Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-06-13

glance travelled over the
shoulder of the man ahead
~ of me and saw by the paper
~ ~ he held that eighty separa-
49, lions had been achieved in
one day of court. Miss Gle
ment and myself were on a Ravinia
train, bound for the concert, and were
hurrying through Evanston. 1T GER
tainly gets me how anyone stays mar
ried nowadays" l continued. But
then, II people can't get along togeth-
or, it's the best thing for them to get
along away from each other"
YES" Miss Clement assented
rather seriously. But the trouble is
that most persons don't have a chance
to get along. Somebody is always
mixing in, getting one or the other so
wrought up about nothing that they
finally get to thinking that there isn't
any possibility of happiness. l ought
to know" she added and then there
came that. CLINT into her eyes which
always foreshadows one of her exper-
fences. 1--WE patched up more than
n divorce case when it looked help
less. And I've found this out: That
half the time it isn't the fault of the
man or the woman. They'd get along
all right if other people would leave
them alone. 1t isn't always the fault
of the mother-in-law, although, good
ness knows, no matter how kind they
may try to be, they can cause more
trouble than a regiment of infantry.
But there's always somebody or a
bunch Of ~somebodies to cause trouble
when it isn't any of their business"
The train stopped for a minute, then
hurried on again. And with it's start
began Miss Clements story.
I've handled many a divorce case
in my detective existence" she said,
and then added with a little laugh,
"and many times AVE l played some
little trick that brought a man and a
woman together again. It's queer, too,
but just when you mentioned it, l
was thinking of another time when 1
Travelled on a train, with Cupid in my
suitcase, and d%issention humping
along behind on the ties, where the
roadway was hardest. OF course. 1t
wasn't what I had been paid to 10
but then when everything was over,
I felt a lot better than If l had fol
lowed orders, and I guess two other
persons did, too.
II wouldn't tell their real names,
eve to you, and just for the sake of
reference we'll call them Mr.. and Mrs.
Douglas. The beginning was a coin
cidence.
One morning 1 received a note, ask
ing me to call at the office of Mr..
Douglas. I went there, to find a rather
young man, whose ace seemed tired
and worried. His office was not a big
one, or a spacious one l could see
that whatever he had was gained
through mighty hard work. And he
had a story to tell.
"'Miss Clement he began, I want
you to get evidence for me in regard
to a divorce case. Mrs. Douglas and
I were married about two years ago.
She's a pretty little girl-pretty.
enough to be dangerous-and I am
acting on the advice of my friends in
coming to a detective
II made no answer to that. If l had
it would have been to say something
about those lovable friends, for l had
seen their work before. I allowed him
to go on.
"For the first year we got along
fairly well on What we had, and then
Mrs. Douglas took a notion she wanted
to earn a little home of her own. l
was willing to do anything that could
be done and l started to work with
all my might. But getting ahead is a
hard business. We had enough to
make the first payment, but after that,
thin c Unra hordNr nd i've ho@r
working my head off night and day to
try to get ahead. 1t isn't that which
hurts, Miss Clement. But It seems
the harder 1 work the less Mrs. Doug
glas thinks Of me-. She acts queerly
toward me as thought she doesn't love
me any more l have not been having
very good luck with my business, but
I have been doing my best land my
friends have seen that and they have
pointed out to me the truth of every
thing. Mrs. Douglas never has cared
for me, from what / can understand.
She married me thinking there were
great possibilities in me, and then
when things went hard she just de-
termined that she would get as much
out of me as she could and then throw
me over Everything is hers, you see.
The house is in her name and all that,
and she's just trying to squeeze me
for every cent she can. And I'm not
going to let her. That's ALL
II made no remarks on the situa-
ton. Instead, / promised that l would
let him know in a day or two whether
or not could find a way to prove his
assertions. Then l vent back to the
Office.
"And there on the desk was a lain
ty little envelope, addressed in a
feminine hand. I opened it and with
my eyes staring, and read:
"Dear Miss Clement:
ct nave been referred to you as
someone who can assist me in obtain
ing evidence upon which to base a di-
vorce suit against my husband. Will
you kindly call at your convenience?
Mrs. jeanette Douglas"
$50, Just as I thought, there were
two sides to the question. I knew that
1t vas not professional in the
strict sense of the word to serve
two clients in the same case, but there
was something forming In my brain
that would take AVA all the possibili-
~ of m inPron tior oP afhjcc would