Show athe ruf S sy X W SYNOPSIS PART ONE J I 1 at a merry party in tho the studio apartment ot of carter slake blake J in new mew york jerry harmer prudenco Pru denoo dences j daughter meets dunne duane All aller ton j wealthy idler lie he becomes slightly in and jerry resenting life hla as of familiarity leaves leavea the f party abruptly II 11 bithe the story atory turns turn to jerrys childhood and youth at her nome home in lies des moines only child of a wealthy father when she he Is IB twenty she he feels feela the call of art and her parents with some misgivings agree to tier her going to new york to study i CHAPTER ill iliin in now new york jerry her home with a tire lira belany mimi Ml ml an actress ac who with theresa a painter oc occupies cuie the house hous jerry takes an immediate lilting to The thurresa cama and the two become lic conio fast friends 4 CHAPTER IV inthe the friendship be it wean tween jerry and theresa There aci who Is ec j centolo centeio but talented grows jerry poses for theresaa The Ba s the owan Ill dor allerton Aller Allart toa ga calia on an jerry the girl recalling lua ilia at the studio dudlo party refuses to also be him CIA pan it vat V at a hotel dinner jerry sees duane and to ie cofta coris cloua clous of at hta hia admiration but s to change her attitude toward kim jerry be ba aher convince daha hai not tho the ability ito become an artist and ottora her ex ex pensive painting nir eaul equipment to an at al penniless girl student greta or ta vl who iwho cannot understand tier her generosity A painful scene results CHAPTER vt VI jerry with thereat help convinces grats grata of her good la its and the th two rids girle mako make up al AA a party jerry again sees deans and will not recognize recon tae him theresa hints that jerry should bould go eo home and promises her a present ea eh faife aning from an eyen ot of gaiety canety jerry to 1 shook shooed edat at hearing from blindt that theresa haw hao killed herself hera olt she aha muo ato learns learna that arat in theresaa The nather tnt ber and la Is pained at the seer ning of the older woman in the face of 0 the tragedy the present theresa had promised jerry proven to be her picture the booan rider jerry to deeply moved after the funeral tuner nl 0 of hr har friend she he decides to so ica home borne PART TWO CHAPTER I 1 at home borne jerry to la sa welcomed by tier her ardor binig ini parents she wins their sympathies thies with the pathetic path pat hetio etlo stories of the th croaa roam and of oreto greta val i CHAPTER 11 II unable to into ant the routine ot of aver everyday life in her home city jerry Is CHAPTER nAp Tun lit III the sameness tiko th lack of individuality in the houses to in the city has haa shocked jerrys ari artistic listle instincts and iriven her nn n n idea str she determines to create crato a standard of beauty in house borrowing borrow ln money from her father jerrold liar aror to do it and 1 incidentally determining that the war woric c kocl shou be b her 0 o re rei r A tetter letter from la var aitay her that duane allerton lioa krit ea his hl furtune bortuna in wall street and 16 destitute in pity and sym paury at ai atia writes Al allerton larton off ertag him a position in her fathe tat bera eis automobile n IV A barton applies to J r 1 A father ah r for a position partly aa e plo joing the situation m ahiah mr mir har itar in a understands lie ile Is I 1 aror tyvr favorably impressed with abw allar tion tott and after a brief Interi Inter lew flew tells j hint him to ta KO cc ina and be ses presence CHAPTER V mrs lI carmer armer under much mote more of the he situation thap allerton fe alixes takes an la in liking to tae the young man Ci 1 kisir VI Sir barmer alv g ives duahe dua he a position in his auto ato factory jerrys jeriya business anter enterprise prise maslac over ugly looking benses into things ot of beauty slid and salling belll lg them athani at a Is not altogether lieonas lie ocas but she desal her studied aloof afes Al larton ands opportunity to a ab nb BUT terry jerry of his ats love and hta his deter dater to win ber bar 1 CHAPTER VII jerry with her mother goes to visit tier ner aunts carol and lark in a part of the state ij i jerrold harmer i all alit i on to stay at the harmer home while they are away duane does so eo and jerrold i after judging him closely oloa aly la Is willing villing to accept him as an a 0 son eon in ln law CHAPTER CHAP VIII jerry Jorry begins to realize re alise and in a rent re rint the popularity of duano duane allerton with the younger sat act of des moines th the i ll carmera are invited to the annual thanksgiving dinner danoe dance at the club 1 CHAPTER M icat at the tha dance duane takes the opportunity of telling jerry of hla his love and begs her bar to overlook his behavior in now new york she refuses to accept hla his explanations or hijo declaration of love lova clim CHAPTER TEXt X driving in her bar road tier star on the ice covered roeta at st jorry la is ac accosta acco coste atea by duane in a tumult of I 1 emotions she ahe drives drive on hastily agnor t finx him that evening a police official vials the harrier alarm air household convey ing the information that allerton Al larton la tn in i a a hospital aeri orly injured and th that t jerry to Is to