Bright
Star
By
Mary Schumann
Copyright by Macras Smith Ceo.
WNU Bervice
SYNOPSIS
Kezia Marsh, pretty, selfish and twenty, ar-
rives home in Corinth from school and is met
by her older brother, Hugh. He drives her to
the Marsh home where her widowed mother,
Fluvanna, a warm-hearted, self-sacrificing and
understanding soul, welcomes her. Kezia's sis.
ter, Margery, plump and matronly with the
care of three children, is at lunch with them.
CHAPTER I—Continued
—
Margery's dainty figure had
grown plump, but there were con-
tented lines about her eyes and
mouth. She wasn't sorry for her-
self tied down with three children
under six. She didn't mind her
vanishing prettiness. This was the
life she had dreamed of ever since
she had been a little girl and
played with her family of dolls—a
home, an adoring husband, and
children to tend and scrub and
dress attractively.
“Margery precious!” Kezia
came through the screen door, and
ran toward her sister.
Mrs. Marsh surveyed them
from the head of the table,
one by one. “Do you realize this
together for years?”
that before. With utmost tact she
had made Dorrie and Will Platt,
Margery's husband, welcome, but
Hugh felt that it added to her
pleasure today to have just them.
It bridged the interlude since they
had left her roof and become ab-
suits, other persons.
Margery forgot her role of digni-
fied young matron, Hugh, his posi-
tion as assistant to the president
of the Brower Steel Works, Kezia,
the sophisticated teachings of Lolly
Masters, an older girl at school,
and her desire to model herself on
the lines of that seductive and fas-
cinating person.
“What are the headlines about
the Cornithians, Marge? The
births, the weddings, the deaths,
the scandals particulariy the
scandals! I love knowing the
dirt about people! It makes you
feel you're not so bad yourself!”
cried Kezia over the coffee.
“You would,” said Hugh.
tweaked her ear as he rose.
o'clock. He must get back to the
office. “Put them on the spot—
use machine guns!”
Fluvanna followed Hugh to the
door. ‘Give my love to Dorrie!
She's a thoughtful child — she
brought me a new book yesterday,
a novel on China. Dear of her.”
“She did?” Hugh's face bright-
ened as it always did when Dor-
rie was praised. Dorie hadn't
mentioned the gift, but she had a
queer respect and affection for his
mother, a revealing admission.
He spent the afternoon going
over the cost sheets, and had a
talk with Sloan, the president, over
the price cutting of the Arrow
Steel, which kept him until after
five.
He took his car from the park-
ing shed under the bridge and slow-
ly weve his way through the im-
patient late-afternoon traffic.
He ran into a gas station to fill
up his tank. A boyhood friend,
Doc Hiller, waved to him as he
passed. He waved back. He had
a shamed feeling of ingratitude at
the sight of Doc. They should go
to see the Hillers, have them for
dinner. They had called, made so
many friendly advances—and Doc
was such a darn good fellow! But
Dorrie had a cool way of ignoring
debts she did not intend to pay.
“Yes,” she would reply listlessly
to his suggestion, ‘‘sometime we
must have them. Don't feel up to
it now. Perhaps next week.”
He lived on a street which had
been part of the fairway of a golf
course before the town had spread
westward. The small Colonial and
English style houses were attrac-
tive and well-kept, each with its
hedge and evergreen shrubbery
and driveway leading back to the
garage. His own house was of
tapestry brick with casement win-
dows, green flower-boxes on the
square porch at the side, green and
henna awnings. He left the car in
the drive. Perhaps Dorrie would
want to go out after dinner.
A bridge table in the living-room,
with cards and scores littered on
it, testified to recent activity. Then
he saw Dorrie in a small sunny
room just beyond, sitting relaxed,
quiescent, her hands folded in her
lap. The sun louched her bur-
nished hair, accented the creamy
pallor of her skin, her red mouth,
the delicately moulded nose.
Hugh stood still a moment while
emotion burned through him. It
came on him with a surprise, al
most a choke. This lovely woman
was his—his. He left her in the
house each morning . . . she was
He
One
his to return to at night.
of his heart , , .
