THE BIRTHDAY MURDER
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Violin'vond rrgitti ri il surprise when
\ ii tori» J sun sticce-.tf til author. nitr
riril t|«ιi··I Albert llimc. dire·. ! »r of
( I.ism It lilins Virl'/rin, :>l. !;ked Albert
because In· frankl» id mi red her "stor.\
mind," and heriuse of unlading small
attentions, pleasant to » uomi 11 who
had for years worked on equal terms
with men. she had divorced lier tirst
husband, Sawn Harris*, in \ cars before
Albert told \ ictori;·, he wanted more
than a pretty lace—he wanted a wife
wit Ii whom he could work and plan
Victoria refused to rent the lar^e place
Albert- desired, and thev settled down
to quiet i* finesticity in !.. r small llev
erl; Hills house, cared lor by her treas
ii red housekeeper. Hazel The problem 1
of Thursday, Hazel's day η IT, was also
solved according to Victoria's wishes
Albert preferred dining out, but Vic
toria disliked crowded restaurants, so
llai.el always prepared a casserole for
Thursday night's dinner before she left
on Wednesdays A few months after
their marriage came the good news that
the studio was considering Albert as
director for Victoria's best-seller, "Ina
llart" —the story of a murderess who
smilingly offered her husband his medi
cine spiked with poison. Thursday, the
day before her birthday, Victoria is
\isited by .VI ο ira Hastings, attractive
ingenue, recommended by Albert for
the lead in "Ina llart." She reads the
part for Victoria, who bluntly tolls her
she will not do When V ictoria is called
to the telephone, Moira goes to the
kitchen for a glass of water. Haired
glares in lier eyes when she departs. |
Shortly after, llcrnice Save, Victoria's i
oldest friend, arrives with a serious
personal problem. Walter, her husband,
lists discovered a letter from Stan, with
whom she is in love, and threatens to
divorce her IJernice is infuriated when
Victoria advisee her to give Stan up.
CHAPTER SIX
DISGUST AND an old friendship
struggled with each other in Vic
toria She noted once more that
Bernice's chin was starting to sag.
"Love is a luxury you've done
without for a good many years,"
she said brutally. "I'm afraid you're
going to keep on Joi' g without it,
unless you find it with Walter. .Stun '
can't support you: you believe you
can't support yourself . . ·."
"A war job. I suppose," Bernice
shrilled wildiy. "A riveting ma
chine!"
"The best thing for you to do is
to forget Stan and try to keep Wal
ter. I sound like the Good Will
Hour. But you buttered your bread,
Birnice, and now you have to lie
in it."
"Everything's so hard, so hard."
moaned Bernice. "Nothing ever
goes well for me."
"I think you've had ι pretty
pleasant life," said Victoria. Piul
denly Bernice flared up. Her brown
eyes had almost a red color as she
spit: "You haven't an ounce of
sympathy in you You're gloating,
gloating over what's happened to
inc. You're j:!ad it's happened!"
The ο t h e r woman's venom ι
shocked Victoria own while she un
derstood its cause, a rebellion 1
against the hard choice between !
the penny and the cake. "I'm not ;
rlail I'm rorry. sorry mostly for ι
Walter, but sorry I m sorry you
ever met Sian. You asked my ad-1
vice Viiii don't have to t ike it. Vt u
probably won't. Mo?! ]n "pie ask
a'K i< >· hoping to lie I old to do what
they want to do. Yon hoped I'd say
everything would ho dueky tor you
an ! Stan. I won't say it."
Bernice did not reply. She was
slumped low on the sofa, staring
:it the silver tea things before her,
her drink tilt· 1 forgotten in her |
1.lack-gloved hand. Victoria
straightened it gently Afl<r sev
• ral minute -· >f silence, she noticed
how dim it was growing in the
room, and looked at her watch. A
quarter l ei' ·:. six. She snapped on
the lamp beside the sofa. Bernice
started, and looked toward the j
light, her eyes still blank with
thought.
"Listen. Why don't you have din
ner here, with Albert and me?"
Bernice shook her head. Victoria
saw she had only half heard.
"I ought to change and get
things started. Do you want an
other drink?"
Bernice shook her head again.
Victoria stood up, looked at her
friend irresolutely for a moment
and then went into the dining room
and down the hall that led to her
den and her bedroom beyond. It
would do Bernice no harm, she
thought, to consider what she had
told her. Although it must have
made hard h. toning, it had been a
bitterly correct analysis of the sit
uation. I'oor Bernice.
Victoria had planned to put on a
red dress, but decided this would
seem too heartless. She chose a
short, dressy black one instead, and
noticed with pleasure that it made
her look quite slender. She brushed
her crisp hair, sitting before the
mirror of the vanity tabic below
tha high north windows, through
which cold twilight tell and min
gled with the light of tiie two
white lamps. She bent forward and
peered at 1. r mirrored reflection.
Her face looked chiseled and dur
able, as though it had been carved
out of a harder substance than
Bcrnice's. She wondered if she had
been too unkind; she had wanted so
desperately to jog Bernice from her
crazy panic, to force her to look
at the problem realistically. Ber
nice usually wept first and thought .
afterward.
