Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-01

A LICE had to weigh matters care
"A fully. All through her married life
she had her own way. She remembered
when she and Bert had first been mar
ried how she had acted about the most
trivial things. At first. just the very
first. she had not been suspicious. but
finally little things began to make her
unhappy. The finding of n letter in
strange envelope about tho house pos
sessed her of an inordinate desire to
read the contents, and if she resisted
for any time she was wild with sus
picion. That was how she first began
TO read all of Bert's letters that she
could find and to wonder vaguely
whether there were others more i'm
portant that he did not leave around.
Bert was a simple man. He had no
( desire to deceive Alice. He really loved
her. Furthermore, if Alice's brain had
not been always colored with suspicion
she would have known that Bert was
no ladies' man. but once having begun
her nagging of him she kept it up, and
one thing seemed TO lead to another.
Alice had known another woman at
the time when she first developed this
attitude toward Bert. who influenced
her very strongly. She had since left
her husband.
Whenever Alice and Bert had any
kind of a flare up. she would egg Alice
on to rebel.
MY dear. all men are alike she
( would remark with worldly wisdom.
q They all deceive you at the first op-
portunity. the thing to do is to nip all
their little affairs in the bud. Harry
isn't going to get away with anything.
let me tell you that
The incident that occasioned the idea
OF divorce between Bert and Alice had
been entirely trivial. It had come
about through Alice's wild and unrea
soning jealously, with, as usual. no ade-
quate cause for Il. Alice's friend, on
the verge of divorce suit herself. was
only too glad to include Alice in her
own predicament. and egged her on to
impossible treatment of Bert by such
remarks as always believe the worst
about man. He's never true to his
wife after the first few months.
When Alice in fury of temper had
flung in Bert's face the challenge that
she wasn't going to stand things any
longer. that she would leave him. he
had at first been astounded. She had
expected him to protest. to say that he
was sorry. but Bert really had nothing
to be sorry for he had no idea of being
untrue to Alice. all that he did want
was an end put to this eternal nagging
these frightful scenes about nothing
which always ended in Alice's penitence
and tears. 1t seemed horrible to Bert
to have Alice scream and cry about the
apartment. accusing him of things that
were not true, wailing that she was the
most miserable woman in the worlc. and
then when her passion spent, she real
lied that she had been angry without
sufficient cause. she would become hum
BILE. and try to make Bert forget her
tantrum. But he would carry a picture
with him of Alice in a fury, her face
flushed, her hair pulled out untidily,
tear smudges on her cheeks, and venom
in her heart. Alice was not pretty
woman, she depended for a great deal
of her attractiveness on her trimness.
the sickness of her hair, the immacu :
late condition of her grooming. Con =
seouently in a temper she was at her
worst. 1t took a great deal to wipe
out the sordidness that one OF these
outbursts of temper caused. There was
something soul smrching about 1t TO
Bert. who in his simple way coulC not
tell exactly why he should feel so
ashamed for Alice for days afterward'
Alice had always stopped before go
ing too far excepting in this one case
when she had screamed out that she
was going to leave Bert. Then when
he did not respond at all. when ne
made no attempt to conclhate her aS
he always did when she became angry,
/. she grew suddenly frightened. This was
/, too much; she might talk about dl-
yorce. but she did not dream OF trying
TO secure one. She had mentioned IL
IN frighten Bert into more abJect SUP -
mission and the attempt had failed. lie
s;rnlv did not react, he was silent
s THAT was when Alice had been afraid
that she might have to go through wlth
ber rash threat. That had been the
time Scott had been called out west
ord after tactful family attempt to
patch things up and smooth things over
Alice and Bert had been reuniteu'
For long time they had lived IN
comnaratiye peace, but even this les
con had not been enough for Alice'
This time, instead of becoming furious
over problematical affair, she mad
d;scovered to- her amazement that there
really was something in it. This hao
tarrified her into employing the harsh :
ast methods. Bert would see that she
would not stand anything of this kind