The Washington times., 1933-09-05
The Story Thus Far

The Story Thus Far
Jackson Durant, handsome
young lawyer who has alienated
the Park Avenue set through
his spectacular success as IAN
underworld mOuthpiece," has
been asked by Sue Leonard,
pretty society girl who Tilted
him, to "save" Thomas Suddall,
youthful broker, to whom Sue
Is now engaged.
SiddalI is held in the TOmbS
on a murder charge. He has
been arrested gun in hand
when his former sweetheart,
Mimi Montange, a Broadway
night club singer, was shot
dead on the terrace of a pent-
house where Jim Crelliman,
Public Enemy No. 2, was throw
ing a party"
Things look black for Siddall
as Durant starts his own in
VestigatiOn. Tony GaZOtti,
Public Enemy No. l, grateful
because Durant had saved
him from the hot seat" recently,
agrees to help the lawyer but
admits that he thinks "Siddall
Is as guilty as hell" Durant
decides to consult Sue.
NoW Continue
CHAPTER VII
In the lovely days that had
ended when he took Gazotti's
case, they had had so many
gay luncheons and dinners on
the penthouse porch. Sue, dar-
ling little Sue, had always been
in a twitter when she came to
his home. It seemed to her
that she was defying conven-
ton outrageously when she
called on a bachelor. Probably
she was, only a convention that
Is flouted by practically every
debutante in New York loses
some of its importance.
She hadn't forgotten every
thing. She had noticed, even
In the stress of emotion. that
the Rembrandt had been re-
moved from the living-room
wall. He wondered if she had
noticed any changes in him
self. If she had been aware Of
an inanimate thing, it was only
natural to suppose that she
might have observed animate
things. That is, if he were still
animate. Sometimes he Won
dered if he hadn't died on the
night when Sue broke their en-
gagement. Oh, a Jackson Du-
rant walked the streets; a
Jackson Durant tried and won
cases in court; a Jackson Du-
rant took whole choruses home
with him after the theater. But
these Jackson Durants we're not
related to the man who had
won Sue Leonard. That man
had been happy, light-hearted,
filled with a belief in the in
nate goodness of humanity and
of life.
But why be tragic even in
thought? He was being rather
ridiculous. The best thing that
had ever happened to him was
the breaking Of the engagement
by Sue. If she could so soon
fall in love with another man
then her love for him had not
been a thing Of permanence.
And that was funny, too. Be-
cause'if he knew character, and
without conceit he assured him.
self that no one knew it better
then Sue was not the kind Of
person to be careless in the gift
of her love, to withdraw it on a
whim and to bestow it on an
other whim. If she weren't
loyal, Steadfast to the core of
her, true unto death itself, then
there was no decency or loyalty
in this world. And yet she had
given her heart to another man.
Well, that was what made life
1nteresting-its paradoxes.
AS he stepped out Of the ele-
vator at the tenth floor, the
door Of the small anteroom in
which he found himself opened.
A solemn butler took his hat.
Watched
cts good to see you again,
Mr.. Durant," he said. After
which lapse from decorum he
stiffly stated that Miss Leonard
was in the library and would re-
ceive Mr.. Durant there.
Durant passed through the
great living room and reached
the library. He had always
loved to see Sue perched in the
mn RRY a