“Dorrie.”
She started a little as if recalled
from distant visions, then rose and
came toward him. Her sea-green
eyes had an excited luminosity in
their depths as if her thoughts had
been pleasant ones.
“Hello, Hugh.”
“Didn't you hear me come in?"
She smiled slowly up at him as
his arms went around her. ‘No,
didn't hear you.”
“What were
about?”
She shook her head. “Don't
know . . . day-dreaming, I guess.”
The pith
you thinking
He kissed her, Her hand curled
in his; a flush rose on her deli- |
cate cheek.
‘Have a good game?”
“So-so. Joan and Orinda—Les
ley Gates for a fourth.” She
board covers.
loser.”
Fluvanna awakened from a
dream of Jim Marsh, her husband.
She had the illusion he was bend- |
“Lesley is a poor
ing over, trying to tell her some- |
thing, and all the sick, unruly as- |
sociations that his memory brought |
unfurled themselves and waved ex-
citing banners. Presently, lying
with her eyes wide open and see-
ing the reassuring light of day, the
sensation ebbed.
Kezia was home—was right
across the hall, sleeping in the
green and gold bedroom. Kezia |
was probably the reason she had
dreamed of Jim. The child didn't
look like him no, Hugh re-
sembled his father in stature and
feature, but Kezia’s whole person- |
ality carried a haunting reminder.
The expressions she had, the tricky
way she raised her eyes and made
them aspiring and wistful, her ca-
joling manner which concealed
her purposes, the will to have her
own way, all hinted at the femi-
nine counterpart of Jim.
| She rose and drew up the shades.
{ The perfume of lilacs came up
{ from a bush beneath the window
and brought back the spring of
| long ago—lilacs, the murmur of
growth, and two people under an |
umbrella . Just a week after
she met him.
That had been a momentous
night, a kind of prescience about
it from the second the Clements
had presented him. Fate did that
sometimes. Usually it worked
soundlessly, but once in a great
while it spoke a single word to
you—‘‘Now."
Ella Clement had said: “This is
our cousin, James Marsh, from
Philadelphia. He is opening an |
insurance agency here . " and
Ella had gone on chattering in her |
tangential way about the Marshes
living near some park, and her
visit to them once when she had
met some Senator-—what was his
name?—and the really very nice
people who lived in Philadelphia.
Later when they were alone for
a moment, Jim had smiled with
his enigmatic eyes—strange the
pull of some eyes—and said:
“They've told me about you. I've
been wondering how you got your
name, Fluvanna. I never heard it
before, but it has a nice sound,
like deep water flowing under a
bridge."
She had gone home that night
with a disturbance in her heart—
such as she had never known be-
fore, and said to herself: “If he
asks me, I shall marry him.” . . .
Yes, it had been like that.
She found a note under the
knocker on Kezia's door. “Wake
me at eight. I'm playing tennis.”
It was five minutes to eight now.
She rattled the knocker and heard |
a sleepy response from Kezia,
In the kitchen, Anna, a chunky |
girl of Roumanian parentage, |
turned from the stove with a liquid |
shine of welcome in her long dark
eyes. “G’'morning, Mis' Marsh.” |
“Good-morning, Anna. Break-|
fast almost ready?”
“Ready in ten minutes or so. 1|
haven't squeezed the oranges. Miss |
Kezia be down?" i
“Yes, she's getting up. She is |
going to play tennis with some |
friends. I'll go out to cut some |
flowers for the table.”
She went out to the garden. i
Eric Olsen, a young man who |
took care of the yard and the |
car, was cutting the tender lush |
grass. The mingled fragrance of |
the lilacs, the shorn grass, the wild |
crab, sent a tingling response |
through her being. She gathered |
a bouquet of dark blue iris, then |
clipped an armful of fragile nod- |
ding columbine. She wiped the |
garden mould from her feet be- |
fore the side door.
“Hello, Cousin Fluvanna,” called |
a youthful voice from inside. “I!
just walked in—been wandering |
about.” She held the screen open |
for Fluvanna.