blame baams having started hr her f t car abruptly while he be was standing bo i 1 side it alarmed at the thought that he be Is dangerously hurt hart jerry confesses conf eAses to her bar parents her love for ouane duane CHAPTER at duanes bedside jerry forgives lve everything and admits her lovo love for him love lova had not come to her as she had it had come to her bar mother but it was love CHAPTER XII financial attain affairs prove not to be as bad as an jerry had bad understood and their future life janner Is in a promise of a be beaudin autin cuon of homm in general and their VZ home borne tn in particular cular jerrys plaything in the first week of december thero there I 1 was a heavy middle Midd leWest west blizzard and for two days tile the eity city cowered under stinging winds and cutting sleet after that CHIDO came a still biting cold that warmed gra gradually dutilly to n blanke blanketing 9 snowfall snow full and on the fifth d day ay when the streets were packed to a slick but solid bottom jerry uh unable ablo to endure the brooding loneliness of her thoughts thought any longer got out tho the roadster and went for a careful ice cold ride between fields of dazzling whIte whiteness riess along roadways flanked with snow bowed trees it was into in the afternoon when she turned lack back As sho she drove through town tit nt the corner of sixth and locust streets she was held field up by the traffic ofil standing foremost 4 of f tile the cars awaiting ills signal jerry waited as always with alert albrt eyes on the officers hand tier lier foot poised for a sharp pressure on the gas gaa throttle to make the quick getaway get away on which slie glie prided hir self when the tide of the traffic was turned jerry I 1 I 1 you beautiful thing I 1 the half ahlf tender half mocking voice was directly baldo bc aldo tier jerry caught a I 1 V jerryl you beautiful thing her breath site she did not turn tier her head did not waver tier intent gaze upon the detaining officer she know knew without looking that ho he was close to the car leaning toward tier her his chin grimly set his its eyes unsmiling smiling uh jerry know knew site sho could endure nu no more in that moment silo alic received the sig flat flung the car into gear preast pressed d hard upon the throttle and the 1113 haby aby sprang forward like a catapult jerry heard a warning whistle from the officer to reprove her tor for her I 1 reckless speed but she did not pause nor look behind she drove with rigid iron set muscles up the beautiful glistening avenue and whirled into the garage behind the house bouso jerry had bad reached the end of her resistance As AA in her childish days she lad had struggled with the broken toy until convinced of her impotency so now she realized tile the ineffectiveness of her struggle against the lovo love of this man she would leave it to prudence and jerrold sho she was late and made haste to slip blip into a fresh dress I 1 brushing her hair powdering tier her creamy skin with her usual gentle care she was waa very quiet during dinner and Pru dences eyes rested upon tier lier often with troubled unobtrusive sympathy and after dinner while tier her father tead lead the evening paper and white while prudence worked alth an absurd hit bit of laco lace that was becoming a handkerchief to correspond with jerrys newest i she sat in a great cheur dundei shaded lamp a magazine upon lie he lap and stared across it to the dai licate pattern of the oriental rug jerry was considering how to surrender the broken toy the sudden ringing of the doorbell caused tier her to start violently although she laV laughed glied immediately at the absurdity of tier her nervous tension and when katie came into the room and said in an awed voice olce its a policeman poll ceman and he wants to see ailsa 31 iss harmer jerry was only amused curious but riot concerned youve been speeding miss and you pay your own lanm said jerrold rold bring him in katie speeding t good heavens I 1 crawled dt at a enalls pace she denied lightly and added slowly most of the time as she the burst of speed sace with which she aha left locust street with the usual easy club chubbiness biness ol of the small town and the middle west jerrold asked the officer whom he lad had seen ea and knew by name to sit down and offered him a cigar this Is my iny daughter he said pleasantly indicating jerry in the great chair you wanted to see tier her tho the officer looked in his notebook note book man blan run over A fellow named arll ton drove the car that did the damage weve wave got him locked up waiting to see BOO it if the man illes dies now ho he says he saw you right beside him a little in front ue ile says he be has seen been you often knows you knows your car and oh I 1 assure you I 1 saw nothing jerry denied quietly ile iio swears the chap stood beside your car hla his foot on the running board talking to you and that you started oft off in a groat great rush jerry did not move did not speak sat oat BS an one turned to lee ice prudence got up quickly crossed to her chair sitting bitting down lightly upon the great arm of it her firm soft nn fin gers lying against jerrys frozen hand jerry tried to smile at her to nod reus reassurance urance tho the attempt wrung her mothers heart the officer unnoticing