Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1937, Page 75

July 25, 1937 ” . I met a wonderful girl there, Len. So I went k. Sponged all the food I could, filled the an with literary hooey and looked at the ell, Len, I won’t bother you with the de- s. Before 1 knew what all the shooting was but, the woman was talking about something and wonderful that had come into her life. playful and platonic at first. Then, though stayed platonic, it ceased being playful. I bd to explain to the girl. I mean, after I saw at was in the woman’s mind. But she uldn’t believe me. She called me a lot of es and I guess it hurt my pride. I couldn’t her 1 couldn’t break away from it all be- se I didn’t have enough money to go any- ere; and I didn’t want to run away, anyway, ause of her. ut she did give me a good picture of myself, . And I'm going, if I have to hitch-hike. t before I scram I've got to stop this silly man from making a fool of herself. You see, , § think she suspects how I feel about Joan that’s the girl. 1 don’t want her to take it on her. o it’s all confused and complicated. I don’t THIS WEEK he was right, but it cost him a good secretary by EVERETT RHODES CASTLE know how I'm going to handle the situation, Len. Mrs. K. is talking about writing to her husband. I've got to stop that! And I've got to stop it without seeing her. That sounds as if I'm afraid of her, doesn’t it? Well, maybe I am. But it goes deeper, Len. I’m ashamed to see her again. It reminds me too much of the sort of person I've been for nearly a year. So send me the money if you can, Len. But don’t fail me about the job. I'll get to Spokane some way. Your friend, Carl P.S. Send your telegram to Carl Franklin. Kyrl went out with the literary mustache. C. West Hollywood, California February 16, 1937 My darling Bernard: Just a few hasty lines to let you know that I am coming home almost at once. Oh, how I long for the simple, worth-while things of life after the cheap artificiality here. The scales have fallen from my eyes, Bernard dear. I will not say that, in the falling, my faith in human nature has not been affected, because that would be untrue. I am also dis- tressed because your faith in human nature will also probably be affected by what I am about to relate. I know you have always believed in the loyalty, honesty and integrity of your secretary. It is not easy, dearest, to tell you how the tawdry glamour of this city has turned her head. But I must, in view of the fact that she has left me here alone and has no intention of returning to Hilton. Perhaps you will recall, in my last letter I spoke of a young man named Kyrl Franklin? He pretended to be a screen writer and dropped in several times to discuss art and literature. Naturally he met your secretary. She affected to take a great dislike to the young man. She derided the clothes he wore and the amount of food he ate. Naturally I could not allow my guests to be insulted by an employee and I was compelled to speak rather sharply on the subject. As you know, I am no tale-carrier. How- ever, your Miss Abbott probably judged others by herself, so that when I sat down one evening to write you a little inconsequential letter, I had the strangest feeling that she was \ llustrated by Moarshall Frantz A little affair in which everybody proved to be wrong except Mr. Kinney; determined that the letter would never be mailed, even if she had to resort to violence This feeling was heightened by her evident chagrin when I refused to allow her to take the letter to the box as I usually did. Her dark, unattractive eyes fairly flamed with resentment and she insisted on walking with me to the mailbox. A small voice within me kept telling me that the girl had no intention of letting me mail the letter. But I was not intimidated. But whatever her intentions were, they never came to fruition. Just as we were passing some shrubbery a man leaped out. My blood ran cold as his hand clutched my wrist. My voice rose in a startled scream. The lights of an approaching automobile swerved and, for a brief moment, the face of my assailant was held in a spot of white light. What I saw, Bernard, dear, almost robbed me of my reason. The man was this Kyrl Franklin! Of oourse, looking back, it is easy to see- that this creature had been merely posing as a literary figure in order to rob a defenseless woman and that he had taken the letter out of my hand in order to get at my rings. The approaching automobile thwarted this plan however and he escaped without anything but the inconsequential letter. - It is also easy to see, in retrospect, why he said what he did when the light flashed across his face. He realized that he was recog- nized for what he was, and thinking fast (which is something I suppose all crooks can do), he played upon the weakness of your secretary in a desperate effort to save himself. He cried out, “Goodby! I love you! I'm going to Spokane to sweep up sawdust!” Then he vanished. 3 Dearest, I am not a vindictive woman. You know that. But I think everybody owes a debt to organized society. It was not pleasant for me to admit that I had been deceived in my attempt to help a young man toward an artistic career, as I told the gentleman in the police radio car when it arrived. So, painful as it was, I gave the officers this Franklin's address. Your secretary said nothing during all this. She merely stood in the shadow and waited. She walked back to the apartment without a word. She maintained this attitude of vin- dictive silence all the way to the police station an hour later. You see, the police had appre- hended this Franklin, just as he was packing, and had asked us to come around and identify. him. Well, dearest, we found him standing before the police captain’s desk. He studiously avoided my eye. The captain asked me if this was the man. I said it was. Then the captain asked your secretary to complete the identification. ‘Dearest, you would have been appalled, as I was, to see how this man, by employing the theatrical artifices of Hollywood, had captured the imagination of this commonplace small- town girl to the point where she was ready to commit perjury to save him. I say nothing about her base ingratitude in making the wife of her employer appear foolish. Dearest, she simply went Hollywood, as they say out here. The tinsel became solid_ gold to her. Her eyes positively blazed with infatuation. “Mrs. Kinney is mistaken,” she lied steadily. “This is not the man whom we knew. I —1 can see that very clearly — now.” I am.too exhausted by my experience to -go further. Naturally the girl has left. I understand she is writing you, resigning her position. Resigning! The insolence of it! I said so when I went to her room to ask her to leave. But she was so busy studying the city of Spokane, in an atlas, that she hardly heard my words. With love, always your Adele The End ‘*HE STUDIOUSLY AVOIDED MY EYE. THE CAPTAIN ASKED ME IF THIS WAS THE MAN. FIRMLY, | ANSWERED IT WAS"