New Britain herald., 1928-02-07
A>~ By Beatrice Burton lvlVJIcV AVJv of "HoneyLo
 Hollywood Cir"
CHAPTER LXVI

CHAPTER LNVl
 ''so you all think I'm like the
 Frazier girl." Lily repeated. slowly.
 hating to believe her cara But ]
 don't understand you. How could
 anyone compare me with that awful
 creature?"
 Florence shrugged her shoulders.
 Don't blanc 1t on mel never
 said you were like her." she an-
 swered. still flushed with embarraas-
 ment. Tt was the rest of them.
 You know. I've been around. Lily,
 working in some of the smart shops
 where all the women. or most of
 them, anyways. smoke and paint
 terrible. and don't wear any more
 clothes than the law allows. But
 Ma and Sadye Jefferson, and people
 like them. just class you with the
 Frazier girl because she's the only woman they know who does those
 things--except you"
 Lily. still puzzled. shook her head.
 Do they think I'm terrible because don't wear a corset and because I smoke a cigareto"
 Florence gave a little laugh. 1 Well. that isn't all Of it." she ex-
 plained. "Sayde knew you were run ming around with Drummond. and she made it point to drop in at your flat unexpectedly to try to find i him there She never did. of course. but she saw those furs that he gave you-and some flowers. and so on. Y. And then. when my mother found his whisky flask among Pats things she was terrible shocked. That was just the last straw-for Ma" i Lily kept very still for a long time after she had finished her eS- l planaton. She began to see why Pats family had thought she vas like the Frazier girl. Because, in a way. she really was like her! ! 'T had more money and better clothes, but I was no better than she is when l was running around with Staley.' she said to herself. suddenly. seeing herself through the eyes of the France family and re- spectable Sayde Jefferson. "Or not much better. at any rate" Above the shining white sink on the other side of the kitchen hung . square looking glass. It was not very large and the glass was wavy. but 1t served Lily's purpose now. 1 She got up from her chair and walked over to 1t. leaning across the sink to study her face in its dim depths. 1 For weeks she had not thought of her looks" For weeks she had never so much as f1uffed a powder puff across her nose or rubbed lip stick over her mouth. She had not had q treatment" for her hair. or a manicure for her nails. In her plain bungalow apron. borrowed from Florence. she was utterly un- like the painted. scented. curled and silken Lily that Staley Drummond loved and wanted to marry. She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in a different and less showy way than she ever had been before. She laughed. Y don't look much like tho Frazier girl now. do l, Florence?" she asked. and then. be- 1 fore Florence had tune to speak in answer, she burst into another long peal of laughter.
 She laughed and laughed. holding on to the sink with both hands to steady herself. Tears ran down her cheeks. and her face reddened with her laughter.
 Florence stared at her. What's the matter with you. you gillie?" she asked. plainly puzzled by Lily's wild outburst.
 For weeks the house had been so quiet--so filled with hushed whis- pers and soft, slow footballs that Lily's laughter. seemed doubly loud in the little kitchen.
 "Oh. it's go funny" she said. still | panting after she had recovered her 1 self. "All this time everybody. in cluding myself. has been pitying me , because I married Pat. Everybody | thought I was running my life by marrying a poor cab driver-and yet you people were all pitying Pat be- cause he had married me. You all thought he had married beneath him when he married a wild person i like me didn't you?'
 "Oh. mo-" Florence said with en- phasis. T knew you were smart and well bred and all the rest of it. But the rest of them didn't. They just knew you looked like the Fra zier tlapper. and acted like her. They cnrldn't see the difference. My mother thinks there are just two ..ilds of women in the world-bad ones, like the Frazier girl. and good ones. like Elizabeth Ertz.
 The door opened and Eliza beth came in. Her face was ashen from lack of sleep. and her feet. in their clean. white canvas shoes. dragged as if lead weights were tied to them. I'm dead" she announced. and dropped down upon chair beside the kitchen table. Absolutely dead. Could have some coffee ?-the stronger the better
 And then. after minute. she added: "Dr. Billings thinks Pat is going to pull through. Of course. We cant know posItively--but he says he has changed for the better. he thinks
 Lily clasped her hands. with | their broken nails and their bruised knuckles under her chin. She turn ed around with her back 10 the room. as If she were looking at her. self in the mirror again.
 But her eyes were closed and her head vas bent above the clasped hands for a minute. . For the first time in her life she really prayed. And the prayer was a prayer Of thanks for Pats life.
 Yes, he's changed for the bet