Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 21, 1923, Page 23

SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 1923. “SOULS FOR SALE”--A Great Novel of Hollywood Lif BY RUPERT HUGHES (CHAPTER XXII (Continued) OON they arrived at Palm Can- ~ yon and ran the car well up into the gorge along a water that descended @ winding stair with lttle cascades and broad pools. In some of them water snakes could be sven twisting shadowly. But the wonder of the place was the embassy of stately palms that had marched down. the ravine to the edge of the desert and greeted, the visitor with the majesty of lofty chieftains in great war bonnets of green plumes. Some were tall and slender, with headdresses of frond- ed glory. Others were short and fat and so shaggy of trunk that they resembled the legs of giant cowboys in_chaparajos. “There sas a little cabin halfway up tie canon but it was locked and deserted, Ona bulletin board were plecards begging for mercy to ani- me‘kind and praising nakedness as akin to godliness. “He ought to be on a censorship board,” said Holby. ‘The hermit who kent this retreat was making good his creed for when Mem and Holby got out of theft car and stared from the edge of the barrier down into e stream meand- ering through an Eden of shade, they saw him naked at his bath. Both pretended not to have no- ticed him and turned away. Before long he came up the steep path in apostolic garb with robe, rove gir. dle. sandals, and staff. He wore a beard and long chestnut curls as in the tradition of the Messiah. “How easy it is to look Uke the pictures of Christ!” Tom Holby said. It angered him a little to meet « man whose ideals and practices were wo contrary to his own. ‘The hermit lived on next to noth- ing, took no part in the activities of mankind, hid himself in obscurity, and led a Ife of scantified indolence. He aid not mortify his flesh, and he id not follow the mediaeval the- ory that baths are diabolic and Girt @tvine. He was neat and even his nails were manicured with care. But he mae no use of his body for the public‘ good or sayety. He abstained from beauty and suppress: ed his emotions. Tom Holby, by the very opposite ambition, treated hts flesh as an instrument of many * uses; he diverted millions of people, and his prosperity was gauged by the delight he gave in quality and quan- tity. He was so far from seeking oblivion that his very postures were multiplied and sent about the world. ‘The ambitions of the two men were of mutual criticism and re proach. et Hi was polite to the po- nee so Eas ‘who invited the wander- ers into his neat little cabin, sold them posteleards with views of the . then with a most unhermit- lke skill played them love tunes on an Hawalle guitar of bis own mak- ing. Be beld in his right hand a par of steel with which he gave his melodies @ quaint sliding tone, sn amorous whimper of a aquirreiike rece this cosy retreat Holby led Mem down to the center of the palm haunt. He was thinking aloud: “Funny business, being & profes- gional good man. That sort of fel- low hates the world and !s afraid of it and retires to the desert to save his soul. Always seemed to me there was something lacking in that idea of teing good. Save your own soul and let the world go to the devil! t! rieans nothing to the hermit wheth- er there is war or peace famine oF prospertiy. He doesn't help any lonely people to smile; he doesn't feed anybody, or give any money to any- body; he doesn't build any rattroads or cathedrals or theaters, ‘punt any pictures or write any songs 07 vole or make shoes or anything. He does not commit any sins, maybs—any of the orewd sins—bu' Zhrceg com- deeds, either. Tae EA @ faa wo ected about his soul, it’s better if he will Ko swHy ‘by himself and save it than to spend his life trying to save everybodyelse’s soul by censorships and foolish laws about tobacco and Sunday and art mid the depth of the canyon the palms were densely bongresated; heir branches inter‘aced into roof of murmurous green. Mem was in a mood of beyond the world; she felt bewitched as she walked over the dried fans of fallen leaves and ‘Ust- ened to the birds thet made a lyric caravansery of this haven. It was a realm of Arablan magic, with no hint of the American magic that our cethtdboroed wearily down upon & stone by the brook in a thatched tent of palms. Tom Holby, though there was a place at = distance, sat down Bees fea her heart into a flut- ter. His own heart was evidently pn the scurry, too, and there was & fierce debate within him whether he should speak or not. Finally he sal “You've got