Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 January 1941 — Page 20

4 1)

Sol Star Conscript’s Wife

By BETTY WALLACE

YESTERDAY: Bill arrives, accepts Martha's explanation of the accident. + At the hospital, he razzes Paul about trying to kill his wife in s crash. It is all in fun, however, until Suzanne arrives. She is anxious about Paul's injuries, pays no attention to Martha. reminds her Martha was hurt, too, Suzanne turns on him furiously. ‘You fool, why should I care what happens to Martha? If she had let Paul alone this would never have happened.”

CHAPTER, TWENTY-ONE “SUZANNE!” thundering dangerously. “Suzanne, be quiet!” His free arm shot out, his fingers’ imprisoned her arm. “Are you crazy?” :

But .it was too late. While Mar-

tha’s heart pounded with dread— |

while Bill stood there, white and stunned and unbelieving—Suzanne

Decker pulled away from Pauls|

grasp and cried furiously, “Let Bill hear it! It’s the truth! He should -have heard it long ago! I warned her! I told her to stay away from you, but she wouldn't do it. “She didn’t care what she did to you, Paul. Jilted you once, didn’t she?

io Jum, faeny Why did she keep eeing you, after he went into th Army?” :

She whirled on Bill, her slender! body shaking into the storm of emo- |

tion as a tree trembles in a high wind: “It's your fault, Bill Marshall! You've been blind—blind and

stupid!” You're her husband. Why |

don’t you know what she’s doing, where she’s going? You let her pull the wool over your eyes—you let her make a laughing stock of you before the whole town. ;

“I went to her, I told her how it/|

_ looked. She promised to stay away from Paul! And now what happens? She gets him to come all the way up here — and she nearly killed him!” “Suzanne!” Martha could bear if; no longer. She leaped to the other girl's side, her own legs unsteady, her breath coming fast. “Suzanne, be quiet, you're upset, you're not responsible for what you're saying!” stunned face, the deep lines which had come out at the corners of his mouth so suddenly, tortured Martha, “You know very well there's never been anything between Paul - and me. You know that what you're saying sounds—sounds—" ; Bill's hands on her shoulders, his toneless, “Don’t,” stopped Martha's voice. She crumpled, sobbing, against him. | “Suzanne,” Paul ordered curtly,

“apologize for what you said im-

mediately!” : 8 8 =»

“APOLOGIZE? For what? For telling the truth?” Suzanne tried to laugh. It was a ghastly failure. All at once she covered her face with her hands and wailed, “Oh, Paul, don’t be angry with me. I didn’t mean to go to pieces, but—”" “I think we'd better go, Martha,” Bill said heavily. : “Bill,” Paul's voice was husky. “Bill, don’t be a damn fool! 8izanne was crazy, upset. There's not a word of truth in it. Martha and I never—Bill!” “Come on, Martha,” Bill repeated inexorably. He walked out without a backward glance, without a word to the man who had been his friend for iso many years. Helplessly, her hesrt like a stone inside her, Martha went with him. There was nothing else to do. : ; | She felt stiff and cold, weary with a weariness that dimmed even thought. Suzanne had threatened this, and now she had done it. With a few impassioned words—in a searing moment she had already regretted—S8uzanne had brought the

their ears. nearer to Paul.

and the man she loved.

She remembered, as Bill led her |! to the car, Paul Elliott's voice say- || ing, “Have I ever tried to make love |: to you? Bill's my friend, he trusts||

me..

It was all ruined now. What Paul

had tried to save, the friendship| he had valued, the whole delicate and precarious structure which alone had sheltered them was gone. Gone because Suzanne's ungovernable jealousy had had its way, at last. | Bill was starting the car when she remembered Helen, “We--we must see Helen.” | “Not now.” ? Suddenly the numbness left her. “Bill.” she whispered. “Bill, you've got to listen to me.. You can’t go on, with those poisonous words in your mind. Let me explain. Let me tell you—" “Explain?” How cold his tone was! “What is there to explain?” “Bill,” she said desperately, catching at his sleeve. “Bill, please, listen to me. Everything she [said was wrong. It wasn't like that at all. She didn’t want Paul to take me out, she didn’t want him to come up to the apartment, because she wanted to go with him alone, Don’t you understand? | i “She’s in love with him, crazy with it. You know she’s always been in love with him and he—he isn’t with her. And when he| was nice to me—when he just tried to

keep me from being lonesome—:|!