“Ellen! . . . Been painting?”
“l had to—this morning! Love |
ly flowers—Ilet me take them.”
Fluvanna thought: “If you could
paint yourself among those flow-
ers, Ellen!” Aloud she said: “Just
in time for breakfast—you must
stay. Kezia will be down in a min-
ute. I'll call her—tell her you're
here.”
Ellen put out a detaining hand.
“Not yet—not just yet. 1 have
something to tell you.”
Fluvanna smiled. “Nice?”
“Very nice . . . I'm engaged.”
“No!"
“Yes, I am,” returned Ellen ec-
statically. “It happened last night!
«ss To Jerry!”
“Dear-~dear!” murmured Flu.
vanna. ‘“You told me quite a bit
about him, brought him “sa
still 1 didn’t think 80 soon
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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STAR
DUST
Movie + Radio
*
*%%kBy VIRGINIA VALE hk%
ANDOLPH SCOTT'S mar-
riage came as a surprise to
Hollywood; rumor has had the
handsome Randy about to pro-
pose to one motion picture star
So imagine the
3 20 2 2 20 20 20 20 20 2 20 2
X20 2 2 2 2 2 2% 2%
His bride is a member of the
and you may get some idea of how
father was a rich man. So—fame
one of the most eligible ones.
seen
be one of Fredric March's favorite
Si pictures; he
the role the best of
any he'd had in a
long time, and gave |
a magnificent per-
formance when the
cameras turned.
Judging from its
early reception, the
picture is going to
be a favorite with
film fans, too. The
versatile March
knows a “fat” part
when he sees it. He
demonstrated that
in his portrayal of Bothwell in
“Mary Queen of Scotland” in which
Katharine Hepburn starred as the
ill-fated monarch.
—— A
Olivia de Haviland’'s very beau-
tiful Younger sister, Jean Fontaine,
has been signed up for pictures by
Jesse Lasky, the old star-maker (at
the moment of this writing it's still
So remember the name
and look for the face, for it's dol-
lars to doughnuts that she will be
one of the big names in pictures be-
fore very long.
— —
Fredric
March
Of course you've heard Peter Van
Steeden’s band on the radio—now he
declares that some day you may |
hear his daughter play. She is |
only a year and a half old, but she |
likes her toy piano better than any-
thing else, and he swears that she
can play several notes of “The Mes
ry Widow Waltz" on it. i
—
Edgar Guest is known far and
wide as a poet; in fact, the name of |
“Eddie Guest” is a household |
word. But—he wishes that you knew |
him as a musician. In the broad-
casting studios he gazes wistfully
at the flying fingers of the pianist |
program; he said recently to a|
friend “If I could only get out of |
my typewriter what those fellows |
get out of their instruments” —not |
realizing that the poems he writes |
are music to the ears of multitudes. |
fn
Robert Taylor is getting more fan |
mail than anyone else on the Met- |
ro lot—including Clark Gable. And |
long-term |
and espe- |
Also, he is |
still devoted to Barbara Stanwyck.
fn
Charles Boyer and his wife, Pat
Patterson, paused a day in New
York on their way to Europe: it |
was one of the hottest days of a |
contracts, big salaries,
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wore one too. They must have be-
lieved what Californians say about
New York weather. He very dip-
lomatically said nothing about the
making of “The Garden of Allah,”
his latest picture.
sir fine
Fred Astaire made all arrange-
ments for his new broadcasting se-
ries before he
hopped off for Eu-
most of which will
be spent with his
sister and former
dancing partner,
Lady Cavendish.
He'll begin broad-
casting September
8, and Jack Benny
will give him a
send-off, just for
luck. Movie fans
are wondering what
the next film vehicle of the dancing
king oy his partner Ginger Rogers
. tan
Animals, Insects Carry
On at Their Own Trades
Nearly all animals carry on a
regular business and in their va-
riety represent various trades
among men, says an article in a
newspaper more than seventy-four
years old, and reprinted by the New
There are no better geometri-
cians among men than bees. Their
cells are so constructed that with
the least quantity of material they
have the largest sized spaces and
the least possible interstices. The
mole is meteorologist. The bird
called the ninekiller is an arithme-
tician; also the crow, the wild tur-
key, and other birds. The torpedo,
the day, and the electric eel are
electricians. The nautilus is a navi-
gator. He raises and lowers his
sails, casts and weighs anchor and
performs nautical feats. Whole
tribes of birds are musicians.
