Show x hd V Kathleen Norris Says la r rI I The l Dear ear Woman Friend io I a Bell Syndicate Features Feature fad Doti i I r rr r ii Q r V h- h 9 1 4 1 t r a l r I 1 1 1 l al i l 27 1 4 V I I 1 b 1 b v 1 V t I IC Edie discovered to her consternation that Russ and Nancy were falling h in love 4 1 By KATHLEEN NORRIS I Is DIES DIE'S marriage took place in the first months of the war and has j gone on the rocks It isn't her fault unless indeed it was vas a fault to marry a man she had known only a few i weeks However she was not the only 1 l to do that in 1942 and she and II r. r ss had some happy months together together together to to- to- to gether before he was ordered away to 10 the South Seas Edie settled down downin in her old home with her mother to wait for the baby she did not see it Russ Buss again for almost four tour years 3 In the second of those years her old chum hum Nancy came to board with her and all three women adored and spoiled little Sonia Sonia- Edie and Nancy had good jobs everyone was happy 1 Then Russ came home to find that first hed he'd earn less money i than Edie for a while at least second sec sec- and ond that his lovely little daughter didn't like him and third that he was more lonely at home than he had ever been abroad Adjustments I I were difficult and by the time they began to smooth out Edie discovered ered Bred to her consternation that Russ and Nancy were falling in loveI loveI loveI love I had never suspected it I had never dreamed it it says Edies Edie's heartbroken letter Russ and I had been talking of finding a little place for ourselves but there was so little little lit lit- tle tie choice of places his prospects were so uncertain and my job still so absorbing that there seemed to tobe tobe tobe be no hurry burry about it To mother and little Sonia and me this time of If reunion seemed heavenly Then ii it all broke and Nancy i confessed that she and my husband were not only deeply In love but butI that the baby she was expecting was I his child She was covered with shame and remorse but that was the situation and what were we all to do D Nancy Manages Household A uA complication is that my mother moth moth- er has not been well and Nancy who is very capable has been managing managing man man- aging things at home and taking care of her too Mother has always Iii been devoted to Nancy and is shattered shattered shattered shat shat- by this terrible revelation Russ is sullen and silent Nancy NancyI I goes on about household duties with I her face like a mask and I feel reel I frantic with despair What on onearth onearth onearth earth Is the way out If It they have fallen tallen in love seeing each other every day as they have living under under under un un- der the same roof are they to blame Am I to blame for going on with my 75 a week job which with my mothers mother's thousand a year Is all rd we have Surely it was not wrong to offer my friend a haven in my home when she was widowed and heartbroken I am an ordinarily nice-looking nice woman of 28 28 always neat and smartly dressed but not glamorous Nancy Is 24 2 tiny very pretty appealing Please send advice ad vice for us all they know I am writing you e My dear Edie I wrote her in re rev reply ply this is no ones one's fault it Is one I 4 more result of the supreme folly of war That Nancy should be widowed widowed widowed wid wid- owed so young was a direct result of war That you and Russ should have been separated in the first important im po married years is another That Sonia should not have known her father in her babyhood that you should now be the curiously- curiously N 4 a S t Iti i U t Nancys Nancy's baby I EVERYONE HURT HURTA A letter to Miss riss Norris reveal reveals re re- re- re veal teals one of the unhappy aftermaths after after- I maths s o of f war Edie married a aman man mall whom she had bad known know only only on on- ly for a few jew months He was away in service for four years gears I During his absence a baby was I born Edie lived with her mother who cared for the little little lit lit- ittie tle tie girl while Edie worked at al ata I Ia a well-paying well war job I Then Edies Edie's old chum Nancy came to board with her When W hen I Edies Edie's husband was discharged Ibe t I be he had bad to come into the house i with the women and the baby I He turned to Nancy for companionship companionship com com- I rather ra than his wife Before they realized it I they were in love Finally Nancy had bad to confess to 10 Edie that thai she was going to have bave a baby and that its father falber was Russ Edie does not know I what whal to do under these painful circumstances assorted family's chief breadwinner win bread nero ncr and that the war hero should be humbly hunting a Job job all all this I is wrong The up doubled-up family works an injustice e on you alL all- Things I have become pretty hopelessly complicated complicated com com- and only Infinite patience and time can work them out I And over and above all these un unnatural unnatural un- un natural difficulties surely the rights un-I un of Nancys Nancy's child deserve first consideration consideration consideration con con- whatever happens this I unfortunate baby enters life lie heavily handicapped To divorce Russ to have him rush into marriage with Nancy would only be to mix things up further She Knew the Risk So my advice is first that Nancy get out She was no Ignorant Innocent innocent innocent inno inno- i cent child when she surrendered to I Ithe the delights of a flirtation with Russ I She knew that Russ was and is still the husband of her best friend the husband of the woman who stretched out a hand to her in her loneliness and need Exactly how I she betrayed that generosity is Is' Is something that the months to come are going to bring ing home to this unscrupulous unscrupulous unscrupulous un un- scrupulous little woman If It Russ goes away with her as he well may Edie Is no worse off oft than before It will give her time to breathe and to think everything over But Russ may not go with her Russ is comfortable now in the old home with his wife and child Nancy is the outlaw and Nancy will have to go to some city hospital get geta a job in the kitchen or linen room room as women in her distressed circumstances circumstances circumstances circum circum- stances often do and give her baby out for adoption any conscientious parent foster-parent will give it a better break than she can and may she come back a wiser woman And an honester one Love does indeed take a man and andI I woman unawares sometimes But not in this case If U Russ still war bewildered uncertain embarrassed embarrassed embarrassed embar embar- by y his joblessness and im im- was weak in being flattered flattered flat flat- and companioned by this pretty little Nancy She had no such excuse She considered neither the rights of Russ Edie Edle Sonia or the unborn baby She thought of exactly one person person person-hersel herself That is always an expensive proceeding in these questions questions ques ques- of a triangle |