The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-08-18
THIS HAS HAPPENED
D TIE TnYf and non INV


poisoning his mind against his wife.
;, When BERTHE Lou discovers that they
see each other secretly she is heart
broken and f1irts with young MARCO
PALMER to retaIiate.
Rod will not commit himself to Lila,
and she finally gets tired of waiting and
wants him to go away with her. He
repudiates her dislOyalty to her husband
and she taunts him by saying that his
Rod goes to the Palmer estate, where
ing attire and departs without learning
from the swimming pool.
Rod leaves Berthe Lou with no ex-
PLANTATION, resigns his position and drifts
from one job to another trying to avoid
hinS in vain. Berthe Lou obtains a posi-
ton, expecting Rod to get a divorce.
Loneliness causes her to accept Marcos
attentions although she refuses to marry
house that she and Rod had admired
when they were first married. When
the house, Is furnished, she decides to
swers. the adj
Acting through her friend BESSIE,
as agent. she finally arranges to let Rod
well until Bessie reported one day that
kod had had woman caller in the
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
CHAPTER XIV
TT haGE been Tom Fraser this time
4 who had told Lila where Rod
could be found. Rod had stayed
on in BERTHE LOUIS little cottage I'M
til his money was gone. When he
took himself to task for being so
impractical he excused his weak
mess on the ground that it bene-
flied his health.
But he had been forced to go to
Tom for loan, and because he was
not sure that Lila had obtained his
former address from the Frasers, he
did not ask Tom not to let her have
his present one.
He had no wish to tell any one
J. the truth about Lila.
AS for his health, he had In
truth lost the emaciated look that
had wrung BERTHE Louis heart and
caused her to keep him in the cot
tage in spite of her belief that his
conduct toward her had been I'M
forgivable.
She did not forget his remark to
Bessie, either. and she still felt that
he wasn't happy in exile from the
Loree menagg.
This kept her freq making even
the slightest overture toward a rec
onciliation with HIN
NJ as the time when she must
discharge" him came nearer she
knew more and more certainly that
it would be another heartbreak to
lose him. And what would become
Of him if she let him drift on again?
After all, Rod was still very young;
he could make all kinds of mistakes
before the innate strength of his
character asserted itself, and he
was ready for the highway of prog
ress again.
BERTHE Lou put it off as long as
she could. And then came Bessie
with her story Of the golden hair
pins and a scented handkerchief on
Rods dresser.
One factor that colored the tale
was Bessie's misguided devotion to
Berthe Lou. She knew that Marco
wanted to marry BERTHE Lou and she
hated to see a dead romance stand
in the way.
How could any one compare these
two young men? Of course Mr..
Brown was good looking; she told
BERTHE Lou that it was Cropping
out on him now like new hair on a
flea bitten dog. He doesn't look
starved any more"
But Mr.. Palmer was good looking
too, and wasn't he just wonderful
to BERTHE Lou? Bessie forgot that
she had always said she would
marry for love- It was her opinion
that BERTHE Lou was "batty' to re-
fuse Marco Palmer.
So she did not hesitate to let
BERTHE Lou see that she belived Rod
had used her house as a rendezvous
for clandestine love affair.
BERTHE Lou was furious.
In her house! And there was no
n1istaking who the woman was. Lila
used golden hairpins. In her rage
BERTHE Lou had flash of enlighten-
nlent. 1t came to her as clear as
crystal that Lila had sought Rod out
and brought this thing to pass. That
would account for his having
changed his name.
In an instant her opinion of Rod
was reversed. He had some decency
after all! But not enough to with
stand Lila's vamping. Unless.
BERTHE Lou wished she hadn't
thought Of it-he cared too much
for Lila to risk causing Cyrus to di-
yorce her.
But at any rate it was Lila who
pursued him. There was no one
else he needed to hide from. 1t
wasn't likely that he would crawl
away under an assumed name I'M
less he wanted to escape temp
tation he feared.
BERTHE Lou wished she could take
hold Of him and shake him as a
dog shakes rat. Why couldn't he
stand up and tell Lila to go to the
devil?
But at least he had run-that was
something. He had made an effort
to break with Lila. Lila ought to
be shot, BERTHE Lou declared in a
rage.
And in a rage she went to Lila.
The butler was going to refuse her
adnittance, on Lila'S orders, issued
when her name was taken up. It
was morning, the morning after
Bessie had told her story, and Ber-
tie Lou had forgotten all about 60
ing to work in her determination
to face Lila.
But BERTHE Lou brushed past him
and burst in upon Lola, who greet
ed her with stony silence.
BERTHE Lou was going to speak
her mind to Lila. Then she would
go straight out to Moonflelds and
order Rod out of her house. She