Browning chief., 1941-04-18
A Young Wife Dares
to Tell the Truth
and SaUes q Broken
Marriage

DiSheveled and flushed. Marion
darted through the swinging gate
and dropped breathless into the
oak chair at the end Of the long
table. Her shaking fingers fumbled
10 repair the damage done by the
wildly curious men and women
paving her as she swept past them
in the corridor.
They yelped at her heels right up
to the railing that shut them off from
the space allotted to counsel and court
officials. She adjusted her hat, tucked
in the light brown hair clustered at
the back Of her head in curls and took
a deep breath. If she had to go through
this very often
You remember. don't you, Marion?
That day in the field? You were walk
ing with Leonard and you saw
panicky little rabbit popping into a
hole just in time to save itself from
q pack Of dogs yelping at its heels.
You wanted to help the rabbit. You
were so sorry but you really couldn't
appreciate how it felt until today. Now
you're the rabbit.
You wish this chair was a hole
through which you could scurry into
the dark. You wish you could jump
on that huge cloud sailing past the
window and never more be seen in
this world. You wish this coat collar
could reach up to the top Of your
head as you pull it up to conceal your
burning cheeks from those staring,
staring eyes behind you.
You didn't know what a courtroom
was like before. You thought it was
quiet, dignified. You never dreamed it
was three-ring circus. So many
people jostling, showing, trying to
crowd into the seats adequate to &C
commodate only third OF them. Cam
rIar .nrp t,,rv
asking, asking Everywhere you turn
you are staring into Photographic
lense and a face above watching you
for the slightest flicker OF emotion.
A newspaper man was lingering her
coat.
What kind of fur is that?"
She wanted to tell him it was none
OF his business, TO go away and leave
her alone. But her attorney, j. Buf-
fmgton Gray, had warned her she
must be pleasant with the press.
"Cocoa-dyed ermine.'
She was surprised to hear her voice
so flat and dry, almost a croak. Her
throat was dry, too. PerverSely she
began to think of a long cool drink.
A Tom Collins. for instance. ASSocia-
ton of ideas. First time you tasted a
Tom Collins was last summer on your
23d birthday. Leonard gave you this
fur coat and they all drank to your
health. 1t was very hot day. Too
hot, your mother-in- n-law said, for a
fur coat. "a foolish gift, Lenrie! You
should have given her jewelry. Some
thing cool like diamonds
1t wasn't important to her that you
told him you wanted fur coat and
Just this fur coat, too.
Well, you wouldn't be slipping any
Tom Collins today. Your attorney
warned you about drinking, you know.
He told you you couldn't be too care
full.
Even of lemonade" he said. Some
body might slip something into it,
With people like that you can't take
any chances. Not even a little dry
enough on you now to hang YOU. Don't
let them get anything else
By them, Marion, he means your
husband, Leonard Swal Jr., and his
three prominent attorneys, David
Beckman, Charles Cast and William
Sprowell OF the important firm OF
Beckman, Cast, Sprowell, Ihnman and
Ihnman. And behind them, my girl, is
your motherin law, the wealthy, pow
erful, revengetul and vindlctive Mrs.
Leonard Swall Sr. A dark little woman
with quick, birdlike movements but
don't be deceived by her pretty ways
Most people are. You were yourself at
first. With her great impressive name
in financial and social circles she fools
the whole town. A great lady, the
newspapers call her. Noted for her
charities She goes about lifting her
hand here, putting her thumb down
there, arranging and rearranglng lives
to suit herself with never a thought
for those to whom the lives belong.
You often doubted if anyone ever
knew what goes on in the brain be-
hind that small, alert face. You tried
to guess, Marion Oh, remember how
hard you tried. But you weren't old
enough to appreciate what marrying
into the great Swall family meant.
You thought it was just a grand and
glorious love come to fulflllment.
The only thing you could think of
then was how sweet were his kisses
and how his voice thrilled you. You
couldn't see his mother because when
ever you were in the room with him
you were almost blind to everything
else. That's how he affected you. Now
sometimes you wonder how he could
be SO fine with such a mother.
Now Leonard was sitting at the
other end OF the counsel table with
four attorneys at law wedged in be-
tween and he never glanced in her
direction. She had to lean forward to
see the tip OF his nose. In just
few months so much had come be-
tween us.
But it isn't a few months. It began
the day you came back from the
honeymoon You thought you were 60
ing to live with his mother until you
could find place of your own. She
cried you down.
"Oh, my dear child, how sillyl Imag-
inc me living here all alone, rafting
around like pea in pod In this
big house. Why shouldn't Lennie live
here? Everything he loves is here. l
think it will be rather fun having a
daughter"
You Just think mother doesn't like
you," he protested over and over and
with increasing irritation. 1t was a
bitter time for him, dragged into a !
war between two women who were
supposed to be the dearest in the world