She looked at her wrist watch
again. Albert had told her that
morning that he would be later1
than usual tonight; that meant she
had a good two hours before she ι
might expect him The casseroles
took fully that long. She snapped
31 f the lights an 1 returned to Ber- ι
nice.
Bcrnice's mood had changed. She j
iva.3 in the bright kitchen, washing ;
teacups. Bernice had always been a
scrupulous housekeeper. The sugar'
Itowl was back in its proper place ■
an the dining room sideboard, the
silver teapot beride it. Eernice's
?ves, slightly reddened from tears. I
surveyed Victoria's face and thon I
went to her stomach "Still on vour
diet?" sin· asked tightly "All "that
weight ; ι. · , · : voi ii' hips an.! tum
my is I, u k."
ϋ"' ' h " ·■ .ι almost too much
for Victoria. They might have been
just diacuseing anything hut catas
t r op ho Χ ο siiL, a Γ Γ I' starches,"
she said.
"That's good." Bernice put the
last teacup neatly a way in the
cupboard.
Would you like to slay for sup
per. Victoria a 'Albert won't
be home until 1 :
"Oil, no. I must roe Stan. Tie's
meeting mo f >r damer at six
thirty." Bernio ptrt on her gloves,
looked at her watch. "Goodness! I
must fly! Tile l;ι■ ■ ·■ η purse was on
the kiichen sideboard. She opened
it, surveyed her ravaged face in the
mirror of her large flat compact,
dabbed powder on her nose. Some
of the powder clung to her black
glove.
"This is your right for fixing din
ner for you and Albert, isn't it?"
Bernice o.-la.a as she brought out
lipstick.
"Yes, my or.o gesture at domes
ticity."
Bernice smiled in almost a supe
rior way. Honestly. How any man
stands it!" she said.
'Have you decided what you're
going to do ?" blurted Victoria.
Bernice surveyed her casually
around the ran of the open com
pact. "Oh, yes. I'm going to give
up Stan."
Victoria watched her go down
the steps to lar large, substantial
Packard parked in the driveway.
Bernice got in. summed the door
after her, waved one black-gloved
hand out ot the window briefly. As
the car drove away in the first twi
light, Victoiia tii..ught how much
it looked like a hearse.
Twilight v. as thickening into
night. Victoria had put the casse
roles into tiie oven and was making
the cottee. The green coffee canis
ter, one of a row of such canisters
on the kitchen sideboard, was near
ly empty. A search of the cupboard
above revealed no coffee cither, and
V ictoria forgot the problem of her
friend Bernice long enough to de
cide that she would have to scold
Hazel in the morning. Hazel was a
jewel, but ran to myopia and occa
sional streaks of absent niinded
ness. Her nearsightedness could be
forgiven her because she could not
help it, but she knew how fond Al
bert was of his coffee and should
not have allowed it to run so low.
There was barely enough for three
cups. The lower glass globe of the
Silex on the stove was just half
full. She turned out the gas.
"There," she thought. "Now
there's just the salad to put dress
ing on, the rolls to heat and the ta
ble to set." She set the table. She
used the pale blue doilies, the gayly
painted china. The howl of bou
gainvillea from her roof made a
fine centerpiece, and she put two
white candles at each side of it.
(To I5e Continued)
McMulienRule:
On Principals
uaieign, TVc 13.—(AP) Altoi ι
■ ey General Hurry McMullen held
1 nil:iy that school principals ,nv net
■ Micers entitled to leaves of absence
under state statute, and 1h it local
,-chool beards are m<: required to re
store jobs to returning prilicipal
\ i terans.
However, lie said, "as a η tti r o:
und poli y and in justice ι·.> return
ing veterans, all state . · cl local
agencies are complying with govern
ment recommenciaii· .»* that job oe
restored to returning veterans.
Tlu· opinion, préparai especially
ι lor tiit· Stat'' Iïoard at Kdlicali.>n,
cil·, ι ί t f Ji'i : ι : : ι ri 1> , it h a situ., mn .
which a school μ incipal was dis
charged I'rqm tin army ami given
hi- "Id job back principal ol a
school. Λ teacher who lilted the p< si
dining Un· veteran'.·- -.nee and who
had signed a .onli..,! lor the liila-tii
school year, has asked hi.-. county
board ot education lor ni.- salary lor
the remaining se,u ;.ι.r- m
: erm.
McMullen said thai .·:· ee the prin
(. ipa 1 in nue - , a m w.. : ι u ι ι,ν r
entitled to a Icavi ol 1 ι aiue.'
! the ,-iat · statutes, t. .a.ι : r > .
] salary lor his pred, cl., . ...a.·: lie
I litierm.ned by the 1. eai county
Lojl'd.
I Puts Firefly in the Shade
A white f:. orescent ρ
times m-re ell. icnt than -'
c.s light ριoauci·:·, ar.u a
flaiiiese·· t lamps is It'» .
! ciiicient.
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