New Britain Herald Newspaper, July 24, 1926, Page 4

‘NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1926. Quicksands of Love Adele Garrison’s New Phase of Revelations of a Wife —— Mysterious Events That Visit Madge's Apartment. Katherine was the first to speak after the sound like the closing of a door on the second floor apartment had startled us into quick appre- hension for my small son, alone and supposedly asleep in the room. “Tt's probably Junior getting out of his crib,” she said, but there was little conviction in her voice Lillian uttered crisp “Madge, you and down the front sta tront door. I'll scoot staircase. If it's when you get down probably it's nothing at way we'll make Her voic command Katherine and go in the 1, let re ah, b lock me in Very ut this sure.” has unusual carrying power, or we would not have heard her last words, for Katherine and 1 were rushing toward the front stair- way before finished while Lil- lian flung her final sentence over her shoulder while making her way down the “trick staire called the old flight of years walled up, which she 1s s s for we I formed into a privs airway tween our second and third floor apartments. As I unlocked the door to the living room I heard her t ing the door from the rear staircas intr the basement, and waiting only for 2 rush to Junior's crib to assure myself of his safety I went to the door, and uncocking it, admitted her. Katherine joined me as Lillian came through the door. *“T've looked in the front room and the closets there,” she said. “It must have been some other noise that we heard.” “No doubt,’” Lillian agreed, “but my melodramatic soul demands e search. Let’s circle the room with our noses laid in Sherlocklan fashion to the ground and see if we can dis- cover any traces of any one’s being here."” Her laugh and words were jesting, but I noticed that she subjectea everything to a minute examination, asking me from time to time if cer- tain objects had been moved from s and run | down this rear | 11‘to be caused to be uncovered and trans- | - [them wer, | their position and |the capacious compartments above {the bookcases and closets, in whic! into the basement, and ting only maraude But |w had finished, she made a | little how to K “I have to agree | trinka,” she said. | couldn’t have heen | ment.” But Kat small son’. loud even examining one en she Ka- noise apa with you, “The in this was bending over | | tre [ tr Ken | er y crib enough to said ared sn't wa “A top to him. of w | Junior, Any v she insom an And is iac comy with you array he him t has me!"” Lillian and I {amused laugh | Junior's crih joined in her tender- we looked at s been his in since his babyhood as 1t custom with h sortment m for his daily it he calls ompany,” saying he does not want His teddy bear and red old doll, to both of which | he still naps to be lonesome ngs his a reclining on while beside despite the pillow him, n orange and another odd his t his *“‘company | hungry while he slept. As the fruits| |are not “messy"” food, I always indulged him in the fan {now bent frowningly over the Spre , for strewn over it were eral lumps of loaf sugar. | k “I shall have to abolish this per-} | formance, I am afraid,” I said | “This will never do at all. He never | | has done an ing like this before. Whatever made hifa think of bring- ing loaf sugar for his ‘company’?” Kati, movies, came into the room 1 spoke, and, interested always in any- | thing pertaining to Junior, came up {to the crib and looked down at th sleeping boy and the things str around him. | "Where me get aot su | suddenly demanded. | Not vun loomp in house.” (Copyright, 1 Newspaper Feature n apple | repre of have but I| white sev- | returning from her beloved as she all oudt. Danny Sees a Clam By Thornton W. Burgess Consider now the lowly clam; He's free of guile and free sham, —Old Mother Nature. Danny Meadow Mouse didn’t think he was free from guile, though. You see, he had given Danny both eves full of water, salt water at that. But {t was Danny's own fault, and not the failt of the clam. Danny had no business to be peeking down that holo in the mud. Presently, peeping out from the grass, Danny discovered Tattler the Yellow-legs coming back and pick- ing up things from the mud as he came along. Just as he wa sin front from “What is a clam?"” demanded Danny of Danny a little stream of water squirted out of the mud in front of Tattler. “Oh tler,” cried Dan- ny, “what did that?” Tattler paused to look “What did he asked. “What made that water squirt up out of the mud in front of you just now 7" “Oh, that.” “What Dann “Hh, tdea of Danny. at said Tattler clam did is demanded The clam v, Here d crea and you'll ing after mistaken.” whistlin n mars