New Britain herald., 1926-07-22
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MERRY LOCKE, pretty and gay
as her name. has been flirt all her
life. Even during her high school
days, MONS, her mother, called
her boy crazy"
AT 20, Merry pays no attention
to her stenography course at bust
ness college, and fails. Then, when
her father dies suddenly, she takes
a job in LILLE DALE'S beauty
shop. At that time she is having
the first real love affair of her life.
She is deeply in love with
ANTHONY GAINES, a sober-mind.
ed young lawyer who wants to
marry her. During the period of
their engagement Merry lets other
men make love to her, and when
Tony finds it out. he shuts up his
law office and goes to Montana to
live. Merry returns his engag-
ment ring to his mother, and grad
ualIy succeeds in forgetting him
or almost forgetting him.
| HELEN, the Oldest of the four
Locke sisters, marries BILL HEP
WORTH. CASSIE, the second old
est, marries MORLEY KAUFMAN,
the rich broker for whom she
worked. Through Cassie. Merry
meets BILL ERSKINE, a bachelor
of the catch me-if-you-ca type. He
sends her presents, lends her
thousand dollars to buy share in
the beauty shop, and gives Merry
her first drink of intoxicating Ii
quor. Afterward she is filled with
remorse because she had promised
her mother she would never drink.
and she is puzzled when she hears
Bill telling MURIEL KAUFMAN,
Morley's sister. not to drink at one
of Cassies parties.
Shortly afterward JIMMY, the
youngest of the sisters, comes
home intoxicated, following New
Years Eve celebration with. DER
/ RICK JONES, who lives next door.
Mons is thankful when Derrick
gose back to college. jimmy and
he do not see each other again
until his Easter vacation. Then
they go for drive one afternoon
and are late for supper. Mons
goes out on the front porch to look
for them, and finds a letter from
jimmy stuck in the letter box.
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
CHAPTER xxx
Mons went back into the house
and turned on the light in the hall.
You read it." she said, handing
Merry the letter. You read what
she's written. I've left my glasses
upstairs"
AS Merry took the sheet of
paper from her the word married"
fairly leaped at her from the
scrawled paragraph.
why! She's married Derrick
Jones!" she gasped, and then
slowly read the letter to her
mother.
Mons, dear" Jimmy had writ
ten. Derrick and / are going to
be married this. afteronon if we
can get a license and find justice
of the peace. So don't expect me
home until ! ring the doorbell."
That was all. She had not even
signed it.
Merry looked UP at her mother |
blankly, as she finished it, and |
Mons stared back at her just as
blankly, for a full minute. The |
house was SO silent that the |
cuckoo clock on the dining room
wall seemed to Shrek out the |
passing seconds.
Let me see the thing" Mons |
said at last, and held out her
hand for the letter. She held it |
close to her near-sighted eyes and !
read it for herself.
We'll" she remarked, putting |
it into her apron pocket. they |
must have got their license or
they'd be home by now. / suppose
jimmy fibbed about her age. No |
one would give a child of sixteen
marriage license. A baby, in her |
second year at high school, marry |
ing!"
She seemed to come to life all |
at once.
"I'll have it annulled! I'll have |
the marriage annulled!" she de-
clared, shaking her forefinger at |
Merry as if she were to blame for
the whole affair. IF she's married .
that BOBBY next door, she shan't |
live with him! Sixteen years old! |
never heard of such q thing!"
She ran out of words to express
her fury and disgust.
But, Mons, dear, you were only
eighteen when you were married"
Merry reminded her. And you
and Dad were always pretty
happy"
Mons stalked into the kitchen.
How do you know whether we
were or metz" she snapped. And
if we were, it was more by good
luck than good management, let
me tell you! What does a girl of
eighteen know about picking out !
d husband? What does she know
about men? Nothing! Nothing al
ALI"
She set the water pitcher and the
bread plate down on the kitchen
table with a bang.
You're the one that ought to |
be thinking about getting married."
she said suddenly TO Merry, with
a piercing look from her steel-blue
eyes, That is, if you really do in
tend to marry Bill Erskinel You've
been engaged to him for nearly a
year, it seems to me-and l don't
believe in these long drawn-out en-
gagements. They usually end in
nothing
Merry couldn't help laughing. 1t |
was just like her mother to begin
to scold her because she was
angry with jimmy
1--WE known Bill only eight |
months, Mons" she said sooth-
ingly. And I'm not at all sure
that ] want TO marry him. I've