Nogales international., 1930-01-28
Fifth Instalment
Synopsis
What Happened Before

Synopsis
What Happened Before
At party in Palm Beach given by Mr.. Cooper
Clary, Lesson, attorney, meets Lucy Harkness,
known as Devil-May-Care because of her adven-
turous, eventful life. In game in which partners
for the evening chosen, Lucy is won by Tim
Stevens, who has great reputation as successful
heart-breaker. Lesson is bit jealous. Tim
Stevens tells Lucy they going aboard his boat,
.he Minerva, and she accedes in order not TO be
"a GUTTER Asked if she is sorry that he won
her company, Lucy says she is not and that
evidently Fate has arranged it. Tim thereupon
tells her to stop looking regretfully after Lesson.
Aboard Stevens boat, the Minerva, Ste
vens tells Lucy of his love. When she re-
plies with contempt for him, he grows vio-
lently angry and she becomes afraid. OF him.
He says he will never let her go from the
Minerva until she accepts him. 10 escape
him, she leaps into the water from her cabin
window, swimming short distance Under
water.
Lucy reaches land and meets DR.. Fergus
Faunce on an island. He takes care OF her
and takes her home. Everyone IS worried
about her, and when she meets Stevens ne
is frantic, regretful and still ardent IN pro-
testations of love.
Lesson informs Lucy that Stevens must
raise a quarter of a million dollars or go
to jail-''at five o'clock" Lucy goes to
her bank and raises the sum; T;, eroDv
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
Half an hour later her chair paused
before the gate of Stevens's place, out
beyond Vita Serena, in southern Palm
Beach. He was in his garden, at a
table on which lay something that
looked like a check-book. He was
writing in it, but looked up as Lucy
approached, and waved away the col
ored servant who had admitted her.
o.,I of hor
He had shaved, had donned fresh
fannels, a co1ored shirt, and gay
tie. He could wear clothes, she incon-
sequentially thought, better than any
man she had ever seen.
'This is a surprise" he said.
She made no reply, but opened the
satchel and dumped the money upon
the table.
whats it all about?" he asked.
"To save you from jail" she replied.
His eyes puckered, and tiny crease
appeared between them.
"Jail?" he echoed.
"Mr. Lesson has seen me. He told
me that the man who wanted to
marry me was a thief. Perhaps, Tim,
one reason you professed such great
devotion was because OF what money |
! possess"
She was looking right at him, but |
his eyes never fickered. lis hand
moved toward the check-book; he |
swept a piece of paper from it and
tore it into tiny bits.
~rilaps, ne agferG Ialnily. but
inasmuch as I'm not to marry
ye4i. I'd hardly take your money"
lilere was a hard hnality in his
voice.
Not even to keep out of jail?" she
demanded. You're a shade better
than | thought"
He bowed.
Many thanks"
She bit her lip.
"But Mr.. Lesson said you'd be ar
rested this afternoon"
He bowed again.
"Great little man-Leeson."
81 can't let you go to Jail" she cried
helplessly.
"And I couldn't take your money!
he said.
"Then," she said slowly, "as / can't
let you go to jail"
"Why not?" he demanded. SIS it
because, after all, you love me?"
ST hate you," she blazed. That's
why :. you mustn't go to Jail. You
must take my money"
You're a bit incomprehensible,
Lucy" he told her. "You hate me
yet you'd save me. Well, I'd take
money only from the woman / was
married to, and I'd hate to take it
from her"
"But you wou1d?" she asked.
He shrugged.
ITO avoid jail, yes"
"Then," she said, "I'll have to |
marry you. To-day. Nowl"
Had Diana, sojourning at Jupiter's
palace on Olympus, slipped down the
mountainside and in some wayside par
sonage in Thessaly taken unto herself
a husband, the scandal would have
been comparable to the marriage of
Devi1-May-Care.
Apparently hurried weddings, among
people nationally known, are bound to |
cause gossip. But neither he nor Lucy
would have cared whit for that. Had
their marriage been one of equal love
and trust, they would have been unin-
terested in the nasty speculations of
nasty people.
But Lucy had left him. She had |
strolled out of his patio as uncon-
cernedly as though she had been hav-
ing tea and was now on her way home /
to dress for dinner. Homei She had
gone home!
Devil-May-Care she was called. |
Well, the insouciance that defed death |
itself could not defy Tim Stevens. He
knew his rights and he would have
them. He'd force But he slumped
back in the wicker chair that protested
against his twisted bulk He'd tried
to force Lucy last night and she had
chosen almost certain death in prefer
ence to himself. He might as well
face the facts; he was no nearer Lucy |
now than he was before the minister
had read the marriage ceremony to
them.
To marry a man who positively
ravened for her, ard then coolly deny
herself ,. That, he thought, was the !