ha, ba! Ho, ho, ho! not knowing what a is!” cried Tattler. A clam it's a clam. My goodn comes one of those two-1 tures! You him see clams clams, or 1T am With this Tattler away across the v remained but is— a ss! watch for h broa sa lden in could pe out the mud flat had a pail and a queer-looking It hoe with teeth like a rake. He HE PITY IS AKIN Jerry said as he stood holding my T looked hi: warm ented eling me as I looked tion. This up: man,” 1 said fo n me. He 1 think, meet Joan, Jerry Hatha such was my feeling at the time that 1 knew 1 would have told him that I would marry him as soon as he wished me to. Sometimes 1 have waondered what would have happen- ed 12 1 did. ) on an stop- - TO LOVE s almost in on the hands, up into L b public f ind over a cc A him with admira & person is my “He loves 1yself wants if 1 had 1 would have gone luncheon to marry promised with to ep ROWN WAY a Girl of Today * |ped right in front of where Danny was and began to hoe up the mud. He began h where Dann: v 1 those little Loles. He was really ging. Every once in a while he stooped and picked up and tossed it into the pail. Danny what it was he was tossing {into the pail. By and by he tossed something over that fell close to Danny. You should have seen Danny scamper. Little by little Danny's courage returned until final he crept back to see what it was that had fallen there, He found some- |thing that at once reminded him of |the fresh-water clams he had seen |Jerry Muskrat opening and eating, jonly this was white. The shell had | |been broken, and that was why the man had thrown it away. Danny |could see inside that broken shell. |There was something that remind- ed him again of those fresh-water clams he had scen Jerry Muskrat eating. " By and by the man had a pail- {ful of these things and off he went. | Danny stole out to where the | man had been digging. He found number of small things like the one that had been thrown upbeside him, {only these were not broken. He saw | one of them push a long neck out | of one end and presently squirt water. Just then along came Tattler |the Yellow- | “Well," said Tattler, “I see you have found out what a clam is.” Are those clams?” Danny asked rather stupidly. “Of course, they're clams!” re- plied Tattler. “See, there Is one with 11 partly open. If you want to get pinched good and rd, just | put a in there. “No, thank you,” and ever he spoke th ed shell and withd ne wside. “T suppose,” said Dan- | ny, “that if Jimmy Skunk here Tie would that those were fish." “I don't know ay,” replied T called shellfish, kinds clams, This the Soft-shelled clam and is found | sand and mud of such | & | th his sh h W J replied Danny, t clam clos- were Jimmy would | “but clams are are several | one is called There mostly in as | * said Danny. “I don't call | shell You Danny | teeth on a bit | found. | “Well, it may | breaks a lot ea other clams,” this, n tryir that he 1 chuek but shells of some had hee of shell Tattler not he soft han the id he (Copyright The next Graywing get a his er | W. Bur, B Bur | Danny wner.” 1026, by T ) story DI I caught | coming do fraid rry into been stree Mr, il would | L sight of the t he or Joan the drug telephoning and | str as so t me that 1 rushed 1 on a 1 r In fact in the vith ck had side store v t d good-bye all the taxi, which T fortunate- sund standing vacant at the door, | :pt asking myself if 1 had done right to Jerry to the C at Iy I ke the 1 sure son. He way thing. Jerry saw Mr. Robin- would put two and two together and jump at the right con- clusion, which was that I was trying to avoid him. 1 knew that, notwithstanding the ' was o1 herine | “lloved 1 bition | n| omething | | Esland. ' Menus for the Family led dried beef on toast, jtomato the long |d Ilur( that Jerry said he would trust me, here was still a little doubt lin- ring in his mind. For some rea- son he was jealous of Mr. Robinson | 1 told myself that I would never | be jealous of anyone, it was a sure sign of an inferiority complex. Smilingly, T went into the Congrs Hotel lobby. I saw Joan immediate ‘w y and I forgot everything but her | and the wife of Barry Cornwall. | Poor Joan's fa was so white and “hr\“'n that her from the pitied oo heart,: but before "I ppAn THIS FIRST: Hep slie fcama Wor- | S MR RY TG pretty and gay ““}‘“.dk:mh rolling down Rer|aq her nickname, is a born flirt. e Since the time she was 16, Merry ‘ has had men galore at ler fect |Her only ambition is to have a |good time. Jud AL 3D she /xl\ns lhvrm«‘ourso at ¢ . jusiness school, to the disappoint- Surely not the way helyent of MOMS, her mother. m\\h(»n ted you, i L s her father suddenly dies, she takes Yes, 1 did. One cannot tell why DALE'S | ol job in LILLIE ane loves oriwhylone does ot love.