River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-06-12
A Game of Hearts
7Co5vrig6t. by ". @. Chapman.)

- or me and saw Dy Inc popOA
k III he held that eighty separa
- - tons had been achieved in
one day of court. Miss Gle
ment and myself were on a Ravin1a
train, bound for the concert, and were
hurrying through Evanston. 1T Ger
tainIy gets me how anyone stays mar
RED nowadays" 1 continued. But
then. If people can't get along togeth-
er, it's the best thing for them to get
along away from each other"
YES" Miss Clement assented
,ather seriously. But the trouble is
hat most persons don't have chance
10 get along. Somebody is always
mixing in, getting one or the other SO
wrought up about nothing that they
lnally get to thinking that there isn't
my possibility Of happiness. ! ought
% know" she added and then there
zane that CLINT into her eyes which
always foreshadoWs one Of her eXper'
ences. I've patched up more than
Ine divorce case when it looked help
ess. And I've found this out: That
aalf the time it isn't the fault of the
nan or the woman. They'd get along
Iii right II other people would leave
hem alone 1t isn't always the fault
If the mother-in-law, although, good
aess knows, no matter how kind they
nay try to be, they can cause more
.rouble than a regiment of infantry
But there's always somebody or a
lunch Of somebodies to cause trouble
when it isn't any Of their business"
The train stopped for a minute, then
lurried on again. And with its start
began Miss Clements story.
1--WE handled many a divorce case
n my detective existence" she said,
md then added with a little laugh,
and many times have l played some
title trick that brought man and a
woman together again. It's queer, too,
,ut just when you mentioned it,
vas thinking of another time when
raveled on train, with Cupid In my
suitcase, and dissention humping
tlong behind on the ties, where the
.oadway was hardest. OF course, it
wasn't what / had been paid to do
,ut then when everything was over,
felt a lot better than if l had fol-
owed orders, and l guess two other
PERSONS did, too.
Il wouldn't tell their real names,
even to you, and just for the sake of
reference well call them Mr.. and Mrs.
Douglas. The beginning was a coin
:idence.
"One morning | received note, ask
ng me to call at the Office of Mr..
Douglas. / went there, to find rather
7oung man, whose face seemed tired
md worried. His office was not big
one, or a spacious one. ] could see
hat whatever he had was gained
through mighty hard work. And he
aad a story to tell.
Miss Clement he began, I want
Fou 10 get evidence for me in regard
% a divorce case. Mrs. Douglas and
were married about two years ago.
she's a pretty little girl-pretty
enough to be dangerOus-and l am
acting on the advice of my friends in
coming to detective
Il made no answer to that. If I had
t would have been to say something
about those lovable friends, for l had
seen their work before. allowed him
o go on.
For the first year we got along
airly we'll on what we had, and then
Mrs. Douglas took notion she wanted
% earn a little home of her own.
was willing to do anything that could
De done and l started to work with
all my might. But getting ahead is a
make the first payment, but after that,
.hings were harder. And I've been
working my head off night and day to
.ry to get ahead. 1t isn't that which
lurts Miss Clement But it seems
he harder / work the less Mrs. Doug
glas thinks of me. She acts queerly
coward me rs thought she doesn't love
me an! more. have not been having
very good luck with my business, but
have been doing my best and my
friends have seen that and they have
pointed out to me the truth of every
thing Mrs. Douglas never has cared
lor 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 would
let him know in day or two whether
or not l could find way to prove his
assertions. Then l went back to the
office.
And there on the desk was a dain-
ty little envelope, addressed in a
feminine hand. l opened it and with
my eyes staring, and read:
Dear Miss Clement:
= have 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"
SO, just as l thought, there were
two sides to the question. l knew that
it was 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 away all the possibili-
ty of an infraction of ethics. l would
bear what she had to say, anyway.
And / went out to the house.