me at 4 terrible dis: advantage here, I'm all alone with you and helpless. It wouldn't do me any good to scream and I'm so weak that you could overpower me with # fook."” She could not make him out at all. He had to explain. ea ce z “You know when a woman man out to @ solitude like this— “Lures?” “Well, use any word you Iike—just say ‘goes with a man’—anyway, she ts the poor fellow to guessing mighty hard. I wouldn't annoy you for the world. I've got & queer hankering to be of some service to you. But I can't place you any: where.” She did not know his language. be very merciful and wise and every- “Can't place you at all,. You have BY But Mem would as soon have fol- thing wonCerful. She felt. that he lowed a pack of gypsies or a circus ; Sweet, innocent beautiful face and would not be shocked. Those ac-|'troupe out of Calverly. It was only jour eyes are as gentle as a dove's. tors and actresses could not be when the movi wert But that has been the case with aikea RO Rr thay shocked by anything, probably. And that she realized how much they yet a kind of snobbishness even in had filled the scene, how empty and Uttle the stage was, now that the | picture crowd abandoned it. She found a place as mald in the home of @ stogekeeper at such ‘wages as he could afford. She began the sordid routine of her tasks, but, contrasting them with the glamour jof playing tragic roles, she felt her- Mem was a princess of the parson-| self entombed. age, and she was sudcenly recalled] Then the summer heat began and convincing, and you'ye got me puz-|to her pride of estate, grew so fierce that her employer's ied. If you've committed a crime! Tom Holby writhed when his gen-| wife and children went “Inside” co and are hiding out you'd better get|¢rous motives were flung back into| the seashore. This left her in a into a bigger crowd, because you're, his face. He was filled with rage,! position of embarrassment and ter: some of the daintiest little desper- adoes that ever tore up society. The! humiliation locked her jaws on her! | first time I met you you told me secret. She was a clergyman's your name was Remember Steddon. | daughter, after all, and it would be You called me Mr. Woodville when’ an appalling come-down from all her we sald good-by in Tucson. A week) teaching, to make a movie actor her| or two and we meet again, and youl confidant and accept his advice mad are Mrs. Woodville and your hus-| help and—Heavens! she was already band is dead and you're going to be| accepting his caresses! & chambermaid on a ranch. | “It's alt possible, but it isn’t a bit as conspicuous out here as old San; } Jacinto peak. If you've committed! a crime, I'm sure you had a good} reason to and I’m no informer. But I wish you would tell me whether| | you are the cleverest adventuress I ever met or just)a poor scared little jlonely lost child.” | Her confusion was that of a child.| He could see no insincerity in her| panic and there was a wedding ring) on her finger. But this did not im- press him much; he had seen too many married actresses take off their rings to play maidens, and too ; Many unmarried actresses put them on to play wives. He had seen won- erful sincerity in impersonation. Ro- bina could make him weep a-most at will in her scenes of hapless inno- cence, He broke out impatiently when Mem did not speak. “Tell me honestly one thing, Is! there a Mr. Woodville? Were you! ever really married to anybody? | She turned frightened eyes upon! him and spoke with a parrying eva- sion: ‘Why—why should you Coubt it?” He stared at her sharply; then his eyes softened and he mumbled: | “You poor little thing! What on earth are you up to? What are you running away from? Why shou.d! you come to this place out of sea- and yet he pitied her more than ever. He pitied her as the vagabond pities the hidebound Puritan who sets him in the pillory. H He longed for such equality as he enjoyed in his wra: gles with Robina Teele, who swore at him and struck at him with a manly vigor. He controlied himself and groaned Ironic: ‘orgive me!” freedom ar “She struggled fiercely, yet with .the feeling of a lamb in a shepherd's son umler a false name with a wed-| When she Ingenuously answered,| clasp. ding rag you bought yourself?” | “1 co,” he almost suffocated with ‘ ; a She carried her other hand to con-| tormented wrath and sardonic TOT: She was an embarrassment ani ceal the ring as if it were a shame-} amusement, Eenl On Reuee: haus Aabky pet sat ad ful baby. ‘The instinctity gesture) He dumfounded her by speaking in Pad © Deauty that sho unwittingly convinced Holby that he had