Show d I t r rD D 4 tt- tt rih i i iy y Wp p d I 4 4 ti tiN N 1 t A J O 1 e Muriel Buell Buellas as she looks to- to to from day a photo photo- photograph r graph posed especially li for this page at a the White i Studio New York j j j By MURIEL BUELL CHAPTER II I Leave My Husband T was allover all over At last the formal decision had been IT I handed down and I 1 joined the army of sadder young women who have found out too late that youthful run run- runaway runaway runaway away marriages are not the best investments for happiness In my my first chapter I 1 told how I 1 met and became engaged to Billy Caples the young Texan millionaire within five minutes after our meeting I 1 explained that it was only after my hasty marriage that I became acquainted with my husband and learned of his wild ways As I 1 look back I remember with comfort that I honestly tried to make our marriage a success But my husband was wild beyond ll beyond all my efforts and at at- last divorce was all aU that was left for me Thus it happened that one morning I wakened in my fathers father's house free again but sadly dis- dis disillusioned dis disillusioned I 1 will never ne forget how I 1 sat in a chair at the window of my mothers mother's drawing room wondering what was left for forme forme torme me in life I was young but I 1 felt that a girl gid who has been married and divorced before she has quite reached twenty has had some of the most important experiences of life far too soon Andas And as I 1 thought of marriage again I was filled with dread My painful memory went back over the shameful experiences experiences experiences I 1 had gone through with my youthful husband and andI I told myself that I 1 w would uld rather be dead than see sec these repeated I told myself solemnly and slowly that I 1 would rather be dead than ever eYer ever again married to so young a husband Of course now as I look back on on n that very youthful judgment of mine I can see its error But then most seri seri- seriously seri seri- seriously seriously I felt that any young man is a most shocking gamble as a husband I 1 blamed all young men for what I had suffered with one of their number In that sober hour as asI asI asI I sat listlessly looking out toward the hills I formed my new ideas for future conduct I was Bank f ank with myself I acknowledged what was the truth that I was the kind of woman to whom life is empty unless some strong devoted male creature is bound to her in ties of matrimony and love I 1 have constantly seen women about me in New York who seem to lead their sterile old maids lives in calm content but content but life to me is only interesting as I 1 am sought out and loved by some BOme adorer Then suddenly I knew my mind I 1 would try to meet oM old men I 1 must try to find some man man- manof of fifty or better of sixty who would be glad of my youth and want me for his w wife e I 1 carefully enumerated in my heart the advantages of choosing an old husband At fifty or sixty a man has made his money money-he money he is is therefore better able than most young men to indulge his wife Again no man of sixty could possibly keep up the frantic pace of Billy Caples at twenty No at three score years a man wants his sleep and must have it He ne doesn't jump up on tables to auction off of his wife in a gambling house nor does he dance drink and play keno till morning I had bad made up my mind And now as aa I t recall that foolish decision I am filled with r remorse morse To my sorrow I have learned that the very age which makes a man settled 1 h also too often wearies him for settled matrimony Most Most y men of ot sixty have either cither been married and disillusioned with the institution or else they are arc married still L Through bitter experience e I have found out that elderly widowers and bachelors too often do not want to take on f the responsibilities of a young wife and a troublesome matrimonial establishment establishment They lik like young young women women- women but too sadly often more as play play- play play- playthings playthings playthings things than as wives But I didn't know any of this then Accordingly I insisted upon being taken to all the staid middle aged middle parties where my parents were in- in invited invited in invited They were mystified They could not understand Why child they would say to tome tome tome me therell be nobody of your age Only old men my dear Just what I want Id I'd say sav I tJ 1 t p u tot to u J S 4 s r V View from the Casino at Palm Beach taken during the winter of Muriel Buds Buells eventful first visit there ITHE name of Muriel Buell is familiar to tog THE most newspaper readers They recall that she is the young woman who recently began in such spectacular fashion the effort to make Jefferson Livingston elderly Livingston elderly mil mil- millionaire millionaire millionaire and racing man known as the Ketchup pay King King pay her the 1750 a month she alleges he promised her for life But her sensational invasion of Livingston's Living Living- Livingston's Living ston's ston's Wall Street offices and her flying leap into his limousine on Fifth avenue are trivial incidents by comparison with the many others that have crowded her career for the past dozen years Not yet thirty years old this attractive at- at attractive