she imagined. things. She came to me, told me that people were talk: ing. I never told you, Billl. I didn’; want to worry you.” [fF] “Worry me!” he sald bitlerly. “That's rich, that is.” i “Darling, don’t. Listen. I'm | tryk ing so hard to explain, You mush believe me, There was nothing—nothing—" ll) ' 8 8 8 | { f THEY WERE still parked aj the curb in front of the hospital. Feople passed, glanced at them. Bui they were unaware, as obliviojs as if there were no one else in all the world but themselves. Bill, hig eyes dark wells of pain, gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. ; LL “Are you trying to tell me, Martha, that—that Paul never—neve made love to you?” 13 “Never{” she swore. “Oh, darling, never! Do you think I'd let him? He was just a friend—just| your friend—" | +] “My friend! You were engaged to him when I met you! You were wearing his diamond. I never could afford a diamond. I couldn’t afford

When Bill |

Paul Elliott was

She’s never cared. She|

She | married him. Why doesn’t she stick!

The sight of Bill’s|

©OPR. 1941 BY NEA SERVICE INC. T.M. RG U.S. PAT. OFF.

1-20 “

| “Through typing the letlers zlready, dearie? Will you call up the wife i and tell her I'm working at the office tonight?” |

“FUNNY BUSINESS

: ent LS JRL EL HEA SERVICE, I ©, TM RED U.S. PAT. OFF “Pardon me, sir, but haw do you salute with a rifie in one hand and a | cigaret in the other?”

4 G LU. 8. PAT.

THIS CURIOUS WORLD

\\ NWR

HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AGO, IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON FOR SMALLPOX TO : WIPE OUT | ONE TENT OF A COUNTRY’S POPULATION ANNUALLY.

I theaghl

ANSWER~—Mule,

1-29:

car I Bought wasn't good enough.” | “But, Bill, you know thif meant othing—the car—” She fought off ithe hysteria which was m:king her italk too fast, too shrilly. She turned isquarely on the sest, liiting 'her ieyes proudly to his. ‘Look at me, Bill. I have nothing tp hide. Nothing! I swear to you, Paul never did a single thing, never said a single thing, he couldn't have done or said if you were there!” Something, deep | inside her throbbed with the truth, with the memory of Pauls voice saying he loved her. But it had been only once. For that one time, must she be crucified this way? With everything in her, with all the hope of his faith in her, she was vrilling her husband to believe. “Bill, if there'd been anything sly or secret between us, do you think Paul and I would iave been such fools as ‘to bel seer. together openly? Don't you think we’d have tried to meet secrefly—riof to let anyone know? Bill Marshall shook his head, like a man in a daze, “I doa’t know,” he groaned. “I don’t know what to think. I've always loved you so. I never dreamed—". | “Oh, darling, darling, there was nothing to dream about!” She put her arms around his heck. “Bill, if I cared for Paul, could I pretend like this with you?” ” o oy FOR A HEARTBEAT cold fear clutched at her. Wag Eill stiffening? His face was drawn. Wofild he reach up and tear away her

i |clining arms? Then, with a little

cry, she felt his arms tighten. Re-

foday’s ) Almanac

It is a cross

By William Ferguson.

ANGEL FALLS,

NEWLY DISCOVERED

‘ WATERFALL. |

IN VENEZUELA, NOW IS CONCEDED TO BE THE

WORLDS ~//CHrEST WA TELSALL

ESTIMATES PLACE IT

AT ZWE/NTS” TO TrAIR7Y TIANES Ar OAAESR THAN ANIAGARAS

TT. M. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF,

Name AN ANIMAL. THAT COULD BE REPRODUCED IF EVERY ONE OF ITE KIND NOW IN EXISTENCE SHOULD BE DESTROYED.

between a mare and a jack,

lief, sharp and unutierable, drove her fear away. “Bill! Bill, carling!’ “Oh, Martha!” His arms were fierce, glad, suddenly asserting their possession once more. His mouth came down warm agiinst her own. Long and hard, he kissed her. A kiss that wen: on and on, a Kiss that was like a vow, compounded of love and faith renewed and fleeting doubts dispeilad. “Forgive me for even—asking—" he begged hunibly. “I should have known—it couldn’t be true. Not you! Oh, Martha, you're sq sweet, so real, how did I dare— Buf when a man’s away from his wife—when you've had nothing but letters and memories—" She caressed his lean cheek with the palm of her hand. “Hush, darling. Let's never, never speak of it again, Let's forget it ever happened.” . But it, came to her, Sunday night, as she took Eill to his train, that forgetting wasn't so simple a matter as that. For, as they sat together in the quiet station, Bill took her two hands in his. “I want you to promise me something, Martha.” “What is it?” “I want to you to resign from Air Transport. Suzann¢ was wrong-— but one thing she said was true. People are bound to talk. I—I think It'll ‘be better if you don’t see Paul again. Martha, promise me you'll stay here with Helen and Hugene. Promise me jou’ll stay until I get out of the Aimy.” | (To Be Continued)

(All events, (Mmes and eharacters in this

story are fiotitious,

Oddity

®eorge Washington once sold books —he canvassed a volume, “The Ameri can Savage; How He Mey Be Tamed

by the Weapons of Civilization.”