{shop S AT that! tinle 'ske s Taving | Barry could h m e AR : 3 |the first real love G EETE t The man in the case is TONY him. You kn youn [ GAINES, a serious-minded i i bachelor who wants to marry her. |and was gassed at Chateau Trierry.| But during their engagemer ‘\\h-n he came back he couldn’t do|Merry goes out with other men, and any hard work and he didn't have, Tony stops coming to see her. much education. There was one|fater Merry h s he has gone thing he could do. He could dance.” |to Montana to live. A letter comes | (Copyright, 1926, NEA Service, Inc.) [to the house from him, but is lost i —— |before Merry has a chance to sea TOMORROW—Only a Dance. it. She returns his ring and ———— to forget him. | HELEN, her oldest sister, mar | ries “BILL HEPWORTH. 15 |marries MORLE KAUFMAN, | YOlll‘ Health |with whem she quarrels constant- : JINNY, the y zest f the How to [\(‘Gp It g J1 4 s he youngest o he is engaged to DERRICK Causes of Illness . who lives next doo For a time Merry finds herself | without a beau. Then BILL ERS. |KINE, a bachelor friend of Morley {Kaufman, comes to town and fa lin love with her. Bill is a travel- ing man, and when he is away on |the Toad he sends Merry all sorts lof expensive presents. He lends her a thousand dollars to buy a hare in Lillie's beauty shop, and {when Merry finally traps him a proposal of marriage he sends her {a diamond wrist watch as an en- |gagement gift. Moms thinks it |very queer that he sent that in stead of a ring, and Merry begins to think it peculiar, herself, wher {the time for their marriage dr: near and Bill avolds mentioning it in his infrequent letters. At last she decides to write to him, 1 my to tell tears it is true? dear, and you should be for- grateful.” | “But, Juay,” ever, she whispered, “I i ve P a nt to France venteen years old he we BY HUGH & Surgeon General, Public Health Service The chari presented to trates infant mortality in the Uint States. | There are no relfable st a whole prior to the year 1815. does not mean that states or cities ldo not have these earlier records There are such but are few and records of some are not continu- CUMMING United States illus- 1 n vour health officer infant mortality in your [city or town is 70 or 80 per thou sand, for example, this is equiva- lent to saying that for every thou- {sand children born-during the y |70 or 80 children under one r of ask him how many wedding an- age died during the same yearly per- | nouncements she ought to order. iod " she makes up her mind, The subjects of infant and mater- | “ought to get some sign of life | nal are are entirely too exten- |from him. Merry spends the holi sive to be discussed here. but do you |at “Crow’s Nest.” Morley know what your health departme he doesn’t marry Merry isdoing along these lines? And have |says, “Don’t worry _about Merry. vou ever helped in such work? OW GO ON WITH THE STORY Do you know how the fnfant mor- CHAPTER XXXITI tality rate in your city compares ; with that of other citics in the Unit- v was the most mis- ed States, or in Belgium, , | erable y that Morry Los sweden, Alstralia and New Zealand? |éver spent. Years atterward sh [ ooked back upon it as a Horror. All day long she pretended to [be having a good time. She smiled luntil her face ached. | But all day she felt like out of water. She wa {crowd, but not part of it. “belong” somehow or » was a rank outsider. ells yon wel IN | That Sun Sun a fish the he did other. anyone snubbed her feel that lovely to h about people and about t heard of — wasn't that that made ere all they talked didn’t know, had never | Nea ement and |dressmaker who \ made | Pike's wedding dress. had all gone Merry had about it the week before, at the manicure table in Li beauty shop. | Even their way of ta Inot her way. They use |slang as little Jinny, but it was islang that Merry had not heard hefore, Most of it was Greek | her. After car came |road through the Secord way. But q to Abigail's only read ttin | | wedding. king wa as much breakfast tearing mp the stony the woods, bringing girls and their two |men friends. The Secords were itwins, but they did not look alike Julie was tall and dark, and Pe was small and blond. Neither of them was pretty. But they were jolly and lively and they |made a great deal of noise. Thye “pep,” so Morley said. i Peg Secord velled at out of the yellow vou going to give —Coffee and to or This chart shows the number of deaths of infants for each 1,000 births nationalls, exclusive ly Rhode BY SISTER MARY Breakfast Apple coowed with fi thin ci umping What are us for breakfast? and the correct time, etter?” “Something much ley answered with them into the house highball. Their sauce, cereal cam, cream- milk, coffee. Luncheon — Spinach