guessed) the jargon of his craft: pine blenny a eg ah ipod Seren well. | beauty stung him in his thoughts. | ‘They say that when Griffith want- 4 to"get. the tial x It filled his honest soul with poison- Now she fell into an ague of ter- ‘imace of agony ror, She looked this way and that,,in Lilllan Gish’s face in the scene CUS ‘esire. =e relly wea: reneged as i for a door of escape. But) where her illegitimate baby dies—in| Course? <i oes ona but hess she knew that on all sides of her was| ‘Way Down East,’ you know—they | S'FOW In her eyes made tt tmpossib! | “, to dismiss her. Finally, being as @ wilderness of mountains and ces-| photographed her face while he hela ‘° fixe imesh as ert; She was horribly afraid of Hol.! them. I don't Wi8¢ 88 he was good, he determined jee feet and tickled know. how feel just to fiee from the temptation to tempt by; he had the do - ry: mineering, demand and took shelter with his wife. ing manner of a police officer. true the story that way. is, but 1 Do I look it?"| But instead of denouncing her or| He was so interested in expression; Mem had not watched him well arresting her, he suddenly took her! that he actually thrust his face close enough to note her influence upon two trembiing hands in one of his to hers for her verdict on his mien! him. She went about in a daze, with and with the other pressed her to She had st'if another battler for him:,% H@avier and heavier heart and him and held her tight. “What's Griffith? | tread. She struggled fiercely, yet with the| This heathenic ignorance of the She spent much thought upon the feeling of a Iamb in a shepherd's first god of the American c!nema, clasp. She knew that he was no/ took his breath like a blew! on .the wrutten, that she must wr.te if ever enemy, yet she could not accept him solar plexus and he could only whis- she were to go home again. The as her friend on so short an ac- per, huskily: whole purpose of this long, long quaintance. Friendships were not “Let's go back.” journey into loneliness was to be made at such speed in Calverly. So she fought until he released her.” Then she rose and stagged along a crackling path, scattering ttle zards that seemed rather to CHAPTER XXIII. jable to write that letter; and it ha When the moving-picture caravan|not yet gone. left Palm Springs, Mem lost the| Eyery time she made tho begin- courage that had led her to refuse ning her hands flinched from the to go with it, |tying pen. But when her employer pretend than to feel fear, | Tom Holby rather coldly advised left the village for a She began to weep, ran blindly! her to take up the moving pictures his family at the coast, one night in into one of the palms, and fell, but as a career. The director praised a frantic fit of histrionte enthus.asm Into Holby’s arms agai {her and promised not to forget her.' she dashed off her fable, sea.ed it Tell me the truth,” he pleaded.| Leva Lemaire begged her to come in an envelope, and dropped it after “Let me be your friend. I want|to Los Angeles where !t would be, dark in the mail box. to help you. If it would help you) cool and’ profitable..and warned her most to let you alone I'll do that.) not to risk her iife in the desert.! Darling Mamma and Papa:— If .it would help you to be hel¢,| Also she collected for Mem the day's; How can write the terr.blo news? tight and hugged hard and kissed| wage of seven dollars and a half for hone baraly lave’ bes ied eet let and loved—I'll do that, and mighty) her work as an extra woman, ‘This tats ieee Puen Gene ta the gladly. But in Heaven's name, don’t! thrilled the girl with her astonish- desert: I.cannot write you. the: par- stand there and have chills and fever| ing earning powers. At tht rate ticulars now, for I am too agitated and not’ speak ishe could earn as much in a week|/ ang grief stricken and I do not want She felt a mad yearning to tell him as her father earned in a month.|to harrow you with details. I know the truth; She felt that he would Even she! your poor hearts will ache for me. Are You Numbered Among the Many? [OUSANDS endeavor day after day to their health back by ots ¢ one medicine and As their trouble, nine times out of ten is of a catarrhal nature, the re, need is for a remedy which will reach the mucous membranes. Pe-ru-na contains just the proper in- gredients to stimulate the digestive processes, drive out the poisons secre- ted by the congested membranes and develop that richness of blood so essential to good health. Being a remedy for catarrhal condi- tions, Pe-ru-na more perfectly meets the emergencies of every day as is tes- That is why the