En page 575 of the 1941 World Almanac. sale ot newsstands. bookstores. 70c)

a lot of things. He lent you his car to come up and see me. | The

‘L ABNER

GET THIS INTO YOUR FAT HEAD, A HOOPLE! uw ONE MORE SAWSHARPENING CONTEST LIKE You HAD AT YOUR HOUSE LAST NIGHT AND YOU'LL LAND BEHIND BARS ww AND I DON'T MEAN THE KIND WHERE

.| BEER WAS

CHARGED, G0 HE'S TAKING THE EMPTIES TO ANOTHER STORE __¢ FOR A CASH J

COPR. 1941 BY NEA SERVICE, ING. T.M. REG. U. 8. PAT. OFF. x

FAW, BAXTER / THERE 1S NO ECHO OF "2! H=-HAH. FOOLIN' HARMONY IN YOUR MUSTY MAUSOLEUM OF WITH MACHINERY. A SOUL Jur EGAD, THE HOOPLE STRING FOUR SOON WILL APPEAR IN RECITAL J BEFORE THE CITY'S MOZART CLUBww- J | HAR-RUMPH! fume T SHALL GIVE A BARITONE SOLO, PLAYING MY OWN

ACCOMPANIMENT /

NO, IN THE CLOTHES I HAD ALMOST ENOUGH TIME TO CHANGE

AULT CULAR EL CEE A

TRWILLAMS, 1-29 J

AS TH’ FIRE GITS A-GOIN’,

ARTE roe SHOWER ONDER Sficibe FALSE, a

fd S Yo’ KEEP. A-TAPPIN’. IKE, THET. > — ATAPEIR? AN” A-TAPPIN' ?

PL A THAR'S ’" QINT T/ Yo, P HB PINCZZS

MY AUNT---DEAD 2

Ls?

YEP! SORRY,RED/ DE SURED Sik E pv ON BOOT

= Jj POSSIBLE.

TLL

N ]

ME NO THINKLIM Does HAPP EN DES SHERIFF 7

R. 1941 BY N IC

FIRE BROKE OUT IN TH | STABLES AN

SHE DED TRYIN T° RESCUE ™® HOSSES/

18 BELE\E $

IT WAS A POWERFUL SHOCK 0 ALL OF LS/

a) 3 v

N 4

WASHINGTON TUBBS II

RINERITED -- A SWAMP AND A SHACK !

BUT IT'S A GOOD STRONG LITTLE HOUSE--AND IT'S ONLY A TONES THROW

FUNNY HOW A DECENT FELLA LIKE YOU OCCASIONALLY GETS MIXED UP WITH A GANG O' RATS LIKE THOSE SABOTEURS, / I STARTED WILLIE. SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS:

BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, THO

é I WONDER IF - STONE'S DAT'S REALLY THROW 22 TRUE}

YEAH. 1 YOURE IN SO DEEP

OH, 1 PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER, THATS ) THE WAY THOSE THINGS START, THEN, PRETTY

CAN'T

KNOW THAT I HAD | AHEAD, SOM

A IT's VERY DRINKWATER'S SECRETARY THE NIGHT SHE WAS MURDERED, T00 |

—

(recess RONNIE SHAY /

"ee N » ’ . . . — /-29 °

ABBIE AN’ SLAT

C-C-COLD ¥ M-NY EYES” ACHOOO #/!

IM Sure

THANK You ' | Glad You

RONNE! L REMEMBER. NOW ==-- TL LEFT THEM

AN’ YOU WEE? AWAY FROM \T,

HEY, WW N Fair ON/'HEAR 2 |. 7}

- ’ of (JR - be Cp = I BN HANGAR |» Fi ARDARMINY OP + {LE

LL M-MAKE-ACHOO // eee

[HELPLESSLY POP WATCHES RAWHIDE BECOME WN] i ; D HANDLE THE k MILLIONS ~YEH~ M=MILLIONS /2

CREASINGLY UNABLE CAR-~ C-GAN'T SER + HARDLY- , ’ AT ALL='M DYIN’C’ B-BUT IT'S WORTH Tee -

TF THREY THINK THEY'RE GONN r, OFF 'N'\LEANE ME, TREV'RE | ‘CRAZ

7 NW ™

hn a

SA SR A PCY

NS A of ¥ Be 3 gd » 1 wy | ¥ NY f “