and egg sal- ad, cottage cheese and strawberry | preserve sandwiches, milk, tea. Dinner — Broiled fish with lemon garnish, ten minute cabbage, stuffed salad, bran rolls, rice pud ng .with booscberry sauce, milk, he tomatoes are stuffed with iry, olives and nuts combined with mayonnaise for the dinner salad. No potatoes or ‘starchy’ vegetable is suggested in the dinner menu but is served for the dessert. Rice Pudding with Gooseberry Sauce Two-thirds cup rice, 1 cup bolling water, 1 cup hot milk, % teaspoon salt, cup sugar, 1 ¢ Wash rice through many waters. Cover with cold water and let stand two hours. Drain. Put ricc and boiling water in top of double hoiler st better,” Mor- grin. He took for a two friends, with their |eyes on Merry, lingered. “Who's the new girl?" heard one of them ask Cassie, ked up, surprised ¥, you surely . Merry!" You met her at my house ow Year's day? Don't member? — We had Tom-a to drink, and Murlel did her imita- [tion of Raquel Meller? — Don’t you |remember?” oy |party on they said. she who little them, on know said to my she membered {1 s day perfectly The drinks and the | dance d all the rest of it. How and cook over hot water until water [could they have forgotten such a |corking p they wanted to is absorbed Add milk, t and X Xk B | know. sugar and cook until rice soft. | <N r Stir in egg well beaten and cook two "”; e ) B minutes longer. Turn into a but d the taller, one, with a wink & 5 “At least T didn't. 1f T tered mold and let stand until cool. | | 1'd never have forgotien her et |that's a snal, as the teamster said op and tail b ! tr Sarintiy cracking his Whip. His name v George TLeffing- i |well, but Cassle called him O gooseberries | g "iyg a1l the of the piegundLg it [ Doubtles: because he was so 1 tablespoonful of cornstarch moist- [\OUNICE 0y ned in cold water an dcook, stirring | ¥ (U (6 € constantly for five minutes. Turn Julle Secord, so from mold, pour over sauce, |J1 5 S*OTh with whipped cream and oo " ® TR Sy cropped hair and a nice smile. He was the only one of the crowd aid not drink. Iveryone went around all day with a tall glass of gingerale with a “gtick” in it. In the afternoon they all gathered big living-room where built a fire. Cabby Marsh sat down hefore the radio, and “tuned in” on a jazz orchestra that was beating out the happiness and heartbreak of life, a thousand miles away from the Crow's Nest. Then he came across the room, and sat in the deep window seat where Merry, all alone, was smok- they ew Yea Merr ‘assie, 5 of goosebe Put 3-4 cup | drain. uce pan, add ries. i ooth and are W o crowd tall, rest soft ged to aid, and Anderson. He with close- was eng ssie i Jack garnish (Copyright Animated Hazard end encountered t coming 1 Service, Ine.) who Scotch- om the g an all- A fri man, it rained, and together in the are joing with the Morley had * he you 1sked got my ew son of a gun has replied the Scotchman.— Sun. ball York To Avoid Trouble He—"But you promised altar to obey me, She—"“Of course, I didn’t want to make a scene.—Judge. at the beanty | tries | into | d | to | a long yellow [as something | Scotch | > | asl E THE PETTER (Ilustrated and Copyrighted by Johuson Features, fnc., 1818 Broadway, ‘ing a clgaret lodk cheerful. | “Ien't t sassy music?” he {asked, “Let's you and I trot off a heat together, what do you say?" He danced marvelously, Mer thought. She followed him easily |through the steps of a new |that was half tango and half |Charleston. While he danced he |hummed, his lips close to her ear. corner of the sat watching queer little mouth, and she was jeal- and trying to | From a shadowy {big room. Muriel the There was a smile on her scarlet Merry realized that ous of her and Cabby. | She did not care. joying herself for the day, and she was not {1et Muriel Kaufman or |spoil it for her {knew it! | She threw s She was first en- time going to anyone else Not if she her golden head es that green back [smiled up at Cabby with e; |had stars in their clear, {depths. “Do you know hout you-00-007" her ilong with ifilled the room. | she only laughed — a soft laugh. i He I'm just crazy he crooned into ear the music that little 1. T am,” he went on croon Ab-solute-ly cuckoo-00-00 pressed his mouth against the ve of perfumed, shining hair {that covered her ear. When the dance was over. riel called him to her dusky ner. There was a sharp little |to her voice when she did it, Merry h ht. At six o'clock. en it was time to freshen up for supper she went bedroom, ~ahead of the Mu- cor- W into the ers For one thing, she hated to dress th a lot girls. liked to have a mirror all to her- |self, and plenty of room for her ume and powder and brushe IFor another, she hated to have the Secord twins see her imitation- livory