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Show The Court bailifr called for silence. "Owing to the Indisposition of Judge Henry Rideout, the case of Prax versus Prax, suit for divorce contested by the defendant, will be tried by Judge Sidney Hawkes. All rise please." Hubert frowned. Judge Sidney Hawkes was a woman; and Nicki had a way with women. Judge Hawkes adjusted her pince nez and called for the plaintiff plain-tiff and the plaintiff's counsel. Then, for the first time, she perceived per-ceived Nicki. "I am the defendant, Your Honor," Nicki said modestly, "and I shall conduct my own case." Judge Hawkes beamed. The defendant de-fendant was certainly a most personable per-sonable young man! Collecting herself, her-self, she signalled the case to proceed. Hubert called Vickl to the stand. In short order, her answer to his questions established the facts. Baron Prax had never provided for his wife; on the contrary, she had , I ' r "Ij this the situation in which Plaintiff found Defendant!' Adapted from the Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Picture by GERTRUDE GELBIN CAST OF CHARACTERS Vickl Wilomireka .... Norma Sheartr Nicki Prax Melvyn Douglat Linda Wayne Gail Patrick Hubert Tyler ...... Lee Bowman Judge Sidney Hawkee . . . Marjorie Main Major Tyler-Blane .... Reginald Owen Grand Duke Baiil ..... Alan Mowbray Mrs. Vanderlip ..... Florence Bates not only had no funds, but also was long over-drawn. Vicki waited for the moment when she found Hubert alone in the drafring room. Haltingly, she cooked up a story of a joint account; of her purchase pur-chase of a sable coat a purchase about which Nicki, of course, knew nothing. "You wish me to hold the check, Victoria?" Vic-toria?" Hubert interrupted. inter-rupted. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you mind, Hubert? Just until I can explain to Nicki until my Aunt sends me my allowance allow-ance " tuous courtroom ta order. When Vicki was safely seated at the long table, Hubert turned to the Bench. "Your Honor I wish to call another witness. I hesitated to call this witness, but the tactics of the defendant make it urgent. I wish to call Linda Wayne to the stand." Linda took the stand and was sworn in. "Miss Wayne," Hubert began kindly, "I sympathize with your position here, and I'll be brief. Is it not a fact that you have been a well a close friend of the defendant's for many years?" "Yes." Linda's reply was low and modest, "I expected to marrv him " "And it was a great shock to you when you learned of his sudden sud-den marriage to the plaintiff?" "A great shock," she answered unhappily. "Miss Wayne during the month of January last you were a guest in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bryce Carew. At that time, the Baron and Baroness Prax were also visiting visit-ing the Carews. Now, Miss Wayne, Is it not a fact that the Baroness Prax opened a coat closet to get a wrap and found you standing In that small, dark space In the arms of her husband " "I object!" roared Nicki. "Counsel is wilfully distorting facta. We were playing sardines." The courtroom resounded witfi laughter. The Judge rapped her gavel. "Sardines?" she questioned, her eyes popping. "It's a game, Your Honor," Nicki . explained. "A sort of Hide and Seek. One person hides. The others, as they find him stand in a row behind him like sardines." Hubert claimed the Judge's attention. at-tention. "May I demonstrate, Your Honor?" he asked. "Perhaps we may have a screen?" Permission was granted and a screen was brought Hubert arranged ar-ranged ft to look like a closet. He then turned to Nicki: "Now sir, kindly show us how you were standing in your hiding place." Nicki, feeling like an idiot, moved Inside the screen's folds, his face to the wall. "Miss Wayne " called Hubert. Linda approached reluctantly. "Miss Wayne, will you show the Court the position in which the Baroness Prax discovered you?" Linda took her place behind Nicki "The Baron wasn't facing fac-ing that way that is, he turned " she said. Hubert motioned Nicki to face Linda. He observed them for a brief moment, then asked: "Miss Wayne, were you standing at that distance from each other? Were the defendant's hands in his