The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-01-07
4 No SSe' GO on WITH THE STORY
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE


MO, I never met Nita's hus-
IN band" Serena Hart replied.
"As matter of fact, she told me ex-
traordinarily little about him, and
did not discuss her marriage with
the other girls of the chorus at all.
got the impression that Mr.. Selim
Mat, she called him-wanted it
kept secret for a while, but don't
know why.
This was early in 1913, as I've
told you, though I have no way of
fixing even the approximate date,
and New York was full Of soldiers.
7 remember 1 jumped to the conclu-
sion that Nita had succumbed to a
war romance, but don't think she
said anything to confirm my sus-
picion."
when did she tell you of her
marriage-that is, when-in relation
to the date OF the wedding itself?"
Dundee asked.
THE very day she was married,
Serena Hart answered. "She was
late for the matinee. Our dressing
tables we're side by side, and as she
slipped out of her dress
This dress?" Dundee asked, and
handed her the photograph of dead
Mia in the royal blue velvet dress
she had kept for twelve years.
YES" and Serena Hart shud-
dered. "Her hair was dressed like
that, too, although she had been
wearing it in long curls, and had
TO take 1t down before she could go
on for the opening number.
She whispered to me that she
had been married that day, that
she was terribly happy, very much
in love, and that her husband had
asked her to dress her hair in the
French roll, a favorite hair dress
with him.
Between numbers she whispered
to me again, telling me that her
husband was so different such
lamb'-totally unlike any man she
had met on Broadway, poor child.
For she was a child still
only 20, but she had been in the
show business since she was a
motherleSs, fatherless little drifter
of 16.
NO, she did not tell me how old
he was, where he came from, his
business or what he looked like, and
I did not inquire.
AS the days passed-weeks, prob
ably-she became more. and more
silent and reserved, though once or
twice she protested she still was
terribly happy.
Then came a day when she did
not show up for the performance at
all. The next night she told me
that her husband had left her, after
a quarrel, and had not returned.
1T seems that she innocently had
told him how she had vamped
Benny Steinfeld, the big revue
producer, you know, into giving her
spot" in his summer show, and
that her Mat had flown into a
rage, accusing her of having been
untrue to him. She never mentioned
his desertion to ME again, but"
n
WES2" Dundee prompted.
a well" Serena Hart went on.
uncomfortably, I'm afraid I rather
forgot poor Mia after Teasing
lilly closed. for my next work was
in stock in Des Mones.
After year of stock I got my
chance in g. legitimate show on
Broadway, and one day / met her
on the street. Not having much to
talk with her about, / asked her if
she and her husband were recon-
ciled.
She said no, that she never had
seen him again. Then, in burst
of confidence, she told me that she
had hired private detective out OF
her meager earnings to investigate
him in his home town, or rather the
city that he had told her he came
from.
THE detective had reported that
no such person as Mat or Matthew
Selim ever had lived there so far