Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-06-15

he HELD me hard l felt myself helpless in
- those harsh arms of his. / couldn't
cry out. l was absolutely at his mercy. All
could do was to shut my eyes and try to pray.
But that was hard. praying. Then l thought;
This probably is the end. This time he will
kill me, just as he killed poor Stephen that night.
Good angels, make it swift"
Resigned, shut my eyes. / gave myself up to
the terror Time passed. Uncounted time.
Then, suddenly, savagely, his mood changed.
/ could feel it change. could feel something in his
black soul rise up, stiffen cry out in desperation
as, abruptly, he let me go. fell against a divan,
crumpled down upon it. He stood above me, look
ing down at me, raging at me.
"You blame me! you judge me! can see it all
in your devilish, cold eyes But by God, l tell
you / am not to blame. not to blame for any
thing that has happened between us. anything
that you have suffered. You-you never con-
slider. ="
Fierce female curiosity leaped up in my heart,
displacing terror:
What don't 1 consider ?" 1 asked, coldly.
He burst out:
''The whole old system The whole cursed
system which traps us, makes brutes of us, just
as the system brutalizes those other poor devils,
up in the Siberian salt mines"
held my breath. had never heard him talk
like this before With sudden revelation, in an
agonizing moment saw my husband differently.
paw Alllll lldSlC anu uOOHlcu, anu huOWHlS TIC
was doomed. pitied him.
SO looked at the man, my husband, seeing
different man. Swiftly then | remembered the
nights of our tragic marriage when between mid
night and daybreak, he had come Keeling home,
drunken and quarresome. Then thought of how
Vladmirs secretary, Count Smetshine helped him
up the stairs, helped him undress, very often, and
took his cuffs from the valet. The count would
strain his eyes trying to make out the notes Vladi
mir had written on his cuffs. In the morning.
after Russian custom, Vladimirs valet handed
him in envelope parts cut out of these stiff cuffs
on which there were notations.
So Vladimir would be reminded Of his orders
from the Car.
Yes all this, irrelevant and trfling l remem-
bered, IN that grave moment when | saw my hus-
band with the eyes of my new understanding
And then l realized He must be wretchedly un-
happy, this tragic who had married me-
Wretchedly unhappy, fighting against fate Sud
denly felt compelled TO ask him:
why do you drink Vladimir? Why do you
waste yourself on all those shocking women"
He smiled at me his gloomy smile in which
there mirth.
only the God who made me knows" he
answered, without feeling why drink and why
I" he broke off.
Then his black rebellion flared UP:
But do know. It's the whole damn rotten
system, the system under which consent to marry
baby, because only as a married man can get
complete control of my fortune. The system which
makes your scheming old grandmother sell YOU TO
me because my Russian fortune makes your thrifty
French dot look like a little pocket money Yes,
it's cursed the system under which / was born TO
live"
1t was the longest speech / ever heard him
make. It was the only time had ever up to then.
seen him in earnest about anything except his