New Britain herald., 1926-08-13
READ THIS FIRST:


 i sole ambition Is to have good time and plenty of beaux. At 20 she fails | in her business course because she won't study. Then, when her father l suddenly dies, she takes a job in | Lillie Dales little beauty shop at a ! tiny salary.
 ! At that time she is having the | first real love affair of her life. The man in the case is Anthony Gaines, young lawyer who wants to marry | her. Their engagement ends when he learns that Merry goes out with oth- CT men.~A year later she hears that l he Is going to marry girl in Mon tana, where he has gone to live. She tries not to care.
 Cassie, Merry's older sister. mar ries her rich employer, Morley Kaufman. Merry envies her her soft easy life, and decides that she is going to marry for money, too, if she can.
 Through Cassie, she meets Bill Erskine, a well-to-do bachelor much older than herself. She becomes en- gagged to him, but he keeps putting off the wedding date.
 Jimmy, the youngest sister, marries Derrick Jones. who lives next door, and goes to live with his parents. Mons, her mother, rents two rooms in her house to help make both ends meet. Lillie Dale comes to live in one of them and a MT. Hefflinger takes the other. After 8 year Mons | and he get married and home is no longer the pleasant place it once was l to Merry.
 During one of Bills absences from town, she goes out with an old sweetheart of hers, Les Purcell, not knowing that he Is married. His wife threatens to divorce him and name Merry in her suit. Then, on the day when Merry is going to explain mat ters to her, she tries to kill herself. Finally she and Purcell decide to patch things up. But in the mean time Morleys sister, Muriel hears the story and tells it to Bill Frs kline. He writes-to tell Merry he thinks thyre not suited to one an- other; but Mons announces the en- gagement. anyway. One night Cas- sic comes home. She has decided to leave Morley because of his love affair with a Mrs. Eff Pell. She tells Merry that Bill Erskine is in town, | and the next morning Merry looks out of the window and sees Bill drive up to the house with Morley | Kaufman.
 Merry breaks an engagement with | Bill for dinner that evening, but In | the afternoon she received letter | from him tehng of his marriage Ill 1 Florida.
 (NoW GO ON WITH THE sToRY) |
 CHAPTER LV
 She put her bitter thoughts into | words just as bitter.
 "I'll sue him." she said to Moms' lifting her head from her hands. | "Tu sue him for breach of promise, if it's the last thing I ever dol"
 For the moment there was no beauty in Merry's face. The hard ness in it robbed it of every atom | of charm. The green eyes were dulled as by a film, and the tight | drawn Hps hid the secret of their | Cupid's bow. -
 Mons did not reply. She began to pile up the dirty dishes on trav and when it was full she car ried it into the kitchen.
 Merry got up and followed her.
 "Don't you think that's what ought to do? Sue hirp?" she asked and her voice was as hard as her white face. IL.
 Mons, pouring hot water into the dishpan, shook her head without looking up.
 "No mo-" she answered. How could you do such thing? A breacn of promise suit wouldn't huft blli Erskine's reputation. Such thlhss don't iniure a man. But with girl it's different"
 "I don't see why" Merry return ed stubbornly. And even if 1t dld, | wouldn't care I'm going to do IL. Mons shrugged her wide shoul- ders and began to wash the dishes.
 "All right, Merry suit yourself she said stonily. If you want to ad- vertise the fact to the world that Bill Erskine wouldn't marry you, go ahead and do it. Only remember youIl be hurting yourself more than anyone else" -
 Merry's brain never worked with great speed, and she could not tol- low her mother now.
 How would a suit like that hurt me?" she wondered.
 Almost without knowing what she was doing, she picked up red-and- white linen towel, and began to Wlpe the cups and plates that were steanl- ing on the drainboard.
 Moms' mouth smiled, but her eyes did not.
 "Whv, Merry, can't you see Tor yourself that you'd be done for! DO YOU suppose any other man Wouid marry a girl who'd been pupllcly tilted ?" she asked, with a sharp glance. "This way, nobody knows whether you wouldn't marry Bill, or whether he wouldn't marry you. That is, nobody but me and Cassie knows it! And if we all keep perfect ly still and you 80 out with other people, as If nothing had happened, you can save your pride"
 While Merry was thinking over what she said, she spoke again.
 And another thing, you'd LOOK sweet filing this kind of suit agalnst Bill Erskine when you're in danger of being dragged into Les Purcelfs divorce case. wouldn't your"
 Merry's heart seemed to jump In her breast. She hadn't thought Of that.
 What would you do if Nonie Pur- cell tried to make out that you and | Bill had had trouble over her beau- tiful husband? What would you do | then?" asked Mons, who always ex- pected the very worst to happen.
 r,l,a,o v,os u,ic1orn in what she |