The Washington times., 1921-04-23

-. a SECONDS hesltalon ana tnen came
{ ~ answer. slowly with every syllable
2 dtsttNotiy clear: ga
ITO give him . CHARGE to choose
x Between me and his hrst wife. rs
De had promised TO choose"
COURT IN UPRoAR.
Instantly the counsel table was in
an uproar. Francis Wellman and
Herbert Smyth representing Stokes
demanded that the reply be stricken
from the record. Martin Littleton,
for Mrs. Stokes. commended that 1T
should remain. Through the whole
fiickered. with a sort of suppressed
( importance. but never so prominently.
At first. Supreme Court Justice Ed
ward c. Finch was inclined to let the
answer remain. then. reconsidering,
he struck ii out.
But the drama OF the day was not
In what was to be heard-it lay in
/ what was to be seen in the faces Of
/ the contrasted couple confronting
each other. Their eyes met frequent
ly.
Helen Stokes is pretty, as a plump
kitten is pretty, and she never looked
prettier than yesterday. A velvet
toque of golden brown was crushed
down almost over her ears, hiding
all but a few heavy ringlets of her
vivid hair. A soft, lacy waist, cut
low to reveal a neck that rivaled the
GREATNESS of the fabric, showed be-
tween the reeres of her tailored blue
tricotine suit
LIKE INJURED CREATURE.
As she moved, black silk fringe at
the hem of her coat and half-sleevcs
swayed. six-skin scarf Of sable en-
circled her throat over a strand of
graduated pearls. Small, strapped
patent pumps on her feet and sheer
silk stockings on her trim ankles.
crossed beneath her short skirt.
Like a toitoise-shell kitten" COM
mented feminine observer. and the
phrase fit exactly. Eyes of green,
flecked with gold; cheeks full and
pale against the cleaning hair: nose,
mouth and chin almost tiny. No greAt
knowledge looked out of those eyes
but establishment surely. She gave
the appearance Of a cerature that had
been hurt, mutilated. and was not yet
sure why 1t all had happened.
The low voice emphasized this i'm
preston. phe few gestures she made
were slow. as though physical exsr-
tion were difficult after what she had
passed through.
liam Earl Dodge Stokes something
akin to fear shone in them, as he.
crouching between his COUNSEL, stared
at her. Seventy -four years old, forty
years older than she. the man made
a striking figure.
CAREFULLY CHOOSES WORDS,
And SO they glanced at each other.
the husband grim, old, vigilant and
apparently waiting for the cross sex
an,tnation that will follow soon: the
wife, young. nervously tired. though
lhef soft speech ran smoothly as she
3enswered question and evidently
locking forward to the minute when
t1s trial will be a memory.
f Something of the feeling between
4tAem could be gathered when, nov
Ard then, she hesitated, searching her
fecollection for a specific date. At
each times, Stokes would swing for
{ ward further in his chair and whis-
PER swiftly few words in the ears
OF his lawyers. Wellman. the stout,
hatiness-like practitioner. and Smith.
tfe tall, thin. energetic interrogation.
And as Mrs. Stokes watched. she
chose her words with meticulous care
az though she sensed how serious the
olightest slip might prove. So when
Martin Littleton, her chief counsel,
guiding her through the story Of her
life, asked:
when did you first meet your hus-
bandT
ASKED TO MEET HER.
She let her eyes nit across Stokes
fmmobile face and answered:
AT the Hotel Ansonia in 1910. He
followed me up in the elevator. Came
into the apartment where / was stay
ing with my friend, Mrs. Hendricks,
and asked her to introduce him"
Then Littleton led her through the
long list of co-respondents-Bill
Wallace, Miller. and the rest-and Of
zach asked:
Were you ever intimate with
hfrss a. has been charged and testi-
red 70 here7-
Always the answer came. firmly yet
with voice unrsised:
III is absolutely false never, at
any time"
He asked her to tell Just why sh.
had refused to live in tire Ansonia
Hotel. as Stokes desired. and she
paid
There were 40 many reasons I do
not know that I can remember them
all. I wanted a home. for l was i'll.
] objected to the surroundings in the
Nnsonia. I objected to the environ
ment that I had to endure. had to
endure women coming in there
women that were of a kind that I
would not associate with, yet they
were showed on me. The >Ansonla
apartment was dirty, and he would
not let me have II cleaned"
STOKES OBJECTS.
Stokes whispered. and Smyth threw
In an objection. Littleton answered,
his voice booming in the auietness
that had attended Mrs. Stokes tes-
tlmony:
III Stokes brought strange women
into her apartment she has a right
20 tell II here. We charge that he
did this and we are ready to prove