It was almost midnight.
In the sunroom the little jazz band had just swung into the soft
melody of "I Want to Be Happy."
"Oh, don't play that thing! Play 'A Couple of Cups of Tea for Two,'"
called Bill Hough. He and Gloria were dancing together.
Gloria left him and went over to the leader.
"Will you please play 'Tea for Two' again?" she asked him. He had
played "Tea for Two" a dozen times before that evening. Bill Hough
had insisted upon it.
"Come on, Gloria!" Bill called now across the hubbub of the room.
"Come on! Strut your stuff!"
Gloria returned to him. They began to dance.
She wished Bill Hough weren't so loud. She could see the cold, gray
eyes of Myra Gail fixed on him with a sort of disgust as he danced
madly around the room.
She wanted to make a good impression upon Myra Gail. She wanted to
be friends with her.
Because, if she could make Dick pay for it, she intended to go to
Europe next summer with Myra.
Through the smoky haze of the living-room she suddenly saw Stan
Wayburn standing in the doorway. She had not seen him come in ...
She started toward him. Then she felt a hand on her arm.
Dick!
"There's your interior decorator man," he said. "How in the world
did you happen to invite him to-night?"
For a second Gloria thought she was going to faint.
The bright room whirled around her. She caught hold of a lapel of
Dick's coat to steady herself.... She tried to smile.
"What did you say, dear?" she gasped. "There's such a racket in the
room that I can scarcely hear your voice."
Dick did not return her smile. His face was stern.
"I said," he repeated slowly, "I said that the man I saw leaving this
house the other afternoon is standing over there by the door.... How
did you ever happen to ask him here to-night ... a man who had sold
us a few lamp shades? Or is he a friend of yours?"
Every word Dick said fell on Gloria's heart like a hammer blow.
... Still she could find no answer.
She had no idea that Dick had seen Wayburn's face when he had met him
leaving the house the other day!
... How could she ever explain to Dick that she had lied to him when
she had said that Wayburn was a decorator calling about the lamp
shades?
... How could she tell him the truth? That Wayburn really was an
actor, who had had no business to be in Dick's house that day making
love to Dick's wife!
Well, she just couldn't! And that was all there was to it!
No. The only way out was to bluff it through! ... To tell another
lie to cover the first one! ... And that ought to be easy enough.
So Gloria threw back her shining head and laughed.
"You're seeing things, Dicky!" she cried. "You're lit.... That
isn't my lamp-shade man or anybody like him! That's Stanley Wayburn,
who played here in stock all last winter. Don't you remember him?
... You're cuckoo! Just plain cuckoo! ... I'll have to cut off your
drinks to-night, I can see that!"
She left him. Dizzily she threaded her way through the dancers to
Wayburn's side.
The air in the hot rooms was heavy with the smell of perfume and
alcohol. It made her giddy.
"How nice of you to come!" Gloria smiled up at Wayburn. He took her
hand. The hard pressure of his palm thrilled her, somehow.... She
felt as if he had taken her in his arms.
The pearls on Gloria's breast stirred as she sighed deeply.
"Come along," she said. "I want you to meet my husband."
Together they went back to Dick's corner. He was in a brown study.
"Dick," Gloria said, "I want you to know an old friend of mine,
Stanley Wayburn. You've heard of him, of course.... Some day Stan
is going to back the Barrymore brothers right off the boards! ...
Come out into the dining-room, Stan, and I'll give you a drink while
nobody's looking."
Dick watched them as they went.
Gloria could feel his angry eyes upon her.
There was a sick, shaky feeling at the pit of her stomach.
She was terribly afraid that Dick knew now that she had lied....
She was sure that he suspected that Wayburn and the "lamp-shade man"
were one and the same person!
Suddenly something she had heard her grandmother say long ago flashed
into her mind.... "You can lock up from a thief, but you can't lock
up from a liar!"
On one end of the long table in the dining-room was a huge punch bowl
filled with iced fruit-juice and gin.
Gloria filled two glasses with the bitter-sweet stuff.
"I call this my Indian Guide cocktail because it'll lead you astray,
Stan!" she cried recklessly. And drained her glass.
Then Gloria went on in a low tone.
"Whatever you do, don't pay any attention to me, to-night!" she said.
Stan raised his eyebrows. "Why not?" he asked.
"Because I have the most jealous husband in the world," Gloria
answered. "And he saw you leaving the house the other day ... or
thinks he did. Here comes Myra Gail! Give her a thrill ... she's
not having a very gay time."
Mrs. Gail trailed into the room. Behind one hand she hid a tiny yawn.
"Myra, dear," Gloria said loudly, "here's a nice little boy friend
for you! Mr. Wayburn's just been telling me that he's dying to meet
you...."
She was filling three more cocktail glasses as she spoke. She
emptied her own, and left Wayburn with Myra.
Gloria's head was going around and around. There was a singing in
her ears. She knew she had had too much to drink. Much too much!
Gloria started up the stairs. She wanted just one thing in the world
... to lie down on her own bed and go to sleep!
But the stairs seemed to be made of rubber. She couldn't stand on
them.
Suddenly a plate of sandwiches appeared before her.
"Here, eat a blotter!" came Bill Hough's voice. "It'll soak up some
of the gin you've been drinking.... Better sober up, old girl,
before Dick sees you!"
But Gloria pushed Bill and his sandwiches away.
She swayed into the living-room. The jazz band was playing "Oh,
Peter!" But nobody was dancing.
On the davenport May Seymour and Jim Carewe were sitting close
together, blowing smoke rings at the ceiling.
Gloria crossed the room to them.
"Why don't you get up and dance?" she asked. "Band's playing 'Oh,
Peter!' Mos' wonderful music in the world...."