toilet things. She hated them to see the sl silk unde vear that she had on — the silk stockings with cheap cotton tops. Their own dressing bags were showing a gleam of silver tortoise shell. Their night- of fine, hand-embroidered over the foot of their beds. The dre they had brought with them were spread out on the wide window seat, with sachet bags tucked inside of them, | With a secret heart-ache Me stood looking at these things, and then back at her own shabby bag. Her eyes smarted with sudden rs, as she knelt down and took the clothes she was going to pe open, and |gowns linen out put on Then bag, the in the into dress close thir would she carried ¥ room. She safe from She bath- there, curious ey deep owi bath un- tingling. her face water, and ot she and reamed cold Then she splashed it with dusted on powder. n the mirror her skin was white in, her green jewels set in their jet black lashes. | “Anyway, I'm prettier t of them,” she told | eye than the e herself | with defiance, pulling on the hated | |stockings with the cotton tops. | Outside, in the bedroom, there sound of shrill voices, and |was a came on the a sudden sharp knock | door. We're going go along’ little you, In there! 1—Want to jel's high-pitched |voice. | *“Adore to,” Merry answered. “Well, then, shake a ] A all ready!” Muriel shouted, “W going on ah - B The hedroom was emp | Me stepped out into Iput on her scarlet suit and cap. she could hear the gay voices of [the others in the darkness outside |the house. | The living-room was empty, too. But the radio on the window sill [still poured out its bray-of jazz. | Merry opened the screen door |ana stepped out onto the wide |porch that ran along the front of the lodge. The rain arg were shining of the pine trees. Under the roof of the porch the darkness was o thick that it was like black chiffon piled layer upon layer. |" Feeling her way, she started |down the stony, overgrown path that led {o the shore of the lake. there, when she name spoken in when As she stopped, and the above the tops d She was halfw: [heard her own he darkness. 1t was Pe voice that che heard.. There W no mistak- ing its husky, throaty quality. s Me gk “Cassie’s Secord’ she | | cousin? hortly, Muriel Kaufman an: wered ‘Do you think she pretty ?" | ous”” came the other voice, “I mever saw such wonder- ful hair in my life. It's like spun k"fl'l"l‘.v‘\lr\ gold, nothing of the kind! She bleaches it."” Muriel {snapped, “She owns a beauty shop. |and she looks as if she wears mo it on face. I never saw nyone put up as does. mes: T think she’s a she'd better let Cabby if she knows That's all — I'm sure I |don't know why Morley lets Cas- sie drag her along everywhere.” Merry could hardly believe her and alone, |for her. counted up Mu- riel Kaufman her good friend— And to think that she could turn on her like this! st because she was jealous! . What girls were! All sharp claws under their velvety gentleness. Merry went on toward the shore, iding along noiselessly on her small bare feet. She felt more sick and miserable than _before. And it did not cheer her up when Cassie took aside ang gave her a good talking-to. “Now, don't sneak off into the darkness with Cabby Marsh, even if he asks you to. He probably will,”” she said sharply, ‘‘Muriel's She had always J D! Y s dance |ashamed She | and | o | Marsh | what's good | By Beatrice Burton Author of “Love Bound,” “HER MAN” ew York City) perfectly furious because he kissed you when he was dancing with you—" | At that Merry gave a little start, had not supposed that Muriel seen the ki should think you' of yourself, Cassie went on, in “Whenever [sh thad o Locke!” gry undertone. {a man around you act like |rus-girl on her day off! wanted you to make good with crowd of minel 1 wanted to be proud of vou, and then you act like this!—I almost wish I hadn't {brought you along.” | Merry wished that she had not come. She wished, from the bot- {tom of her unhappy heart, that she was back on Che stre {with Moms and Jinny and the kindly, ordinary Lillie, | The second day was |the first one, if that were possible. It rained from morning until late afternoon, and Bill skine {did not show up. Merry could have wept aloud when she and Cassle drove down to Sunset Lake sta- tion for him, and he was not there. She needed Bill never had needed She wasa “man he hated to be the any crowd, and {this crowd. She sat alone in the living-room |of the Cro Nest playing a |dreary game of solitaire, that aft- lernoon, while the others were in swimming. Through the open win- {dows the sound of their laughter and shouting came to her, but she |tried not to listen to it. “Oh, 1if this ‘terrible |only would end!” she sighed {herself, with bitterness in her soul It came to