g at-g young California woman hasa has a rv been the heroine ofa of a wider variety S if 3 a of love ove adventures adventuress than than most women f i know in a long lifetime And 7 in these pages from rom week to toJ J week she will tell for t the firstI first I ii It r ro Muriel Buell and John of Provi- Provi Providence Providence dence R It I one of her rich Palm Beach ad- ad admirers admirers whom she did not encourage because he was not elderly enough breathlessly I dont don't ever want to see ee a young man again Poor child poor child my father or mother would say shaking their kind heads But Dut they took me mo and I kept my young eyes open Before Defore this had been going on very long I was considering an eligible old bachelor a man considerably over sixty lIe was a very wealthy manufacturer of a particularly well advertised brand of toilet articles I remember how my y youthful heart jumped with glee as my eyes rested on his wrinkled and rather pathetic old countenance His llis illness was what later I found found to be Jefferson Livingston's to too too-a too a mad wistful longing for his lost youth When Imet I met him I 1 prepared to deal him out the flattery which any clever woman knows all men so EO enjoy I told him that I worshiped success and that I knew by the popularity of his cosmetics that he was successful lIe turned his rather faded eyes to mine Well he said I guess success is about all a little girl like you can worship in an old fellow like me Oh by no means I 1 hastily reassured him I only like old men I just cant can't abide young men At that he raised his thin eyebrows and laid a blue blue- veined blue veined hand on mine for one little second Young lady said he in tones of mock grace you and andI I are going to become very much better acquainted l I It was only a little while after this that he invited my mother and me to be his week end guests at his very handsom handsome hand- hand handsome som some country place plate I teased my mother till we accepted and that week end I was waa given a very practical exposition of what an enriching thing a very good brand of toilet preparations can be to its manufacturer My hosts host's estate was a place of enchantment There were marvelous swimming pools into which mountain water water- waterfalls waterfalls waterfalls falls had been trained to flow in and out amazingly In Inthe Inthe Inthe the great entrance hall hall of the Spanish house was a large fountain whose waters shot up into the sunlight filtered through the dull glass which formed this part of the high roof Green mosses and ferns were placed all about in the tiled court and imported birds rare and costly added their note of enchantment I 1 looked about me and I pitied all ll young yoong women who considered young men for tor an instant I thought scornfully of what I had thought the riches of my marriage to Billy BUly Caples We had been people just moderately wealthy all wealthy told my husband was worth about a million And I 1 knew very well that this luxury about me this magnificent house and grounds represented a fortune many times that I 1 decided that I was very interested indeed in my rather aged host and each night as aa we tooka took a 11 bedtime swim in the magic pool he assured me he was waa very interested in me I 1 feel now that our friendship might have become something more intimate but for one or two untoward events hO h 1 r The first happened at atthe atthe atthe the swimming pool One morning we took a dip be- be before be before fore luncheon while the bright California sunshine was drenching us in its kindly warmth As we lingered at the edge of the pool when our bath was over my host bost stretched out his hand to adjust my bath bath- bathing bathing bathing ing cape on my shoulders and quite suddenly a mar mar- marvelous marvelous marvelous change came over him The skirt of the silken cape flapped over his bis head and swept off his toupee which must have bave become disarranged in the water r Before Defore I thought words rushed out of my mouth Oh Oh your hair is false 1 I still remember vividly how bow he be grinned grinned grinned-an an awful abashed and chagrined smile And then he saw that the toupee had fallen into the water where it floated a ridiculous looking object Instinctively he ha plunged in after it and soon climbed up again clutching the false falsa hair at arms arm's length triumphant if it rueful And then I laughed out oat loud again The distinguished manufacturer my host was grinning at me with stark bare gums In retrieving his wig he had lost his false teeth which appeared to have been as M imperfectly imper imper- imperfectly imperfectly fitted as the hair I know I was a monster but I laughed loud and merrily He stood staring at me with vengeful old eyes while I tried to become sober and offer my condolences still old but in but but in I prefer men I 1 told myself a little better state of preservation I Even then I think there might have been something more than friendship between my rather unfortunate host and me except that he invited us so BO often I came to know him him and his peculiarities so well that my young sensibilities rather revolted Th The poor dear man was waa such an ailing gallant gallanti I cannot help smiling as aa I recall a particularly vivid purple