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Show bj LOUIS JOSEPH VANCm, CjQn Wy Lo'i VH W. $&rr&' BEGIN IIKRF TODAY IIi insatiable appetite tor rhean ; flirt. tlon and (roqUSDt perlodn of , heavy drinking, had sJinost destroyed tho lovo which 1 IAVINDA DRUCE, prominent Fifth iivonuf Mirl. tj matron, held fur her husband After five years of niar-j rled ute. ins had decided that her! beauty, youth and charm were not sufficient to hold Bellamy. At a fashionable dinner, the Druees met RICHARD DAUBBNUY, Ludlnda'l old sw oothart, and MRS. AMKI.IK SEVERN, vith whom Bellamy, al onr proceeds to euriy on an affair. Amelie and Bellamy Uin h at the cilp.ue dub and Amelia Ame-lia suggests that Bel divorce Lu- inda. Ho refuses and she suggests sug-gests thnt possibly Luolnda may dlvoree him. ;C) ON WITH TIIF. STOKY. "D'al wdth that when It comes up Frankly, don t believe it ever will. Don't man to glvo Linda any reason ! I can avoid." "What you mean is, you really lovo " "I moan." hi cut In sharply, "whatever my shortcomings. I respect j Linda. I won't hurt her If 1 can help It." How charming or you!" For all acknowledgment she rc-J i nlved a Mleiu in' Ihi;. Hun "i his head, and she began to laugh dangerously, I eyes abrlm with hatred the heat In her cheeks shaming their rouge. "Well, thank ;od I've come to understand un-derstand you before we went any rar-ther!" rar-ther!" "Amen to that " And so nil your love making has benn simply " Tht same as yours. Amy." "Then why did you ever make lovo to me at all, please ?" "Because you let mo see you wanted want-ed me to." The brutal truth of that lifted the , woman to her feet,1 ' I don't think I caro for any moro luncheon." -he said In a shaking vole s, "if you don't mind . , Bellamy rose, howins from his place. "Not ut all." He offered t help with her fur. but she wouldn t have that tin u (!) garment over her arm and flun? rdund the table, then checked and looked back ' You understand this ndn il for a" tlnjs?" "I couldn't do you the Injustice of I thinking anything else .She made a tempestuous exit through tho curtains. Bellamy consulted his watch Just : on two: Linda's luncheon party would bo In full swing He had nothing , better to do. might as wHl look in at tho Rltz. Linda would like it . . V To the luncheon-hour mob that milled In the foyer of the Ritz-Car. ton hotel Lucinda Iruce presented the poise of a pretty woman who has! I never known care moro galling than 1 uncertainty as to her most becoming j adornment, "But I never dreamed you three knew one another!" she was exclaiming exclaim-ing in the surprise of finding Fanny I Lontaine With those whom she had j bidden to meet her. "Fanny, w hy didn't you tell me f" "But I didn't know your Nelly : Huest was Kllcn Field married" "That's so; I'd completely forgot" ten you both come from Chicago." "Hush " Nelly- Guest gave a stage hiss ".Siimeone might hear. And all these years l'e tried so hard to live i It down It's not fair . . ." ! Six years married. Fanny retained, land would till tho end. whatever life ' might hold in store for her. a look oi wondering and eagei youthfulnc?j. Romance trembled veritably upon hr lashes. She had a way of holding 1 lu-r Hps slightly apart and looking steadily at one when spoken to. as if I nothing more interesting had ever been heard by th ears ambushed In her bobbed, a.xhen hair. Hsf eyes I a deep violet shade held an lnno eenee of expression little Iohm than dl oncertlng Her body seemed never' ! haVe OUtgrOWn Itl adolescence, yot 1 Its Hlightni was quite without any angularity or awkwardness, it achieve ed roundne,H without plumpness, a stroke of physical genius "lt'n heavenly, ' she now declared. COplly staring at their neighbors through the smoke of her cigarette j "simply dlvlno to bo home I'm sure I'd never want to see Kurope . ieiin if it weren't for prohibition " "You re not going to suffer on that account today," Jean Redley promised, prom-ised, producing from her handbag a little flask of jeweled fjold. "Liut I shrill"' Fanny protested with tragic expression. ' it s the frightful hypocrisy that's ourdHng my soul and ruining my Insldes." I'-inn bad Launched Into s startling start-ling de tailed account of London's latest lat-est fad in "treatments", and Lucin-da'fl Lucin-da'fl thoughts turned back to her other self. How to go on, how to play out thin (arcs of a life with Rel when faith In him was dead ' Strange that faith should have been shattered finally by such a minor ac-oident ac-oident as her overhearing that morning's morn-ing's treachery. And she had tried