The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-08-25
REV Ella HONS
Ut A WIFE
81 At9ELE or.Fs-Sisolt.

My eyes were blazing with anger
as | raised them from the hooking
/ letter which Harry Underwood had
sent to Lillian, the letter which he
dropped out of their marriage rela-
tons with much more nonchalance
than he would have broken a dinner
gagement. And as looked at her
head bowed down in her hands be-
fore the fire, realized the humiliation
that must be her portion, could have
cheerfully consigned her husband to
any torture of the inquisition.
dropped the letter as if it burned
my finger; indeed. felt it actually
to Lillian, knelt down beside her.
With a little sigh she turned and put
her cheek against mine, her arm a.
round me. For fully five minutes /
knelt, then she rose abruptly, drew
me to my feet and put me chair
close to her own. l saw that she had
not shed any tears. but her eyes We're
glittering with excitement, and on
each cheek glowed spot Of red, an
unbecoming flush which reminded me
unpleasantly of the rouge she was
wont to use In the old days.
Don't mistake my feeling, Madge,"
she said slowly at last. Tn one way
this thing comes as a blessed relief. 1
believe / have told you that / never
had any romantic affection for Harry
But he appealed to me strongly in the
days of miserable loneliness which
came after I had given up my baby
girl, and then at that time he needed
me, which is often a most powerful
attraction to a woman of my tempera-
ment."
l nodded assent. I had heard from
Dicky how LiIlian's announcement
and sympathy-yes even her finan-
cial help-had put Harry Underwood
on his feet after an almost disrepu-
table business fiasco on his part. Lii
liam had never even limited at the
money part of her help to her hus-
band, but Harry himself had told
Dicky Of it in the early years OF
their marriage.
Lillian's Dilemma. a
but there is Just one question be-
fore me-" she said. Il would be glad
to divorce Harry. have no qualms on
the subject at all, but have / the right
to bring any more unpleasant public
ity upon my head. and because of
me to my baby girl?"
As the full import of Lillian,s d.
iemma burst upon me felt my heart
stop beating for an instant It was
too horrible this alternative which
Harry Underwood's request had put
before her.
If she refused to divorce him, held
him to his marriage ties. she was put
in the position, well nigh unbearable
to woman of Lillian Underwood's
pride, of holding a man bound to her
who had ceased to care for Their.
But, If she did divorce him. she GER
tainly would again be piIloried I'M the
public eve, in only lesser degree than
she had been when her first husband,
VIII Morton. in order to gain his own
freedom and in revenge for her de-
fiance of him, had branded her by an
unjust suit for divorce.
She was an Illustrator and adver-
Using Jingle writer of national fame
The notoriety of her first divorce had
made her fair game for the newspa :
pers. If 1t were not for the war its
monopoly of the news columns her
trouble would be the basis if first
page features. and the theme Of wo-
men writers comments And even
with neV-sna per conditions as they are
l know Lillian conld not entirely es-
cape that cruel notoriety.
knew the woman at my side well
enough TO be certain thst no consid- |
Grafton for herself would touch her.
She would give Harry Underwood the
boon he so insolently asked IN mo-
ment If It were not for her little girl /
But to ieep the breath OF scandal
from Marion the child whose com
panionship she had sacrificed wears
before because her high sense Of hon
or comnelled her 70 sa-e Diclv from
her husbands Vengeance, the child \