On the rare occasions when his acquaintances saw him in a public-house, he was always hurrying out. This morning he needed a ...

... WBHt WSqu£AK A RECENTLY discharged soldier, who had established a shoe-repair shop in a town, was asked how he was getting along with his work. Couldn t be better was the cheery reply. 44 Two weeks behind already. 44 A NYTHING new in the paper, dear asked the wife. 44 Yes, there was an earthquake at a town that was called Kneojkareslau, replied her husband. 44 Does it say what it was called ...

... KwB I MhJ Laurence Kirk IT really all began with a letter old Hugo had received two days earlier in that month of May. The letter was from his wine merchant and was couched in respectful and soothing language. It began by saying that among the many distressing shortages afflicting the world that of barley and of dollars was probably the most serious. It then made I a brief reference to the ...

... The Impossible Mr. Stoke The Tale Of A Waspish Impossible Author Who Began A Story That He Was Prepared To Finish By Jacques Gillies BELLE MARVEL drove down with the Huntleys. They were all going to Langridge for the week-end. Belle was unhappily trying to decide whether the tedium of the train journey might still have been preferable to Stephen Huntley's driving. This was as they stormed ...

... By JANET REID. WILL you do one for me? he said, and looked into her eyes. It was a habit he had practised on his parishioners for years, for it seems that a young man who does not squint can obtain almost anything that way. But no roses or quaint little men, mind. It has to be worn with a dog collar, and he laughed very heartily. Millicent never saw jokes, and her sister Clare had a high ...

... A TRACK supervisor received the following memo, from his foreman: I am sending in accident report about Casey's foot, which he struck with a spike maul. Now, under 'Remarks,' do you want mine or Casey's? A LADY returning from the Continent had pur chased some bottles of perfume, and spent a good deal of trouble in packing them into her luggage so that they should not be detected by the ...