| Show ata TANGLED WIVES by PEGGY SHANE copyright by peggy shane service SYNOPSIS A p pretty r e tt y young woman finds hrmel hermel elt f 1 in n a t taxicab in new york tork with a arrange man who addresses addre oses Ases her endearingly dearin gly and speaks ot of an awful shock hock when he leaves her for a moment at a drug store she drives on for she fears him film she stops at the biltmore still wondering who she Is ifer her memory Is gone from her expensive clothing she concludes she sh Is married to a wealthy man she meets a young woman who speaks of her desire to KO go to reno for a divorce it if she can got get the money the woman vanishes with the nameless girls purse urs and ao an elderly woman mrs oscar du val cordially greets the nameless girl addressing her Is as doris wife of mrs du vals son rocky rocky Is abroad and doris bewildered Is taken to the homo home of mrs afra du val and her sculptor husband oscar CHAPTER II 11 continued 4 the last box contained merely hats and shoes to go with the dresses doris du val believe in carrying papers around evidently the search had yielded the information that yellow and lavender v were ere her favorite colors and that she had undoubtedly been rich nothing more was rocky really her husband she peered again with strained eyes into the pictured face it if lie he could only speak I 1 it if he could only tell her who she was where they had met gently gradually she felt sure she would come back to connection with her past it if she could only see him it seemed to her as she looked into those serious boyish eyes as it 1 she must remember surely the time he had given her the ring some of that might come back bach she sat turning the ring over and oer and pondering but it was useless mrs du val tapped on the door softly an hour had passed in these thoughts come in said doris oh oh 1 tres mati vals veree bad I 1 you must rest at such a time young girls must rest and not tire themselves out 11 doris was getting rather weary of being tx ang told that at such a time she must take care of herself the such a time seemed to be always but she smiled 1 I was just going to get dressed for dinner oh no said mrs airs du val we live lire very simply do not dress tonight it Is too exhausting at such a ill just wash my face then said doris hastily she disappeared into the bathroom half expecting to be told that at such a time girls wash then site she smiled ruefully ashamed of 0 her impatience the drawing room was attractive with flowers and books alone there for a moment doris looked about for a newspaper unable to find one she turned on the radio instantly an orchestra blared an avalanche of jazz poured into the room flooded the whole quiet almost immediately there was another and larger roar from the hall ball outside oscar du val his white hair cisar ranged his black ekes rolling angrily rushed bed in turn it on off I 1 turn it off be shouted amazed and frightened doris ran to obey As the sound was cut off dai val looked at her blushing furiously 1 I am sorry he said 1 I am very sorry I 1 did not think it was you the servants ler is have orders never to touch the radio 1 I know said doris im sorry alm airs du val had darted into tile the room roaring like a mail mad bull at our little girl she scolded du val looked heartbroken oh I 1 aril am so sorry 31 milking likIng noise like one hundred ele cle chants and frightening our little girl at such a time put cut oscar du val now looked more frightened than doris mrs du val turned to dorl doris you ton we see what it Is to live with an artist you can thank your stars that I 1 brought up my son to be a business ran man n oscar cannot work the radio point lie he does not like to have the outside world come to eifim yes to be told I 1 must wash my teeth every day me ale I 1 have never been to the dentist in my life lip ile will not time hae an thing come into the house no radio I 1 no newspapers such stich a man I 1 we never play the except on sunday afternoons when we love to listen to tile the monic concerts y yes es said oscar eagerly ile he looked at doris lit if ph abing ading with her to un iler der stand ali the philharmonic concerts ire are very nire nice I 1 like them ery cry much the nip quickly listen ns ng to tn tin flip of iho flip sculptor W I 1 rr r r ill lier cwi r 1 I i il r shi lal n 1 it file son site she mi might bt find herself tempted to marry him anyway for the pleasure ol of having daring sue such a father in law 0 rockwell rt st gardens Is I 1 a great friend of yours lie asked doris when tile the talk lied bad come ja to a little pause ali ah yes said oscar A great friend we named our rocky for him nia ills work Is magnificent magnificent you know it of course oil oh yes said doris a little sur to find that she did 1 I suppose rose she said after a pause in which she considered how she happened to t have hare this particular piece of knowledge that he Is like you I 1 mean every one knows something of his work yes he has become very famous it Is hard to realize that I 1 remember him always as aa a wild crazy one in paris we e were young then nest ce pas cut but now we are so no longer and I 1 1 I have my practical little wife my fine son who tins has his own gool good wife and rockwell rock well st SL gardens lives very respectably too up in northern new rn england land near the canadian bor der where it Is 18 too cold for me early in july we will visit him said sirs mrs du val we will go up to his daughters wedding yes said oscar that Is so beatrice Is to be married in july sirs du vals voice often trembled on a note of ecstasy so fragile that overtones of despair and sadness could be heard beyond her joy rocky will be back hy by then and we will all go together doris felt the tremor of happiness behind the mothers words it caught a response in lier ber could it possibly he be true that in six weeks she would be tile the normal happy remembering wife of rocky it must be so she went to bed early the sounds of bullfrogs bull frogs and crickets lulled her quickly to sleep iler her last thought was that she would wake up in the morning knowing all about her past but the next day everything was the same she felt secure and full of hap site she was in her right place and picture was on her dress ing table she thought of her new family mrs du val mother wa was a dear and she seemed really to like doris she reviewed her eventful yesterday with tranquility all that fright about the man in the cab had been so useless so silly anyway it was all before she knew that she had bad this quiet le r fryy 4 1 N lilt 2 ilam I 1 che studied it thoughtfully refuge before she had even seen picture she took it up now flow and studied it thoughtfully for