pill he always took right after each meal Also there was a vivid scarlet powder which he mixed with halt half a glass of water and swallowed whenever he had a pain which was often What said I is the purple pill pU for That he explained is for my liver I take it always to neutralize the effects of the poisons of my food on that important organ Good heavens I exclaimed and what is the nice red powder for The powder strengthens my lungs he said Then his voice fell to a cryptic cryptic whisper But my dear Muriel he finished let me tell you what worries me Ive I've got to give up one or one or the other Ive I've got to find out which I prefer my lungs or my liver The purple pills which are good for my liver are bad for my lungs And the red powder for my lungs plays the deuce with my liver would Which Which which would you advise me to give up Which is more important I am tortured to decide I 1 am afraid I 1 was too little sympathetic I ne fr did like a man who is ia always fretting about his health But Dut it was the incident of the automobile which cured me of him My old friend had bought the car second hand It was wasa wasa wasa a costly machine and he ordered it rebuilt Then he bought a new sports body in cool gray with smart red leather interior When I saw it I was waa mad to have it for myself ro rn- rn r I time the full truth about her experiences with life and love and the disillusionment they have brought From the day when a school girl of seven seven- seventeen seventeen teen she eloped with the wealthy son of a former Mayor of El EI Paso down to the moment she let loose h her fury on the latest of a long succession of millionaire admirers she will lay bare with greatest frankness the whole amazing story of her life and the intimate contacts it has brought with men and women of wealth refinement and high social position position position tion Muriel Buell makes these confessions in no gloating spirit of self-satisfaction self over what she has done or left undone but in the hope that the lesson she has learned may be of value to other girls tempted as she was to think no price too high to pay for a mad fling at love and the luxury of fashionable hotels apart apart- apartments apartments apartments ments and country estates Oh I want it it I want it I cried I must have haye it it ItHe He offered to give it to me but but of course that was out of the question My lily father would never have permitted me meto meto meto to accept it Ae Accordingly I persuaded persuaded- d- d my ray father to buy it itI I disposed of a perfectly good roadster of my own and m my father made up the rest of the price Very proudly I 1 drove the rebuilt imported car home And that was about the last time I did drive it For when whenever ever I started out to ride in the beautiful car something happened and I strewed the roads with its expensive foreign parts The carburetor the muffler the elaborate mechanism of the oiling system all left mementoes of themselves I f wherever I journeyed over San Francisco's hilly pavements Almost every trip I had to be towed home When the brakes refused to work one day and I was rolled back down hill we decided that it was time to abandon my ray costly car My elderly friend was was away on a 11 business trip When he be returned I knew he would make it il right as was of course only just The afternoon of his return found us at luncheon at the St Francis filled Hotel where r told him my troubles And then I was waa filled with anger at this shocking old man and with disgust for the sordid economies of the very rich Well T he asked with rising inflection as aa l I finished my story I puckered my eyebrows I could not see why hl be did not at once offer to make amends Why Why I began and then flashed hot all over for the shabby stinginess of this millionaire You dont don't expect me to take the car ear back do you he asked coolly You Yon know I wont won't The trouble with women Is that they never can hold to a bargain I 1 offered to give it to You refused Now you I see you want your money back Well my dear you wont won't get it When I give something I give it When I sell I 1 sell And I 1 sold you the car For a n moment I I was speechless recalled how just a little while ago I had decided that old men were the only ones I would consider and here was an old man and a rich richman richman richman man using me more shamefully than my young husband ever would have used any woman I jumped to my feet quivering with indignation A hysterical spirit of comedy masked my ray anger and gave it il a fantastIc twist My lily hand flashed out across the table Before that doddering old millionaire realized what was happening J 1 had snatched his toupee from his ludicrous bald head and was waa holding it up for everybody in the dining room to see There I said low but hotl hotly holly the best way I 1 know to show you what I think of you you-by you by making y you you u even more ridiculous than you always are Then I sat down flung my head hlad on the table and cried before everybody e Still my ears ring as aa I recall how bow the fashionable diners stared at me and mv my wigless companion Still I can remember ber the path of silence through which I departed my head up my cheeks checks flaming I had hardly reached the door before I repented my mad |