OCR Text |
Show ! THE BEAUTY 1 FROM BUFFALO ; 88 I By R. II. WILKINSON ' Associate Newspapers. WN'U Service. I HAD begun to despair of Mar-cia Mar-cia Venn. Venn was her most recent name. Her sixth. Yes, 1 Marcia had been married six times. I And she was only twenty -five. Once she had lived with a husband eight 'j months. That was the longest. His : name was Tommy Harris. We all ;! admired him. ! I had begun to despair or Marcia I' because I felt that she had the markings of a' fine wife. I don't i know why. Instinct. I guess. Her choice of mates to date Included a wide variety: An artist, a soldier, an explorer, a politician, a baseball l player. None had suited her. And i1, now she was married to good old t Jim Venn. Jim was a business man. Needlesis to say, Marcia was the ! most beautiful woman In Buffalo. ! She had more than beauty. That Indefinable something that Is a female's fe-male's most cherished gift. She 1 always got what she wanted, ex- cept in a husband. The five that she had tried lacked it. We won-1 won-1 dered about Jim Venn. Good old I Jim Venn. ; Jim himself told me the story. ' There was a wild, desperate look In his eyes, which presently gave way to relief. . . They were Jyipny t!je first month. Marcia nnrt, her !iiiSlMml!l Were !- ,iyS nappy the first month. A Wto-k !a.tor Marcia bought a new Coat. Mrrtk.. -Slie-liajijJj-etit- out from one of the most expensive downtown shops. When Jim came home she was waiting for him. with the coat on. "How Io you like it?" she asked, ;. and pirouetted for him. ;! "How much did it cost?" said i Jim. j Marcia stopped pirouetting. "Jim j Venn, what a thing to say! What- ever has the cost to do with how i It looks?" ; "A lot," said Jim. "If It cost ' over a hundred bucks, It would ; look like h I to me." ; Marcia stared at him. She was Incredulous. Slowly, horribly the t significance of what he'd said j seeped into her brain. A sob es-; es-; caped her lips. "You wretch! You unspeakable wretch!" Jim strode over to the table j where lay the box In which the t coat had come. He picked up a He slammed the door and locked It. Marcia pushed on the other side. She screamed, threatened, wept, kicked. But she didn't break anything. any-thing. An hour later she went Into a conference with herself, decided on other tactics. Sweetly she called to Jim. "Darling, I'm sorry. And and hungry. I'd like to get our dinner." Jim let her out. But he didn't take her Into his arms and kiss her. He didn't apologize and ask forgiveness. Instead he told her he had returned the mink coat, stopped all her charge accounts, and reminded her that If she ever did anything crazy again he'd divorce her. Marcia's lips quivered. Angry tears brimmed In her eyes. "Divorce "Di-vorce me ! You will divorce me? Why" She stopped. Jim looked as though he were going to hit her again. He said: "You'd better get my dinner. We're staying In tonight. I'm sick of horsing around to your danged parties. I want a home and a wife, not a house with a woman who visits vis-its me occasionally." Marcia caught on. She went out and got his dinner. She tried to make up while they were eating. But Jim wasn't In the mood for It. He went to bed early, and didn't kiss her good night Marcia sat up by herself for a long time. She was angry and humiliated, hu-miliated, conscious of an annoying feeling of frustration. She planned dire things. She would get her revenge. She would do this and that and thus and so. Oh, would she humble that man ! , At twelve o'clock she went upstairs. up-stairs. Jim was snoring comfortably. comforta-bly. When he awoke the next morning morn-ing Marcia's bed was empty. He grinned and listened. Well, well, well. The most beautiful girl In Buffalo, the girl with five previous husbands to her credit, was down In the kitchen, rustling up a breakfast break-fast for. a belligerent sixth mate and liking it. Jim was really belligerent MoreT over, he loved Marcia more than the other five husbands put together togeth-er had He would have killed himself him-self If she left him. But he was smart. Smart and desperate. Smart enough to analyze the dispositions of the other five; desperate enough to put Into execution the one form of treatment Marcia hadn't experienced. experi-enced. And It had worked. You see, Marcia hadn't known what It was she wanted in a husband. hus-band. If you'd told her It was what Jim Venn offered, she'd have told you you were crazy. She'd still tell you. For she's never found the answer. an-swer. But then, she's no longer Interested. In-terested. It's fun, being n little bewildered be-wildered and married to Jim Venn. j . i& it4p v.h - y- "If It Cost Over a Hundred Bucks," Said Jim, "It Would Look Like H I to Me." pink slip and looked at It "Nine hundred dollars !" he exclaimed, whirling. "You must be crazy!" Marcia knew how to get what she wanted. She'd been through scenes like this a hundred times before. She Hung herself on the divan and sobbed convulsively. Not ordinary sobs. Marcia could be dramatic. She beat "the pillows and buried her head. Jim came, and stood over . her. "Take it off," he said. "That's more dough than I can afford." Marcia became hysterical. Or sounded so. "I won't! I won't! Oh, you beast Why did I ever marry you ?" '"Because," said Jim, "I was jackass jack-ass enough to ask you." And he reached down and jerked Marcia to a sitting position. Before she could fully grasp what he was about he had stripped off the mink and flung it on the table. Marcia hadn't expected this. She hadn't experienced anything like it before. She forgot to sob dramatically. dramati-cally. Instead she leaped to her feet, and there was genuine anger In her voice and eyes. "Why you you." Her tiny fist struck Jim On the cheek. Color rushed Into his face. Angry lights smoldered in his eyes. "So!" he said. "You can't be a lady." And with his open palm be smacked her down on the divan again. Marcia couldn't believe It Imagine Im-agine the most beautiful girl In Buffalo, a girl with six husbands to her credit being smacked down by a mere Jim Venn. Words wouldn't come. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. Jim laughed cruelly, harshly, tauntingly. Marcia found her voice. "Brute ! Beast ! Insect I This Is the endt The very end! I'll not Stay In this house another minute 1" "Yes you will." said Jim. "You're not going to make a fool of me." He picked her up. She struggled, fought bit screamed. But he carried car-ried her Into the bedroom and dumped her unceremoniously on to the bed. "When yon can quit your bawling and blubbering you can come out and get my dinner." At the door he paused. "And If you break one thing. It'll come out of four allowance." |