Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-03

VYTHEN Harley B. Guernsey slipped
NHI from grace by way of the cocktail
wv chorus girl route he did not. being
w gentleman, intend to punish for bis
stns any one but himself. He hac led for
nfty-fve years life Of simple decency
Then. without warning he had changed
from a home loving husband to rounder
Had Mrs. Guernsey been trihe less STAIN
less Of soul herself, Harley h might have re-
deemed himself But she had been born IN
the nnid-Victorian age She had simpie
creed: sin was sin and goodness was gooo-
ness Her husband committed sin; where
fore she put him from her.
Philosophers and physicians understand
that there is dangerous age In man, pre-
cdsely as there is in woman. Between forty
and fifty-fve the mildest man may turn over
night into the widest roue Blu. Mrs. Guern-
sey was neither a philosopher nor pnysi-
ctan- She was a woman whose pride mad
bean affrunted, To do her justice, she never
realized this. She thought that her virtue
lad bean insulted when her husband was dis
covered to have been maintaining another
manage for the last half year.
Harley B. recovered from his madness
when his lawyer informed him that the
courts had granted his wife a decree OF
IT seem 10 have uaade lovely mess Of
nfA, don't IT.
HIS lawyer tishtened his thin lips, he made
no reply. Mono was necessary. Harley B.
pulled contenrpfativesy at his cigar.
Mrs Gurnsey won't take q nickel Ell,
She sticks to that3
The lawyer nodded Harley B. shrugged
Shortly the lawyer departed HIS client
picked up an evening paper that shrieked
from black headlines Of the shame Of Harley
B. Guernsey. he thought back. perhaps, to
the days when his recent wife had shared
with him the trials. the defeats OF early bux
ness struggle He had i've million dollars:
she. At nfty, wouldn't take cent Of the
money which she had helped-he was just
10 earn
He was a ximpie-mtnded man. A certain
boredom OF fate years had led him away from
home He had sinned- He realized that
And he had never intended that Mrs Guern-
sey should know. That, the excuse Of every
sinner, he clung to- He had hurt her in her
pride. In her faith in him, in her right to ex-
pec9 from him that answering loyalty and
devotion that she had given But he had not
meant to.
And now, at fifty, scorning his money.
.. Another wrong can never right pre-
regret, renorse, horror at what he had done,
suddenly cienched his teeth. She'd live on
nothing because Of her outraged pride! Shed
refuse to take cent OF the money that they
lad Jointly earned. O. well. he'd make her
take It.
Tho wfndow-it was pleasant spring day
was opened wide. Had mis- wife seen the
dreadful smile upon his tired, grief stricken
face she would have forg given him But she
did not sec it. No one saw it save God and
he understood and doubtless forgave the rash,
unhappy man. For Harley B. Guernsey
stepped through the window, twelve stories
above the ground
Mrs. Guernsey had never ceased to love her
husband Pride, the source Of more evil than
money, had moved her. And when the news
OF Harley BIS demise was brought TO her she
realized what had been her motivatins i'm
pulse Three weeks later they laid her l.-i3e
the man to whom she had been married . M
whom she had loved. And Allayne Guernsey
twenty-one years old. became the mistress Of
Eve millions Of dollars, a palace on a side
street on the correct side of the Avenue, and
herself.
Twenty-one Is an immature age at which
10 become mistress Of millions; twenty-o one Is
an immature age at which to become mistress
Of ones seh But Life is laid on certain laws,
the most important OF which is that we must
break an the rest Of them in order that by ex-
perience we may learn.
AIayne Guernsey. at twenty four was
somewhat different from the girl of three
years before who, by a double tragedy. had
become an orphan At twenty-one she had
been a hght-hearted, gay thing, with a beauty
Of soul that rivaled her beauty Of feature
For she was, even in New York where all the
pretty girls come. something for which, to
gain a longer look. one gladly risked ones
life in traffic.
Olve-eEnned, with touch Of red over the
cheekboDes, black hair demurely coiled over
her cars. its occurrences denied by the CLINT
o. mirth In her gray eyes, and with light.
some manner that attracted and held, she had
been something Of belle in the decent circles
OF Manhattan TO which her mothers Inca sc
had admitted and Harley BIS money sus
tanned them. This at twentyone-
A; twentyfour she was outwardly-save
that mirth never cleaned in her eyes and
that occurrences had given way, ever SC
slightly. to severity-the same girl. But IN
wasdly she was another person She had
been carefree, uncorcerned with those heavy
noraities which belong to age and repent
ance; now always at her elbow. shadowtns
her countenance, was the wrath of scandal
Scandal It had broken up the Guernsey
home. had driven her father to a seh-inficted
death. bad caused her mother. broken Of body
and mind. to JOIN him
Wherefore this afternoon in her boudot
her olive skin was white, her gray eyes wers
stsrn. and her lips were thin. straight line