It was dawn before the type was set and the press began to roll. As he had promised Edward Darling, not actually realizing it might not have been his desire to see it in print, and that he had only been the messenger!

The duo who swept into the Kalispell Union office on the morning of the 2nd April might be described as an 'ill-assorted pair', but as old cohabitees, they were often seen arm-in-arm on the streets of Kalispell. In stark contrast to her 'outfit' of the night before, Miss Mudd was massively overdressed in the latest fashions of the day and her severe corsetry and highly heeled buttoned boots gave the diminutive actress the illusion of height. Conversely, her companion Miss Grimes, although the taller of the two, tended to stoop, and wore practical flat heeled boots, which made her look the shorter. 

As soon as she espied him, Arabella threw her arms around Phineas McVey and gave him two big sloppy kisses on either cheek.

"Oh Phin, you perfect darling, you printed my letter!" she beamed. "Franny didn't think you would, but I said 'that gorgeous Mister McVey and I go back a long way, and we're fellow Southerners to boot, of course he'll print my dear little epistle of contrite apology' and there it is in black and white!" she beamed. 

Frances shook her head.

"You're still in trouble" she stated , simply enough.

Arabella just laughed. "Oh Franny, you're such a boring Goody-Goody. I like being in trouble!" she announced before sweeping over to Miss Thornton-Carlton (and those fishtailed dresses that had come in lately really did sweep the floor, too. It was enough to put the nation's janitors out of work!)

"Oh hello, Miss T.C. you look lovely today, is that a new dress?" she asked. If she had known to, Frances would have rolled her eyes. She could bear listening to Arabella's cavalier attitude in her conversations with most people, but she always cringed when her friend started mushing on other women.

Flip

JulieS