Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-11-26
THE MAN WHO WAS TIRED
OF HIS WIFE
BY LUCILLE VAN SLYKE
Copyright Butterick Co.

q nnr sIIburban society and in preserv
ing her beauty.
ihPCERY (THE 1MP).Thirty-two
phnt ffteen in spirit. Holding the key
w ~ yesterday and tomorrow. Called q
%Esband snatcher' by the neighbors
-rvER occurred to me that you
LIN did," Margery jumped up as the
| hogan to shake himself. 'Watch
III he'll spatter you--Charles dldn !,
pssat n me as though anybody cared
Lhont him: he just looked nagged 80
rSU~s 9occs AS though you'd grabbed all
Eon could get and not paid MN any
Hing for it.
I "aow dare you!" Bertha was on
foot her head high with rage.
enGoe. you started it," Margery'
Hang and boyish grin were all that
t,amSS .noS the situation. "1'm. rather
.mmned at finding you care"
l pprtba put her handkerchief of her
Fegsi ought ito h-nate you, but you
90 nicer l can't. ! cant make
M out, Ever since you've been here
oIs.vSn't known what you were going
4 do do next. Everything's been so diff
EersI' VII haven't changed things a smitch. "
u,roery was busily collecting the
s."aSes and soap. "Nait till l maroon
T,ndge Nudge on that clothes-post to dry.
WsTi have to have things out some time
,,dHit might as well be now" she
at sssStuaIly sang the last phrase. 1T
Son't take me a jiffy TO get under the
shower and into something dry Oh,
Msry!". she thumpcd on the back door.
sTpt TIp us in through the model kitchen !;
,bsre's n DEAR And put over some
sofee os and show Mrs. Shirley what
lively nut t-cheese sandwiches we have
for Company" she held a swing
door to let her dazed caller through
hallway to the CHEEKY living room.
aDon't sit on the wicker chair--it was
there that Trudge landed after his re-
cent affair with froggie; but III let
YOU sit anywhere else you like
The frankly curious Mary lowered
about. Bertha couldn't manage an exit,
but she sank Imply to the piano bench.
Margery was back so quickly and so
spectaCularly that she almost took the
older wOman's breath away. With her
hair brushed sleekly against her head,
/ IN green broCadcd clothes that had been
made for Chinese boy, she was a very
0lnefpnJ DpGSOH lIOlll lUt SlluDDV uClNeT
I OF the antiquated Dearborn roadster.
Bertha noticed for the first time how
! Idelightfully her eyebrows slanted up
I figure pCrched tailor fashion on a shiny
. hSircloth sofa. She noticed that the
/ hands that dropped quietly were per-
fectly steady. Bertha herself had to
hold her fingers tightly clasped to keep
them from trembling.
"0f course" Margcry began casually.
"I'm neither so bad n lot as you think
nor so unsOphisticatcd as Charles
thinks But you've the wrong slant
on this thing when you blame me for the
way things are going with your honor
able hubby"
Things were quite all right till you
came"
Very Cdgy, | should judge; cant
see why you hadn't noticed"
Hes never even looked at another
woman in all the years we've been
married.
How careless of Charles. He
1 shouldn't have let you get so darned
stuck on him."
~ should think" Bertha's tones
shook with wifely virtue, Il had a per-
iect right to be sure of him"
"How did you earn it," Margery
vas matter of fact. Just being pretty
doesn, cntitlc you to much. That's as
archaic notion as the once divine
right of queens. Yet lots of you pretty
women haven't walked up to it. You
Goh work with him or play with him.
Jqst eating with him dOesn t.
My relations with my husband
aren't any Of your business"
But mine, Margcry was sweetness
iSelt, "arc very much yours. Now my
relations with your husband will prob
aUIy Be mostly playful, and they won't
cCst eos MN anything. ] always play fifty
my, Pay my own caddy. buy my own
eOW s,I pals and that sort of thing"
he doesn't play golf" Bertha flash
Cd trlumphantIy.
but he's going to-"
a. I'VE talked it over last fall and de-
cldea we didn't care to-"
lou are rather Corscty and nose
poNuerS tor sports. And, of course,
ulere . are lots of dcvilishly good looking
sOm,n lying in wait at every green
But I've told you that he's not in
,eSlGu svon IN women. lie wouldn't have
to ,, tnN'd "oN'd at you only he happened
doos"'," ~m9" you when you We're young. Hc
SErSn Sp ,lN" women. He says they bore
svon o,, ~" d""Sn' i Ike TO talk to them
bo bVm, n..i. = nav" TO make him talk or he'd
most I"auI'% n"I% luIe to my friends. He al
''VSi ~, never talks to Il woman"
bo lie used to talk for hours and
DebS. " ''''''' 10 uear Aunty
old M,Nhy v she was his aunt. She was
NJ, She wasn't his aunt at all; she was
GiS SiSoINncI uncle 5 wife which is vcry' vc%y
%f"ercht' of les exactly the same tvno
tr trroa miuU as his Uncle Rodman; tho same
ks ISdI OF women attracted them. Auntv
bor was his first love. lie adorCd
bor IRON the time he was n bit of n
ToT 81 no" he ever decided to marry
yon IIi tT,1 never could decide. And don't |
10 Anu 1mt''T q ior n minute that he talked
n,ynu u"I p"DS because she was old. She |
Vot tVr r., really got old. She hapnonod r. |
f5o f5o, "lIi'e hair and a few wrinkles bnt
moS. uI0n stop her from being tLo |
E EnJ IhHIdi"us kind Of firt cyer,tbe
ev"r r,ru lIol so skillful that folks bardIv
''tr ,,, suspect them. ''' ""' U''
Drd WY, she tlirtrd with mon wo,ror
H yon TIl'dr"n and horses and dogs 10
tbo, NioW' Margcry was So ovcitoG |
room ..I T'S"il I" pace up and down the !
tbinn Just happened to notice soma. !
pro6io "Hl,T iI,. was looking at you-your
bet bet4r ~, iNh unlike Aunt Drbs'P III |
no,S you ~, 'ould make yourself look n Iot |
ablv GHrHe 'Hr Her than you do now. Prob
was vT"tS TI"t''S saw that-probably that
place ""T, Tn ATTRACTED him in the first
NJ lake off your hat"
N Hatsery herself took it off without
80, n w. rs 6Py-your- eave. 81 thought |
reckrad,o o1 Slily dear That's such n
bad a f,; i;nlhg to do to your hair. |
than ','ehd who tried it and in less
bad ear Shc'd ruined all that she
Is oa,,I, Il wash that right out as soon
the ki"J kii~J'u II were you. Your hair is
goina '"u Nv mat gravS ever so fast: it's
n ling n; to be just darling when it's gray