pockets? Were yours hanging down at your sides?" Linda shook her head in the negative. "Then, Miss Wayne, will you please show the Court exactly how you were standing?" stand-ing?" Linda closed up the gap between be-tween Nicki and herself. She placed his arms about her waist. Then, lifting her own, she embraced him and sealed her lips to his. Hubert turned sharply to Vicki: "Baroness, is this the position in which you found witness and your husband in the dark, narrow closet on the night of January 15th?" Vickl gulped out a tortured "Yes" and, without warning, burst into tears. In the hushed silence that followed, fol-lowed, Nicki told the story of a man, unsuited by experience, or education ,or upbringing to be more than a social parasite. But did this mean that such a man could not love?" "From the moment I saw her I loved her. She may put me out of her life and leave me lonely and bewildered; but I shall persist in loving her. Her only. Her always. With every breath I draw. With every beat of my heart " His voice broke, and he stood with head bowed. Throughout the courtroom sounded the low sobs of the women present. He glanced sidelong at the Judge and saw her wipe her glasses and brush the tears from her cheeks. His heart leaped in a glow of victory. The Judge cleared her throat. She replaced re-placed her pince-nez and rapped the gavel. "Divorce granted," she laid crisply. VioM and NlcM are now divorced. But has their love ended t Read the next chapter. PrtotoJ In CIS. IA. Oopjrrlsht 1M2 b7 LoiW'I Inc. RESUME Nicki (.Baron Nicolas Prax) 1 , is a Professional Guest who I trades his wit and charm for . the right invitations from the 5 ' right people. Vicki (Princess Vic- l ! toria Anastasia Celestine Wilo- j mirska) penniless and refu-i refu-i geed, is trading her beauty and background for marriage to ; Hubert Tyler, South Carolina millionaire lawyer. But, the night t before her weeding, Vicfci meets f Nicki for the first time. They N fall head over heels in love and I are married without further ado. 5 ! Grand Duke Basil, "Dean" of h Professional Guests warns them that this means the end of Nicki's "career." Nicki, the bachelor, has been the joy of American socialites; but Nicki, married, is quite another mat-i mat-i ter. Vicki decides they must keep their marriage secret; then they can both be professional guests. Separately they accept invitations to a hunting party at ji; th4 Bentley estate. But IAnda Wayne, society decorator who has long been in love with Nicki, suspects that Nicki and v Vicki are no strangers to each other. Thru a ruse she establishes estab-lishes the fact that VicTci is sharing his room. The two are .. thereupon forced to announce 1 their marriage. Chapter Two END OF THE ROAD ',J Within two weeks after the siz- llng news of their marriage had i'.Si broken, Vicki and Nicki were crossed off the guest lists. Nicki insisted it was a tempor- .ry recession; that business as HE ' mal would soon be the order of .i vitations. But Vicki knew better. ""tie new order called for specula- t'on among second-string hostesses, jnjji By the end of six months they re touring the sticks. Chamber music proved their even- iual undoing. For one month :.raight, every small time hostess 'r America went in for stringed "a ' liartets. That meant no bridge- " . yames. That meant no pocket It: ' oney. And that meant that Nicki nd Vicki found themselves strand-m strand-m in Wichita without a dime rjip between them, dependent solely lir nd entirely upon the bounty of ilM toeir current hostess, Olive Ran- ome. Olive was a lady who knew well the worth of a dollar paid and tnti' value received. The Baron and IM Baroness Prax had served their jllJl purpose.. It was time for them to ! be moving on. .... But their cup was not yet filled tSSZS- to the overflowing! The last eve- ttss B nlng of their stay, Hubert Tyler , ,cj arrived at the Ransomes on legal 3 business. "L-i Olive, thinking to make her 51. guests happy, arranged a bridge IS game for Hubert and Nicki. VH.IS The game ended In disaster for v Nicki. He lost twelve hundred dl- rs 5- lars to Hubert Tyler. I p. n "I shall have to give you a , check, Tyler," he said. With an & unsteady hand, he wrote out the .. check on the account In which be He took the check from his pocket and, surveying her with complete skepticism, tore it into bits. Vickl stared at him. The full realization of his action stung her to the quick. "You don't believe me," she said at last, her voice trembling. "It was nice of you to tear up that check, Hubert, but it would have been nicer still if you'd pretended to believe me." She ran back to her room, and struggling to control her tears, told Nicki that she had spoken to Hubert and that Hubert had destroyed de-stroyed the check. He gathered her In his arms. "Vicki!" His voice broke. "Vicki! How could you go begging for me? Darling, I feel like the lowest sort of skunk. You know I'd never have let you do it I'd sooner have stolen the money." "I was afraid you would," she sobbed. "You loyal little Idiot," he murmured mur-mured and he kissed her time and again. They were silent for a moment; mo-ment; then Nicki drew a deep breath. "I don't know if I'm lightheaded, light-headed, but the most desperate ideas are coming Into my head. Radical Ideas. Like getting a job." She stared at him unbelievingly; then seeing the serious intent behind be-hind his words, she threw her arms around him. "Nicki darling," she whispered, and her smile broke through her tears. The very next day they set out for New York so that Nicki could hunt a job. Enroute, they ran into Basil. He was visiting the Bryce Carews. He insisted they join the party. Mrs. Carew was the tops in society; unlike other hostesses, she thought their romance delightfully amusing. The upshot of that meeting meet-ing was they joined the Carews' party, Vicki with misgivings In her heart, but Nicki gleeful at the prospect pros-pect of a last fling before buckling buck-ling down to reality. And the first guest they encountered en-countered at the Carews' was Linda Wayne! A month later found Vickl with Hubert Tyler as her counsel, and Nicki In the divorce court. Her whole being was a mass of heartache. heart-ache. True she was in court because be-cause she had insisted upon it. Heavens knows Nicki had done everything to persuade her against her mad Insistence that what they need was a divorce and a quick on I been forced to play his game of exploiting their friends. The Baron had never worked. He had promised pro-mised to look for a job, but nothing no-thing had come of it Further, was it not true that the Baron's mode of living depended upon the charm he held for women? Worse, had not the Plaintiff experienced the humiliation of hearing women call him love names of seeing women make love to him? Vicki's voice grew steadier and colder as she answered Hubert's questions; her testimony left no doubt as to the fact that Baron Prax was a dillitante, a wastrel and a scoundrel! Hubert turned to Nicki triumphantly. triumph-antly. "Your witness." Vicki paled. She hadn't counted on being cross-examined by Nicki! She shrank back into her chair; but Nicki, leaning over her, caressed ca-ressed her with his glance. "You were married on October 25th " "You know perfectly well when I was married," she interposed furiously. furi-ously. "Answer 'yes' or 'no', please," Nicki interrupted briskly. And the cross-examination was on! Nicki put into it every vestige of charm, every trick of personality person-ality which had endeared him to her. Time and again, she found herself torn between unbridled rage and love. Hubert interrupted with constant objections but to no avail. For the Judge, like everyone else in the courtroom, was fascinated by Nicki! Suddenly, deadly serious, Nicki demanded: "Has the defendant ever struck you?" "No!" Vicki shouted in exasperation. exaspera-tion. "Have you ever struck the defendant?" de-fendant?" he shot at her. Vicki, her nerves at the breaking break-ing point, jumped up from her seat. "Yes!" she hissed; and without with-out warning, hit him a thunderous blow. "Strike me again!" he cried exultantly. ex-ultantly. "Again! You love me, darling. You love me!" Her hand flashed out as she violently struck his other cheek. "Vickl, say you forgive me! Vickl, look at me I love you " Hubert rushed over and rescued the hapless Vickl. The Judge banged the gavel solidly and brought the now tumul-1 |