well informed per- tifted by the multitudes son wastes no time but trys Peruma who have aed fc. Ever-Ready-To-Take letter home that sho had not yet, y days with| Casner Sunday ceornine Cribune but 1 beg you not to feel it too deeply, because I am trying to be brave. And I remember what you taught me, that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Poor John did not find the lost mine he was looking for, and he id not find the water hole he expect- ed, for, after I had waited for him a long time in our camp by a litte spring. another prospector brought me word that he had found him anc Luried him, The poor boy had torn all his clothes off in the thirst mad- ness and had been dead for three | days when found. I cannot write you more now. I am in no need of money and I will come home when I get a little strong- er, The climate is doing my health wonderful good even if it has broken j my heart. \ But don’t you worry. right and I'll jter as soon as where All the love in the world from Your loving T'll be all send you a long let- I settle down some- MEM. After she had slipped the letter fr- | revocably into the mail box she real- ized that the postmark of Palm | Springs would be stamped on the envelope. Her p'ace of concealment would be disclosed. Still, it would not matter. She was a widow in the m'nds of her people and she could go back to them and face the future in calm. Put. she would have to go on play- ing a part all her life—and playing it once more in the montonous the- ater of her own home. She ha a, flerce dosire for her mother's help in the approaching ordeal, but how could she endure to begin lying again in her dear o:d father's trusting face? Her soul wanted to.run and clim>, leaden as her feet were. She was a bit fl'ghty in her her head at times | nowadays. A longing for cool wa- ters and icy waves assailel her. The | Los Angeles paper which came to | the house every day spoke of Santa }Monica as the place “where the when a clouded sky gavo a littl shelter from the sun, she set out t- follow! her vagary aq far as he strength would take her. She crossed a strip of sant a» soft as deep-piled velvet, and came to a path that slanted up a rounded cliff lifting a granite wall right aloft from the unripp.ed surface of the desert. The exertion of climbing was more than Mem had bargained for, she was weaker and weightier than she had thought. The steeps that looked so inviting from a distanca were ragged and forbidCing. The burnt-al- mond mountains were hot and sharp-edged gridirons to her feet. When sho was high enough to look down on the leafy thatch of the little village she grew dizzy ani afraid. The loneliness up there was grisly. Something said, “Go back!" She fought the everlasting tendency uo retreat from everything she under- took, but gave up and decided to return. And now, as she stared at the swift descent before her, she grew more afraid of climbing down than of climbing up. She hesitated, then mounted a few steps with pain and struggle. She had not the strength to go on, nor the oourage to go back. The sun came blazing forth and seemed to spill upon her a ye:low hot mess of metal that slashed her about the 1ead and rolled over her shoulcers in blistering ingots. The fiends of height swirled round her. She tried to call for help— but whence? A stone rolled under ner foot and shook her from her valance, She wavered, clutched at nothing, whirled, struck, bounded from .the hard sock, fell and feil, and ness, then—a silence. CHAPTER XXIV. A young Indian girl chasing her smashing blow, blac! | mountains meet the sea." That phrase had an hallucinative Influence, She imagined tha vast herd’ of mountains crowding down to meet the racfant breakers thet the Pacific flung upon their shin'ng horns they bent to dip thelr muz | ales into the surf. The ocean was so near to Paln, Springs that her employer spoke ot having breakfasted once on the beach and reached home long before dinner time. And that was by the winding motor roads to the north: west. ‘The fantastic notion came to her that she might climb the San Jacin sierra and cross !t to the ocean as thé eagies ‘did, or at least catch + glimpse of the blue waves. The mountains had a beckonine look always, and on this afternoon, stray pony about the sand had not- ea the figure climbing the side of the cliff, and had studied {t, won- dering at its erratic behdvolr. She had seen Mem stumble, then fall; had heard the thump of tho body on the cushioning sand; had run to the nearest house and told what she had seen. A man there came out and followed the Indian girl, When