an end, at and as she felt she anyone before. woman,” and xtra girl” in particularly in vacation she was driving down through the | green woods with Cassie and Mor- ley. Muriel and Cabby had gone on ahead with the other four in the {Secord's great yellow car. It was almost dark when they |reached Sunset Lake station. They were crossing the open space 1in |front of the little depot, when |someone standing in its lighted {doorway, gave a shout. | “Bill Erskine, by all~that's ho- lly17 exelaimed Morley and turned the car so sharply that it skidded in the gravel. “Now, how do you suppose he got liere, at this hour?” | “House - party all over?” Bill bawled at them, as they drove up |beside him. He threw his kitbag into the car, and climbed in beside Merry. “I was just going up to ithe Crow's train this morning, and I just got |here. Better late than never the way T figured it!” He turned to Merry, and with |Cassie and* Morley watching him, took her in his arms and kissed her. “Been lonesome for me?" he asked, and Merry cried as she clung to him. “Yow'll never know how lo some!” she sobbed, “I've almos died—T've been so lonesome.” Halfway home, they stopped af a roadhouse along the way for |sandwich and a cup of coffee. |Only instead of coffee they had more gingerale with a “stick’ “So little missed me, did . beaming affec- across the table at Mer- tful face. say she missed you! She wouldn’t swim or dance, or do any- |thing but mope around in corners lall by herself,” said Morley, who |did not know about the snubbing ‘mm Muriel had given he bhy Marsh called ar widow',” Morley He lost his mind over her, she wouldn't look at him |Why don’t you marry the girl, Bill land get it over with? She's a Imighty sweet kid.” | Merry started at hment. Tt was so lgrouchy Morley to say anything Inice about anybody . She won- |dered if Cassie had put him up to |saying this to BiIL “Don’t worry about us, Morley,” Bill answered d “We know |what we're doing, don't we, Merry? We'll sneak off and get married lone of these days, and fool you all” And during his three-day visi |that was the only time he so muck as mentioned the word “marry” to her! her the chuckled, but him in aston- unlike the CHAPTER XXXIV A week went by without so much as a posteard fro mBill Ers- | kine, Then, on the second |September, he dropped |beauty shop just as whistles were shrieking out noon hour. Merry looked up from her ap- pointment book to see a fat man with a wilted collar, opening the screen door. He dropped two brown suit-cases on the floor with |a thud, and came toward her. | “wWhy, Bill Erskine!” she cried |startled. “I didn't know you for a minute!” Tor that one instant she had not |recognized him. She saw him, for |that instant, as he really was — a |fat, middle-aged traveling man in a loud checked suit and a pink |shirt. Then, arms and kissed {once more Bill |she was going |coutd. The thought shot mind that perhaps he had come for. | To keep his promise. But his first words killed that | hope. “I'm on my way to Florida,” he sald, dropping into a chair and fanning himself with his Panama hat. “Nice hot place to go this time of year, eh Merry smiled entrancingly said nothing. “My mother wired me to come, vesterday. She says my father's worse and can't live more than a week or s Bill explained. Merry's eyes grew soft with sym- pathy. She knew that Bill's father was slowly dylng of a cancer, down in Jacksonville. “How dreadful Saturday in into the the factory the in his her, he became Erskine, the man to marry — if she as he took her through her that was what To marry her. and for you, Billy," {!a quick glance from his eyes that | knows it, ¥ {n S | mind."” worse than | to | T missed my | was | a in it | she murmured softly. “I'm so aw fully, awfully sorry.” She stood be- |and called her “Fifi. side him, patting his shoulder. forley's been c He turned suddenly and gave her |years,” Cassie said, but he looked so sharp and cruel some-|He doesn't live times, set in his pink, good-natured |I've just e |Hush!” “You know what it means, don't She raised a warning finger, you?” he asked. “It means that| Out in the little back room. our plans for September will have |lie was piling up her dishes i to be put off for a while, Merr, . |1t's a dogzoned shame. But |can’t be helped.” the little dark woman a great deal about her for “Her bushand won't divorce her, here, you know— found all this out!