The Bozeman courier., 1926-06-25
By Adela Rodgers St. Johns

hands. ''How dare you come here and
tell me a thing like that3 You had better
go drown yourself in the ocean for shame
Shame! Shamel Shame! You should be
grOYeltng In your shame instead Of stand
ing there in an imbudent red dress, glOat-
ing over it. o, you sicken me. I didn't
know there we're creatures like you in the
world. What have I ever done to you ?
Why should you come in and destroy my
nome, my very ife2 Why did you come
here? To blackmail me? Well you can't
Tell what you want to. No one will be-
/ 1eVe you. Anyone might be the father
| There we're little half moons Of blood in
the palms Of Peanuts hands, but she spoke
steadily. "YOu are wrong, madam. Be
careful what you say. / love your hus-
band. He was so kind TO me. So kind.
And, sometimes, If a girl wants kindness,
she will do what is wrong IL the one who
is kind asks her. He does not love me so
much-but he loves this little one OF ours
that is to come. come to beg that you
Will let him-marry me- Not for us-but
for the one who is coming. You have no
child Of his. l hear you are good: So
good. I come to beg that now you know
how it is with me you will change. You
DO not love him. What will it matter to
your And-it matters very much to me
now"
what makes you say don't love him? 2"
said Murray O'Brien's wife.
"But you do not have a child for him."
THAT doesn't mean / don't love him,
''You-lOve him and you know he longs
for children and you will not have them2"
Peanuts eyes were wide. with great puz-
zled beWilderment. "But that is not pOssi-
bic. / do not understand"
Neither woman spoke. canary tWit-
tered and Marguerite O'Brien shivered.
And then, slowly, slowly, Peanuts head
went up and her brow cleared, and she
stood with a new and wonderful dignity
that dWarfed the other wOman's grandeur
as the sunshine dwarfs candle light.
Xnrn Of CHI col
each word. "YOu have no desire for a
child Of his, carried under your heart, laid
at last in his arms. You think Of your fine
EOdy and your beauty and your amuse-
ment. I see I did not know had heard
! there were women like that; but / did not
believe.
'I hear you are good and I come here
ready to kneel and ask your mercy. But
7 you are not a good woman. You are a
bad, bad, bad woman. You are the worst
- woman I have ever known in my whole
life. I should be ashamed before your /
am ashamed before God, because 1 have
I cause I am a better woman than you are.
Who has the best claim to that man, eh
The wife who will not bear his children
; or the woman who is to be the mother 81
. his child? You will not free him? All
: right That is all right. But some day
: God will understand and forgive me be-
e fore he fOrgives you, / tell you that.
/" Because this is all your fault, you bad
woman. If you are not so selfish and
j safraid he would never have come to me
when I am lonely and filled with heart
I ache We do not mean wrong. But WneI
he found Out-he was mad with joy. And
o yet he does not love me as he loved you.
= Answer me one question, you wife. Has
= he told you, have you known in your heart
how much he wants babies running around
= this great, fine hOuseY
l. The woman the world called good stood
{, looking at tie girl in the cherry red dress
8 and she dared not speak.
fc
Peanut slowly, land / have been DaC
u girl-a very bad girl-and l shall be PUN
IL ished But you will go to hell! YOu-Wh'
Y wear his jeWels''-her fingers scOrned TN
IS bearls about Marguerite's lovely throat
l. 'iwhO live in his fine hOuse-yOu are tn
= prostitute more than me-"
q She pointed one slender finger, accus1nl
lel In the heart Of Marguerite O'Brien tn
n great wave Of wrath had broken and ia,
10 shallow and spent about her soul. For Tn
first time in her life she found hersel
er face to face, not with Peanut, but with tn
le woman who was herself. 1t seemed amaz
IL ing that she had lived all these years Wit
er this strange woman and never known mel
D. She had never judged herself, neVe
u scratched the shallow veneer Of her virtue
And now, ineXOrably, she was judged.
u What had Elise said about the sins o
lg the flesh and the sins Of the spiritI Some
IA thing Perhaps that was 1t. Inls gil
TO had sinned the sins Of the flesh, but some
er where within her burned a bright an
er clear flame that would consume all tha
t. But for herself-she, Marguerite OBrie
be had sinned against the spirit. She tol
a. them over like a chaplet OF deaths neau
nC Vanity! Fear! Selfishness! How. petit
en- she was-as sounding brass or tnklin
a She had denied the heart of the ma
IL who loved her. She had robbed him. 81
us who thought she was giving so mucl
/. What had She given but her body? 81
ad had robbed him Of bis fatherhoOd. 81
ne had robbed him of the chance to live agal
in his son.
been bred and sapbed out Of her. II
Do desire for children had been smotherG
OF within her.
but take, take? And now she had drive
he lMurray-her boy sweetheart, her husDan
res with his lean dark face and MS sou
.! hungry eyes-tO lind IN announcer WOm'
on the great thing she had refused him.
ne they had broken a commandment, naQI
she broken one, too! What craven II
am ages she had wOrshiped all these year
ne. How unlOving she had been to her nelg
IN borsl And these were the first Of
Ou the commandments so many peol
1seI seemed to forget that
'ou She loved Murray. She loved MN. a
in the light Of the furnace tnaC Dur1
1tn about her she knew he loved her =
n, wanted him! She couldn't lose MIN
.es, Marguerite O'Brien had never DOWed
t. then, because she went to beg fOrglVenC
Of the girl who stood accusing her, a
ad, Peanut was such a very lite girl u
vas Marguerite had to stOOp to look into
i eyes.
can Bobby Ross, having found locations
er- the desert for the next Murray O.Brl
on super production, came back 20 Hol
ven wood. The sun and air Of the sand pla
you had tanned his young skin q rich, ot
for brown, many shades darker than his s
belached hair. He was glad to be %
lall in Hollywood. It belonged to him 9
he belonged to it. He was Of the n
rite generation, growing up with HOLLYWOOD.
he'd He shifted the very air Of it with dehg
she his nose in the air, his eyes beaming.
hat knew everybody. AS he made his v
down the boulevard on the morning
lar his return, his heavy white sweater pul
hat down over his corded riding breeches,
Oat. head bare in the sunshine, he hailed eV
re, other person he met. From purple
the holstered Limousine a dark eyed star
her sable waved him q welcome, ana the
. in the orange juice stand on the cor
~. yelled an impudent invitation across
/ white counter The head Of great
ducing company walking to work Tor
figure saluted him cordially, ana at
corner q dozen taxi drivers, lOunging
.0Ce their cabs, engulfed him roughly.
VI NI InNN NrrnF