The Wilmington morning star., 1947-05-09
SYNOPSIS

The recent marriage OF BLu AZ
den, serious young lawyer, to vi
vacious Diane farrell, was view
ed with misgiving by tn more
conservative members of Grand
harbor society. Bill belonged te
one of the towns Oldest families,
while DANES father wealthy J.
Emmett farrell, and Paula, her
stepmother, WHARF comparative
newcomers with little Or no back
ground. It was rumored, toe, that
J. Emmett had come by his huge
fortune rather questioasbly. At
tractive Page Winston , who had
been in love with Bill since child
hood, managed to hide her heart
break from all but Rufus Kent ,
Bills former roommate at Har i.
ward, who had recently come to
Grandharbor to work on The Post.
Diane was ideally happy, despite
the fact that most Of Bills eve
nings had to be devoted to the
Staples case which he was pre- :
pairing for trial. 1t was his first
big assignment, and if handled
successfully might gain him a jun
ior partnership. However. he a.
creed to take a night off to en-
tertain a few of their friends, a.
mong them, Page and Rufus. Di-
ane was deeply hurt when, a few
evenings later, nj of the crowd
phoned to ask them out; as usual,
She declined, but Bill, instead OF
being grateful, angrily voiced the
wish that her friends would phone
during the day. Caring for their
small apartment took little time,
and m O t every afternoon found
Diane at the country club half :
heartedly pursuing the same gay
activities she had before MARI.
age.
CHAPTER NINE
The Staples trial began in less
than a month, the State against
Martin Staples, charged with
criminal intent to defraud.
The newspapers gave front-page
columns to it, which Diane read
carefully as soon as Bill left the
apartment. From them she gath
cred that the defendant had sold
q large tract Of land to the State
for a new hospital and gotten
more money for it than he should.
The words graft" and bribery"
and "collusion" were repeated
over and over. But Diane was less
reused by that than that the
newspapers referred frequently to
the able Prosecuting Attorney,
John Darnell, and seldom to Will
liam Arden, counsel for the de-
Tense.
Then she read an editorial Ru-
fus had written for The Post in
which he lauded the determination
of the liable" Prosecuting Attor :
ney to rid the city Of its sleek
cheaters, its wolves in sleeps
clothes, as he put it. And not a
word in it about her equally able
Bill!
What did RUFUS mean?" she
asked Bill at dinner. Bill had not
read the editorial; she had 10 tell
him what was in it.
Bill shrugged his shoulders.
"Rufus likes to run with the pack.
It's after Staples because he's
rich and a big fellow in his politl-
cal party. He was considered for
the nomination of governor a few
year; ago."
Diane was silent a moment,
considering this new slant on Ru-
fus. It explained a little his man
ner toward her, of not quite ac-
cepting her. Then she brought her
thought back to Bills client. Did
he cheat when he sold that land?"
she pressed, interestedly.
Bill was pushing back his chair,
though he'd eaten scarcely any
dinner.
mo man is guilty until it is
proven before a quallfled jury,
he answered, with some snap.
He was everything, these days,
that Rufus had implied he would
be. He left early for the office,
came home late; he ate, when he
ate anything, with notes ne had
made by the side OF lis plate.
Diane believed she could count on
her fingers the number Of times,
to date, he had voluntarily spoken
tc her.
But Rufus had prepared her for
1t, so she adapted herself to it.,
maintaining toward Bill the cheer
full tolerance Of a good-natured
nurse, caring for a Temperament
tai patient. Only Rufus editorial
had shaken her out Of this.
"You didn't really answer me-"
she thought with some spirit, after
a9AAvvHHRN NnU ~ AVHYXIn0 /