she pointed to the height where Mem had stood when she slippec, he sald: “That's all of sixty foot. ead for sure.” But she was not, though she was \ife'ess enough when they reache! ver, and more than one bone was oroken. A woman had tried to kill herself few weeks before by jumping from far higher cliff, and, landing on sand ae noft, had awakened, to her cen dis»ppointment, in this world nstead of the other, with a few She's more bruises and anguishes than, before, The Indian gtr] dispelled the wo ural suspicion that Mem had at- temptee suicide. Her first outcry when she was brought bark to con-! sciousness was a shriek of terror that resumed her thoughts where they had left off. She was recognized and taken home. The village doctor was fetch- od, and he did-all that his ski! could do to hasten the repairs that nature began upon at once. Though Mem had never dared to visit the doctor, he knew of her. and knew of her as a widow. The wedding ring on her finger fore- stalied even @ thought of the truth. When sho was strong enough to bo talked to he prepared her for bad news. “Am I to be crippled for life?” she cried. "No," he sighed. “You will bear no marks of your accident. But you will not—but your other hopes and expectations—will not be realized.” She was dazed and he was timid! and he had some difficulty in mak- ing her understand his bad news: that she would not be a mother. She bore this blow with a forti- tude that surprised him. Before she was able to be up and) about the family came back an@ ad- ministered ‘to her with a kindness! that pun'shed her. One morning sho} was terrified to receive a letter from home. It was addressed to “Mra. John Woodville’ and script from her fatter. It is surprising how many Suits, Gowns and Dresses that are almost new which are discarded every day because people think them either too badly spotted or dirty. it was writ-) ten by her mother, with a long post-! Her moth-! PAGE FIVE. = er's ‘etter was a iabored eifort t Pour out sympathy for her daugh- ter in the loss of a husband who, she knew, had never lived and could not die. Her expressions of horror at his demise were written for the sake of her husband, but she was never meant for a dramatic author and Mem could feel the artificiality of her language. But her father was com- pletely dece'ved and mourned ain- cerely. His postscript was all pity and loving sorrow; he told of his Prayers for her strength to bear Rer cross bi and pleaded with her to be vo. He said that he had prayed her fn church and the congre ation sent her loving messages. Mem could see him on his knees imploring Heaven, pacing his room with the tread she had heard so much in her childhood, and stretot- Ing his clasped hands across the pul- pit Bible as he solicited mercy of Heaven. Remorse came upon her again with the suffocating fury of the sand storm. She felt that she could never face her father or her village again. Now that her acciéc had annulled her excuse for being here, her con- sctonce forbade her to go home again. Now sho felt an exile indeed, and an utterable loneliness, without her lover, her child, her own people, or even the familiar scenes that might have given her inarticulate consola- ton. The od trees about the old house would have waved thelr arms above her, and murmured mysterious brootings over the mystery of des- pair. The very trees hero were for- eignors. (Continued Next Sunday.) Stop throwing these things away—send them to us and let us recondition them and put them back in service for you. CALL 56 AND OUR MAN WILL CALL AT ONCE The SERVICE Cleaners In Our New Home at Railroad and Jackson ciates. goo oom 0 0M bolo onal M00 Moone 0 ocoooc aoc 08 Almost everyone---whether a business executive, a banker, or an individual---likes to think of some one place that he can call “headquarters,” a homey, inviting spot, where he can feel free to come at any time for counsel or assistance, for an en- couraging word, or for a conference with his friends or asso- It’s rather a comfortable feeling to know that you have.a place of this sort where you are always genyinely welcome-- where you can be sure of real friendliness and cooperation. It is just this sort of “headquarters” that we want the Wyoming National Bank to be to all of our friends and customers. Why not enjoy all of the services afforded at these “headquarters?” They are here for you and your friends. We invite you to make use of them today and every day. The Wyoming National Bank OF CASPER Resources Over Four Million Dollars f= ] ooco00ct00C_300C400C 00 ioc o0rca00c— oo ce oo oot 0008 oor oo aon