New Britain herald., 1926-07-21
By Beatrice Burton
Author of Love Bound, "
III, HER MAN"

brows.
IT certainly love the way ! loo
in this green Dress" she murmuret
IF only / had an evening cape an
a gold cigaret case, and an honest
to-John orchid to wear I'd be per
fectly, madly, wildly happy"
She waved her hand and dashe
down the stairs to pin Derrick
who had been honking his horn i
the driveway for the past ten min
utes.
Merry went to bed at ten O'Clock
At twelve the sound of whistle
and horns announcing the new yea
wakened her for moment, ant
then she dozed off again.
Several hours later she woke VI
again.
Her room was still in darkness
She stretched up her arm adj
switched on the light above he.
bed. The clock on the table besid'
her showed that it was five o'clock
Across the room Jinny's bed wal
still empty
Downstairs she heard a dool
close, and then the sound of al
automobile in the driveway below
the windows. Then angry voices
talking in a loud tumble in the
lower hall of the house.
She got out of bed and ran half
way down the stairs.
There was a light in the hal
and Mons stood at the foot Of
the stairs. She was fully dressed
in her black gown and apron and
she was staring at jimmy, who had
Just come in.
Merry stared, too.
jimmy was different creature
from the sparkling, lovely little
girl who had waved her hand and
run out of the house few hours
before. -.
Her eyes were CLASSY and there
was a lop-sided smile on her listle
mouth. One cheek was smeared with
rouge and the other was dead white,
In one of her hands she carried
a bedraggled bouquet of flowers that
had once been white and were now
now brownish yellow.
Ring out, viii bells to the VIII
sky." said jimmy, POLITICALLY. The
wear is dying in the night! Ring
out, wiz bells, and let it die!'
Merry saw tears spring into
Mons blue eyes.
THAT wretched boy next door
has got her drunk. That's what
happened!" she said quietly. She
seemed to know that i Merry was
standing behind her on the stairs.
THAT dreadful boy that l trusted
with my daughter"
She went over to jimmy, took her
bv her little shoulders, and began
to shake her violently.
"You bad little thing! Coming
home to me like this at the break
of day! I won't have this sort OF
thing going on, | tell you! | VIII
NOT have it, ] tell you! I'll put
YOU in the detention home first"
jimmy laughed in her face. A
foolish laugh.
Ring out, wild bells!" said jimmy
CHAPTER XVIII
The first white fingers of the cold
January dawn showed in the eastern
sky before they got jimmy into bed.
And then it was all they could
do to make her stay there.
She wanted to get up and tinker
with the home made radio set that
had never worked. She wanted TO
sit up in bed and chant Ring out
wild bells" at the top of her I'M
steady little voice.
Finally she decided to telephone
to Derrick Jones.
I've got to talk to him, right
away" she whimpered, i've got TO
tell him something!"
you'll tell him nothing!" Mons
said grimly, as she showed her
back on her tumbled pillows. III
do all the talking to that young
man myself
And, true to her word, after she
and Merry finished their morning
coffee, she put on her shawl and
stalked over to the Jones. house.
She was gone about fifteen min
utes, and when she came back she
was crying.
She dropped down on her chair
beside the Uttered breakfast table
and hid her face in her roughened
hands. Her big, square shoulders
heaved under the black dress of
her widowhood.
I'm sure l don't know what I've
done to deserve this!" she moaned,
rocking herself back and forth,
ito have my baby come home to
me so drunk she doesn't know her
own name! And to have the
Joneses know about it, too. so they
can publish it from one end of the
street to the other!" ....
Merry put her arms around her.
1.-THE Joneses won't dare to open
their mouths about it. Mons" she
soothed her. "rhey know that it
was Derrick who gave her what
she had to drink. And he was
drunk, too"
That's just it! He wasn't!
Mons broke in. her voice muffled
by her tears, "He was as sober as
a Judge! He said he tried to make
jimmy stop drinking, but she would
not-and, of course, his mother be-
lieves him! She thinks he's a reg
ular white woody lamb, but I'll
never let my jimmy go out with
him again. and I told them all sol"
She threw wrathful glance in
the direction of the Jones' neat,
white Colonial house on the other
side of the leafless hedge.
For years Mons had been read
ing about all the disgraceful doings
of modern flappers. She had read
that they smoked cigarets, drank
hard liquor, and INDUCED in mug
ging parties"
And like good many mothers
these days, she had refused to be-
lieve what she read.
Its just stuff that they fill up
the newspapers with!p she had
declared scornfully, time after