so hard to win him back, only to learn he had gone from her arms to telephone, with Hps warm from hers, to another woman, to change 1 t place of assignation because he had meanly ferreted out the fact that his wife was Intending to lunch at tho restaurant or their Hrst choice! Her cheeks kindled with Indignation Indigna-tion and blazed still more warmly when sho discovered thut she had been taring squarely at Richard I.vi-beney, I.vi-beney, who was lunching with friends at a nearby table. Hut Dulihin 1 . c i w , 1 ami smiled In such a way that Lucinda's confusion and hor ronso ot grievance were drowned under a wive or gratitude Bhs nodded brightly Good old Dobbin! She had never appreciated how much he was missing miss-ing him till he had turned up again last night and offered to take hie old placo in her life. What a pity! Kut was it : Would sho have bon happier married to Dobbin" Whs K reasonable to aSSURie thut Dobbi.i would not have developed In tho forcing forc-ing atmosphere of matrimony traits quite as difficult to deal with as Dels"' Wasn't tho fault, then, more with the institution than with the individuals? indi-viduals? Was marriage evr anything any-thing but a failure? Fanny caught Lucinda eyeing hf and smiled. "What under the sun are you thinking about ao solemnly. Cindy?" "You dear. I want you and your husband to dine with us say next Thursday?" "I don't know. Thafu one of the ECltlng things about being married to Harry Lontaine. one never knowd what tomorrow will bring fo-th. We ve got to go to I'hlcago soon, because be-cause rather relented enough to leave me a little legacy nothing to brag about, but nothing people in our position po-sition can atiord to despise, either." "I do want to meet your husband." "You will. soon enough. He's lunching some men down In the grill, a business luncheon, American cinema cine-ma people." "He's Interested in tho motion picture pic-ture business, then?" In a way. He has secured options on tho American rights to some Swedish Swed-ish productions." Luolnda turned round to the waiter. "Why hello. Linda, what's the hurry'"' , I You may bring corree to us In th-Pulm th-Pulm room " VI Fanny'a husband came m shortly! arter Lucinda and her guests had settled, set-tled, down to cotfeo and cigarettes In a Palm room. Tall and woll made. Lontaine had tho good color or men who care enough iCr their bodies to keep thorn clpan of the runt that comes of Indoor In-door stodging. The plump and closely close-ly rasored face seems perhaps a h ub oversize for features dellcatolv formed. He affected a niggardly mustache and when he spoke full Hps framed his words noticeably. His habit was that of a man at ca.se In any eompany, who set a good value on himself and confidently looks for its general acceptance. He talked well. with nrnr. some humor and a fair amount of Information. He had lived several years In the states, orf and on. and on the whole approved of them He bad pottered a bit with the cinema' it home and he might Jog out to Los Angeles and seo what was to be seen In that capital of the world's motion-picture Industry. England, he didn't mind admitting, had a good-Ish good-Ish lot to learn from Amerlr.t n the cinema line. ir you asked Lontaine it was his considered belief that the really top-hole productions of the future would come of photography and Investiture with European thro-oughness thro-oughness In acting and direction. This rore.caM was uttered with an authontv that Impressed even Lu-clnda Lu-clnda elaborately uninterested a she he hod maintained & halt-' smile or amiable attention which would hae deceived a sharper man and let her thoughts drirt on dreary-tides dreary-tides or discontent. Hour by hour tho conviction wa stricklng its roots more deeply into her comprehension that nre with Bel on the present terms was unthinkable. unthink-able. A losing right. One were mad to hope to win. Alreadv Bel was lost 1 caught In the mad danoo of the system . Ia . Iiants. already drunkard drunk-ard and debauchee . N'0r might all her love redeem him And the pity! Tears started to hr xv -k. ! jumped up hastily li st her frlendu should hoc tnumbfed an excuse and made her way out to the fiiy r. turning- toward the women's cloak room. Tho foysr wis still fairly thronged; h was almost In Rel's nrm" before she saw him, so near to him that -he aught, as she started bark, a heavy whiff Ot bronth whisky-flavored. She heard him say. "Why, hello. I Linda! what's tho hurry'.'" and cut in Instantly with a gasp of Indlgna tion "What are you doing hero" (Continued In Our Next Issue) |