the twentieth time her lim limbana band where had she met him how flow long had site she known him film not long apparently she had gathered this front from her welcome Yel come and yet mrs airs du val had bad met her before mrs du val had recognized her in the biltmore or had she doris shut her ebes ejes again and tried to imagine the scene mrs du vals greeting had been something about how beautiful she was could it he ble that mrs du val as well us as her husband had neier neer seen wife before it was too confusing her memory would return it most it would I 1 it had to but it just the more she willed to know the more the curtain of the past seemed to shut down on her blanker than the unknown future on which she could fit at least make a few tentative plans of her own on As spring passed it seemed strange to be married to a photograph married to someone who wn was a topic of conversation at every breakfast luncheon and dinner and yet whom she had never seen the days were always the same doris could understand why rocky come home much if he were at all the type that liked gaiety for at nine promptly aery night the family went to lied bed and at six tile the next nest morning it was as time to get up from six thirty until noon mr air du val worked in his studio after lunch he worked again meanwhile his bis wife occupied herself witha the house superintending super intending the gardening the dairies the farm fann As aside I 1 de from her work in running tile the huge place mrs airs du val spent much of her time in acting as a guard to her husband against the outside world hardly a day passed that did not bring a group of tourists eager to see the sculptor at ills work ills wife kept them away from him film if she it would have soon become impossible for him to work nork for they would have swamped him overwhelmed him ile he lived in his work and he fie was utterly dependent on his wife who made it possible for him to work so BO steadily and ardently it Is dull for you here doris he would say sometimes at lunch no no I 1 love the quiet of the country and besides theres really a lot to do yes said mrs du do val we sew we e make new curtains tor for dorla doris and bedroom doris was really learning a great deal already the peas and asparagus were being canned in the big kitchen slie site had helped start dandelion wine seen the red currants come off the bushes watched them bubble in enormous pots mrs lira du val was makin making har bar le lc duc such buch as you will not ge get my doris this side of the water there was a batch of new setter puppies doris was weaning them this occupied much of her attention then there were many vases in the big house houge to be filled with lowers flowers this had bad become doris task there was as doris had said a lot to do and she enjoyed doing it it lvery every night she fell asleep dreaming about rocky she had moments it Is true of doubting that anyone could be so perfect as the son mrs du val talked of constantly but when she looked into his pictured eyes she believed them rif all somewhere in the blank past he had told her that he loved her they had married each other she almost believed she remembered it besides his mothers stories she had listened to ills his fathers description tinged with a humorous irony of 0 business career and gradually she had formed a picture of this rocky du val to whom she was married ile he emerged now as a lover a person more real than anyone she had bad ever met she looked eagerly toward the day when he would write to her because she thought that certainly when she looked at the intimate words of her husband written to her his wife she would remember and know for all time what she still groped and wondered over meantime she thought of him as being the tall careless type fond of outdoor life lie he likes outdoor life when it too strenuous mr du val had chuckled mrs airs du val said that like his father he made friends everywhere but he had bad inherited his keen business sense from his mother ile he had had a recent promotion in his firm which wo would u id send him to paris frequently but no letter came A week passed and another week june came bringing roses and peonies a festive setting for return then mrs du val got a letter from him but of doris it said only doris strikes me as being very husky so there Is no need to worry about her just see that she gets plenty of sunshine and goes to bed early every eiery night tills this sounded far from lover like and doris felt suddenly cold all over when mrs du val read it aloud to her mrs du val seemed also to feel some lack in it for she said consolingly your letter will come tomorrow but it come though doris began wistfully to watch for the mail mans dally visits the words there Is no need to worry about her made doris wonder again it if her young husband did know of the condition in aich which she found herself mentally riad flad the du vals after all suspected it was that why mrs du val was constantly fussing over her urging gentle exercise on her making her take naps begging her to take sun sunbaths baths and forever babbling about bueb a time no that was impossible the du dif vals showed no sign of guessing that doris could not remember anything yet letter left her more than slightly disquieted the old doubts came back supposing up posing she were not wife supposing mrs irs du val had mistaken her in the biltmore what on earth should she do if rocky came back and repudiated her she spent hours brooding now dow on this situation she ought to go to new york and make some effort to locate her rightful place supposing her memory never came back for over a month had passed now and she was beginning to lose that first expectancy pec tancy that had buoyed up her spirits what Is the matter doris you look pale today you need rest no no im all right 11 rest meant returning to her nightmare imaginings if rocky was not her husband then site she must go back to the other tell me what Is troubling you dear clear she considered taking mrs aars du val into her confidence if she found out that doris had lost her memory there was no telling what she fhe would do As it was she was always talking about taking doris to the doctor she could not tell mrs du val now after all ail these weeks of deception rut but she really ought to go into new york and see if site she find out something supposing she went to tang the store where she had bought most of her trousseau the label with its fifth avenue address was on oil all of her clothes perhaps clerk there would recognize her and tell her for sure it if she was wag mrs rockwell du val that wag something she roust must do before rocky came home and he be was wag due home in a week TO BE CONTINUED |