— Lil- th a . [clatter. A chair scraped againsi the it [floor. “Here she comes!"” whispered Cas- sie, jumping up. She took out a gold [vanity case and gpowdered the in- She gave a shrug. iflamed skin under her ey “Oh, I thought we had decided | She faced Lillie {not to get married for a while,” |bright smile, and she laughed. None of the bitter- |into her hands. s that was in i {ino her voice. Merry was glad to get out of “You didn’t mention it when you |the shop. and out into the soft Sep- lwere here last week,” she went on, | tember sunshinc, She tried to forget |lightly, “so T just put it out of my |Bill Erskine and Cassie and Lillie, |and even herself, she walked along. She was glad that she was going |to meet Jinny, and be with her for “Whew! But it's hot!” Bill |& couple of hours, |changed the subject, like a skater| Jinny, with her slang. her frank. |turning away from thin fce. “And {DeSS, her young honesty, her soar- |here's Little Sister, looking as cool [IN& spirits was like a tonic. as a water-lily in her white dress Life had not yet had a chance to Gosh, but you are a slght for sore [touch her with its soil and its soi- eves, Merry row. Merry wondered if it o He got up and came toward her. [would — Jinny's cheerful decency He put his hands under her elbows|was almost like a suit of steel |and drew her to her feet. The (armor. Iglitter in his eyes deepened, and hif| After her one “wild party” with mouth was hard and stubborn as [Derrick Jones, she had pubilely {he bent to kiss her again. vowed never to touch another drop But Merry pulled herself away, [of liquor. It made her mouth taste a little frown between her like pennies, she said — and that Eioen ots was reason enough for giving it “Don’ she said Irritably, giv- (up forever! ling herself a little shake. “I don’t| She did not use p |want to be mauled!” |der because they made her feel | There was a long silence, “gooey,” she said. Jinny was, all they looked at each other. Then |for comfort. [Bill pulled out his thin platinum | Merry met her at the corner of |watch that was fastened to a chain |Fir street and Eighth avenue. She {of a platinum and gold links. |was leaning against the mail-box | uarter after twelv he re- [that stands there, with her hands |marked, looking at it. “My train |stuck into her pockets, and her lips doesn’'t go for four hours. I'll teli |pursed up as she whistled softly to |you what we'll do—We'll get a car |herself. |and drive out into the country for| “Hello, Little Sister!” eds Merry, imitating the tones of |something to eat. Out to the |Blue Admiral Tnn—How'll that do?” |Bill Erskine. Then she added in Merry shook her graceful little |her own voice: “Wipe some of that 'head and looked down at her lipstick off your mouth, or I refuse [to walk down the street with you! You look like a wax model out for |an atternoon stroll.” Nonsense!” mean — getting married ?"” ked, and Bill nodded. with her delivered hard herself lier heart crep(} | She took her hand from his |shoulder and went back to her ap- | pointment boolk sea- t and pow while ‘she greet- at all,” she an- | “I haven't time, { {Bill. I'm sorry, but I promised | Jinny T'd go shopping with her this |atternoon, She's getting some | ‘IV\\ dresses for school.”” | won't do quietly . Merry ansu “I look all right.” vy firmly by the arm her along the crowded snappishly took Jir marched sidewalk, Jinny giggled. “I'm think so,” she trilled. “But anyway, there’s a man trying to flirt with you—My stars! He's coming back! If he didn't have time to marry iher, she had no time to go driving |aroand the country with him, she [told herself furiously! If he wasn't | |going to keep his promises, he'd | !get mo more chances at love-mak- |He's going to speak to you!" ing in hired automobiles and Blue| As Merry half turned, she | Admiral Inns! |2 familiar face in the crowd that | “Not with me. at any rate!™|was pressed around her. Cabby thought Merry. “I've come to my |Marsh was coming toward her, his sober senses at last!” (hand outstretched and a _ broad Her thoughts were hard and |grin on his dark handsome face. lclear. But her face was as soft| He seized her hand and worked land pink as a sweet-pea, as she it up and down, like a pump han- |looked at hi dle. “I'm sor “Well this is little nod. | heartily, “What She sat, still as a little Tanagra |here, in this town?” figurine, with her yvellow head bent | “In this town?" Merry repeated, |low over Lillie's appointment book |looking amazed, “Why, where else {\while Bill telephoned for a taxicab. |would I be? This is my town. 1 “Good-bye, Bill,” she said with- [live here silly!” she laughed. out looking, when it drove up| “You do?’ He ssemed to be non- lin front of the shop. He did not|plussed, “That's funny. I'm sure swer her. | Muriel told me vou were from When she looked up again some little tank-town, down state | was gone, and Cassic's smart ‘ 1 asked her, particularly |tle car was at the curb. | Merry introduced him to Jinny | Cassie knew that the beauty shop | She knew why Muriel had told was not paying very well, and she |Cabby that. Muriel knew that he |played Lady Bountiful to it. Twice [liked her, and she was jealous. |a week she came there to be mas-|She didn’t want him to ever see saged and shampooed and curled |her again. and manicured. —Well! She would There never was a speck of dirt {Muriel in some of her on Cassie’'s skin or a hang-nail on |for that little trick! |her fingers. She made the most of She gazed up at Cabby, and her {the looks that Providence had |eves shot him a starry look from {given her, between their thick, curved lashes. When Merry saw her today, get-| There was a throb in her volce {ting out of the car, she would have jas she spoke to him that made him {sworn that Cassie was a beautiful [suddenly remember the afternoon woman — except for the fact that the Crow The affernoon |she had seen Cassie without her [when he had ed her as they |make-up too many times. {danced together. | Without it, Cassie was sallow and | “Aren’t you going to her lips were colorless. Her hair [somewhere for a soda was straight and sparse and straw- |of iced tea?” it was saying, hus- colored. But under Lillie's magic |Kkily, caressingly, “I'm just dying fingers and curling irons, it became | With the heat — just perfectly dy- a golden turban, ing.” “Where's Madame Dale?” asked| Her eves | Cassie, coming in and giving Merry jcrowded strect where la dry peck on the cheek. hotel reared itself into “Having her lunch,” Merry re- |Shine, three blocks away. plied, jerking her head toward the |followed them. {back of the shop where Lillle was| ‘‘We could go to making tea and toast. “Sit down. |lunch — all of us,” he sald, She'll be here in a minute. from her to Jinny. Cassie never called Lillie any-| “Jinny can’t go. She's got thing but “Madame Dale.” She |meet Moms, to do some shoppin, might live at Moms' house and be |Merry fibbed. “Lillie"” to the whole family — put | Jinny was pinching her arm to not to Cassie! Cassie belleved in |8ttract her attention. But = she keeping people in their places. gave her no notice — She certainly ‘Dld_you see Bill Erskine drly.|didn’t want Jinny along, on this ing away just now?" Merry asked |Party! as she sat down and crossed | ~But I'd adore to | slender, silk-sheathed leg over [she lilted sweetly, “By e other. you later!” Cassie widened her eyes. “T saw | Before the disappointed la taxi leaving the place. Was he in |had time to utter a word, she had A6 waved her hand gaily, and van- Merry nodded. “He ished with Cabby into the crowd —| between trains, and wanted me to |And Jinny was left standing alond have lunch with him,” she said, [in the middle of the street, with) |“But I told him to go swing on the |the streams of people flowing pas gate. I'm awfully tired of him — 1 |her on both sides, like water going| two ways. hope I never see him again.” J Cassje raised her eye-brows that| She had no money for lunch. So she went into a store where Mowmg had been pencilled on where her had a charge account, and epeny own were shaved off. But she seemed to be only half-listening, | the afternoon picking out dresses all by her lonesome “I'm going out of town tomorrow = tor a couple of weeks,” she an- (TO BE CONTINUED) S8 pensalings nounced, after a minute. Her = voice was as brittle as glass. GAS EXPLODES ON BOAT _Merry saw then that her eyelids| Boston, July 24 UP—Three me: were pink and puffy as if she had |Were thrown many feet into the wa. ter of the harbor sterday whe! been. crying for hours. 2800 gallons of gasoline exploded “What's wrong?” she asked, “Had a row with Morley?” Morley |blowing a harbor supply boat tg pleces. Firemen rescued the mem was usually at the bottom of Cas- troubles. bers of the crew who were taken td the city hospital critically burned. No ro her sister an- swered. “He never does row — the RASH, HIVES ’ brufe! He just hurls some insult INSTANTLY RELIEVED B or other at me, and clears out of C"l]l(l)s Comfort POWDER the house!—I suppose he goes to |see that woman- She could For 30 Years Nothing as Goof glad you luck!” he said, are you doing she sald, with a firm he lit. just pay own coin take me or a glass down the the Towers the sun- Cabby's traveled the Towers for looking to 8, go, Cabb by, Jin. See Jinny)| was in town go no further, Merry saw her tears in her throat. “Cass! What woman she gasped, her voice so low that it could not possibly reach Lillie's ears. “Why—Fifi Pell, of course,” Cas- sie was suddenly terribly calm. Her voice was almost soothing in its deadly calm, as she told her sordid little story. Merry remembered a pretty lit- tle dark woman, with a gay laugh and a lovely figure, when she had met at Cassie’s house on New Year's day. She seemed to remem- ber, too, that Morley had hung about gulp back the