The beaver is an architect, build-
er and wood-cutter, He cuts down
trees and erects houses and dams.
The marmot is a civil engineer. He
but con-
structs aqueducts and drains to
The ant maintains a
standing army. Wasps are paper
manufacturers. Caterpillars are
silk-spinners. The squirrel is a fer-
ryman. With a chip or a piece of
bark for a boat, and his tail for a
sail, he crosses a stream. Dogs,
wolves, jackals, and many others,
are hunters.
The black bear @hd heron are
fishermen. The ants are day labor-
ers. The monkey is a dandy and
rope-dancer. There are also sloths
and burglars and “black - legs”
among animals, but they are not
quite so bad as those found among
regular
Third-Eye Reptile
A creature allied to the lizard is
has been called ‘the living fossil,”
for it is the sole living representa-
tive of the ancient reptiles which
roamed over this world millions of
years ago. It retains traces of the |
third eye which was a feature of |
some of the terrible monsters of the
past. The tuatara is supposed to be |
the parent of all lizards. |
Third Amendment Not Used
No case in American history has |
arisen under that clause of the |
third amendment to the Constitu- |
tion which reads, “No soldier shall, |
i
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in time of peace, be quartered in
any house without the consent,” ete. |
But when drawn it was important |
as a remembrance of British oc- |
cupancy of private homes.
Magnet Has the Power of
Repulsion and Attraction
The most peculiar property of
iron seems to be its power of mag-
netism, says Ireland's Own. The
natural magnet is a ponderous iron
stone of a blackish color. It is sup-
posed to derive its magnetic power
from the position in which it lay in
the earth, for a bar of iron if
suspended in a particular direction
for some time becomes magnetic,
If one of these natural magnets
be broken into pieces each piece
will have the property of attracting
iron and communicating to it mag-
netic power by friction—thus if a
needle be rubbed from its eye to
its point a few times over the North
pole of a magnet and then stuck in
a small cork to swim on water, the
eye will veer towards the north and
the point towards the south. In
this way the Chinese in early days
formed their mariners compass, a
guide on which they could rely at
all times with perfect safety
The magnet has a power of repul-
sion as well as of attraction. Each
natural magnet has an attracting
and a repelling pole, and the space
between the poles will neither at-
tract nor repel. In one of the
palaces of Portugal was one of
these natural magnets, of so large
a size that it was capable of sus-
taining a weight of two hundred
pounds; it was a present from the
Galapagos Tortoise Can
Count Age by Centuries
The early Spanish explorers
named the Galapagos islands after
the huge tortoises they found on the
beaches. The islands lie some 700
miles west of Ecuador in the Pacific
and were ports of call, first for
pirate craft, then men of war and
New England whalers, observes a
writer in the Washington Star.
The tortoises were tame, abun-
dant and easily captured. hey
lived for weeks below decks with-
out feeding, and were a cheap
source of fresh meat. Early his-
torians said that as many as 100,000
of them were removed from the is-
lands in a single year.
The old papers of whalers out of
Salem recorded that the officers fed
at least a dozen varieties on the
In the early days tortoises five
feet long and weighing up to 400
pounds were common.
The numbers of the tortoises also
have been reduced by wild dogs
and pigs, which feed on the eggs.
vive while smaller members of
their family thrive in many
quarters of the world.
Sign of Respect
In Masal Land, East Africa, spitting
is a token of respect. Before advanc-
ing to shake hands he will expectorate
freely into his palm. He spits before
any important event, or at the com
ing of a friend or superior.
A CARTON OF
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LAMPS ON HAND
LAMPS burn out only when
they are in use. Have a
carton of assorted sizes on
hand to replace them when
you need them.
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watts 15¢
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