had continued hla his narrative started of off very fast with a great jerk and swung the follow fellow back so he slipped on the ice and arilton was right behind you and ran over him before lie he knew lie he had fallen of course it if the fellow was waa bothering yov you miss biarmer Il arnier 1 lie he suggested with the solicitous interest of an officer in a small city where tier her father was a man of power lie lale was waa not tethering bothering my daughter I 1 assure you prudence interrupted apted softly the young man la Is a n great friend of ours oura a very particular friend nothing he could do would annoy my daughter lu in any way jerrold came quickly to her assistance enlightened by Pru dences defense hla his less leas agile imagination having followed through the situation more slowly my daughter drives fasts fast ns as you probably know but she to 13 a good driver arid aad a careful one she did not know there had been an accident if she ehe la in in any way to blame you may rest assured wo we shall not shirk our responsibility of course rf of course I 1 just wanted to see if she would back ui up GrIl tons story jerry nodded her head oh yos yes jerrold went on quickly the ninn arn you mention to mr bir Al allerton lorton J 1 I believe did speak to her beside the car and my daughter in a great hurry to get home started off very fast she did biot not know he had fallen she Is naturally vry much upset ov erthe the whole thing 1 sh e Is 18 simply horrified wj a yau you see aee cant you wait avalt until io tomorrow to give her a chance to to recover oh my dear sir air were not blaming ulso ulsa harmer it was this fellow arll ton did it and of course the other chap hlo his carnol name he consulted the notebook note book allerton he may not die anyhow and P jerry winced pitifully tell us u 11 prudence hesitated to ask fearing the effect upon jerry who clung to her hand he Is hurt how seriously oh you cant tell yet got him up at st bt josephs josephl there may be internal injuries cant tell yet now dont you be upset about it bliss harmer harder harbut nob nobody odys blaming you but if he should happen to die you see hate hay to testify at the inquest and it it i b a up to the state to prosecute jerry wu was a stony graven image and jerrold hurriedly got the officer out of the room and away and then came back and stood beside jerry on the other aide from prudence two stalwart bulwarks bulwa of love and pity terry jerry looked up at them and smiled mother she ahe said bald 1 I love him gloved I 1 loved him all the time res iva I 1 know sweetness prudence was brooding breeding tenderness itself get the car jerrold and ask katie to bring our coats coata he he kissed hissed me and hp he was drunk mother I 1 thought he tet just na as I 1 did and he was drunk I 1 dont even know it ho he remembers remember rs that eliat he blared me 11 katie camo came la in with their coats and at a sign from went out at once leavi leaving leavinia nir her alone with her daughter jerry stood up and her mother put the great fur cloak about her shoulders very gently jerry did not know that she was trembling you feel nice about it mother to know it was only that when you thought it was something else 1 no I 1 like jerrold honked shrilly to them from the car outside the door and with her hand in Pru dences jerry lers herself if led the way As they drove swiftly oong along toward the hospital no word was spoken when jerrold after first helping prudence out telling her to be careful to mind the lee ice not to fall went back to assist jerry erry ho be said a little awkwardly but determined that she must have his view of things at last jerry all men inen are arc tools fools sometimes you hould nt expect too much of any of us you know not all the tha time at leist least jerry nodded her head trying to smile her appreciation of Ms liz effort to help there are a lot of flue fine things about him he went on determinedly 1 I I 1 had bad him stay up at the house with me while you were in mount slark alark 1 I know it father jerrold shook his head vaguely puzzled puttied how women got on to things the way they did there was no knowing ile he had covered all tits ills tracks so BO carefully th 1 I Is why I 1 looked nt at you that night at the station she said in i a subdued little voice to see II if you had anything against him not a thing ho he declared not t a thing in the world I 1 like him 1 I know it whispered jerry CHAPTER XI how jerry loved there was visia a nurse in the room but at a sign frow from the one who brought them she went out quickly smiling back over her shoulder def duane dinane lay very still on tho the white bed ills his eyes were closed the olive tan 0 of f ills hla skin was ivory white lie ile opened ills hla eyes and a warm warco brightness flashed into them when ho he saw jerry beside him lie he smiled that whimsical tender smile whose gay effrontery had charmed and stirred her from the first jerry he bo said eald and the tender d jerry ho he said youve got to ad mit it was treating mo me pretty badly voice ana youve got to admit it was treating nie me pretty badly lie he looked up nt at tier not I 1 smiling now and jerry stood over lalni her eyes melting into tits his agonizingly intense suddenly slie she wilted tears rushed into her eyes the |