May Seymour took one look at Gloria's white face and starry eyes.
"Sit down here!" she ordered. "Gloria, you've had too much to drink.
Make her sit down, Jim!"
But Gloria drifted away. The room seemed to be filled with golden
fog.... She was very warm and dizzy. She reeled a little.
"I may have had too much to drink, but I'm still going good!" she
said to the world at large.
"You certainly are!" It was Dick's voice. He and Lola Hough seemed
to swim before her eyes.
"Here, take her out into the kitchen, Lola," Gloria heard Dick say,
"and tell Maggie to give her some strong black coffee. See if you
can sober her up.... If Myra Gail and the rest of the women see her
like this they'll tell it all over town to-morrow!"
The next thing Gloria knew she was sitting in her own white kitchen.
She didn't know how she had got there.
Through the golden fog she could see Maggie cutting sandwiches.
"I'd always heard that women smoked and drank," Gloria heard Maggie
say to Mrs. Hough, "but I never expected to see it! ... Not in Mr.
Dick's house, anyway!"
She cut bread viciously.
"Aw, Maggie, what's a little drink among friends?" Gloria asked
cheerfully. She was feeling very happy. The dizzy feeling had left
her.
"It's not so much the drink itself ... It's the way drink makes folks
act ... especially women folks!" snorted Maggie. "Look at yourself,
right this minute, Mrs. Gregory, ma'am! ... and that Mrs. Gail in the
dining-room! Her that's so cold, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!
... Well, go and take a look at her now, if you think she's so prim."
Gloria rose to her feet, but Lola caught her by one bare arm.
"No, no, dear!" she pleaded. "Don't go now. Wait until you've had
your coffee..."
But Gloria had torn herself away.
Uncertainly she pushed open the door between the pantry and the
dining-room.
Some one had turned out the lights. The dining-room was in half
darkness.
And standing in the breakfast alcove were Myra Gail and Stan Wayburn,
locked in one another's arms!
Gloria gave a little moan. She put out one hand and turned on the
wall lights.
Instantly the pair in the alcove sprang apart Gloria laughed bitterly.
"Well, Stan, you certainly are a fast worker!" she said. "You'll
pardon me for spoiling your clubby little party, won't you? ... You
see, I'm afraid to go 'round in the dark."
Gloria walked shakily to the buffet. She drank another cocktail.
She wanted to cry. But instead she turned out the lights again and
walked out of the room.
She'd show Stanley Wayburn that she wasn't jealous!
She'd show him that it meant nothing to her how many times he might
kiss Myra Gail ... or any other woman!
... What was he in her life, anyway?
Nothing but a third-rate actor who happened to look like Valentino!
... And yet, somehow, the sight of him kissing Myra Gail had spoiled
Gloria's whole evening....
Some one laid a hand on her bare arm. Gloria turned.
Stan!
"Look here, Russet!" he said, "what are you so sore about? You told
me to give your sad-eyed friend a thrill, and I did my best to give
her one."
"I'll say you did!" Gloria answered. "And anyway I'm not sore about
it. I dare say you've kissed hundreds of women.... Why should I
worry about your kissing Myra Gail?"
She went back into the kitchen.
"I'll have that coffee now, please," she said to Maggie, "and then
let's serve supper. I'm sick and tired of this party, anyway!"
She drank her coffee. May and Jim came in. Jim was carrying two
cocktail glasses.
May drank the contents of both, daintily.
"I drink to Married Life!" she cried. "Scrappy days!"
May was a kitchen drinker. Dr. John, her husband, had forbidden her
to drink. So May had to have her cocktails when he was out of sight.
"I wish to goodness some kind patient would send in a hurry call for
my hubby," May said now. "It cramps my style terribly to have him
around at parties.... He's so afraid I might happen to have a good
time! Go, hunt him up, Gloria, and dance with him, while I have my
little drink in peace!"
Gloria went. She found Dr. John and Lola Hough sitting on the stairs
talking about Lola's babies.
"You haven't danced with me all evening, Dr. Johnny," Gloria pouted.
Instantly the doctor was on his feet. He put his arms around Gloria,
but she slipped out of them.
She crumpled up in a heap on the floor!
Gloria lay there without moving....
But she seemed to be going around and around ... and around. There
was a sound like rushing wind in her ears.
Above it she heard Myra Gail's high voice.
"Our hostess seems to have passed out of the picture," she was
saying. "I thought she was drinking more than she could stand!"
Then Gloria felt Dick's arms around her.
Without opening her eyes she knew they were Dick's arms. Strong as
steel....
"She'll be all right in a minute ... she was a bit dizzy," Gloria
heard Dr. John's kind voice. "I tell you, Dick, these girls
shouldn't drink! They can't get away with it. Nobody can!"
Dick made no answer. He picked his wife up in his arms.
... "Good-night, Sappho!" the girl heard Bill Hough call in his
clownish way. And she knew that Dick was carrying her upstairs.
She felt him tugging at the snaps on her dress ... pulling off her
silver slippers and stockings.
And then, at last, she was in bed.
Oh, the cool, delicious feeling of the pillows ... the comfort of the
quiet room!
Gloria half opened her eyes.
Dick was hanging her clothes neatly over the back of a chair.... He
really was a dear, after all.
She tried to tell him so. But she was too tired.... If only the
sick feeling in her stomach would go away! Ugh!
What a ghastly party!
And what a fool she had made of herself!
If only she hadn't asked Stan Wayburn to come!
For Gloria knew that if she hadn't been so upset about Wayburn and
Myra, she would never have taken those last two cocktails, and then
fainted!
... That was the effect Wayburn had always had upon her ... to make
her do wild, reckless things that she didn't want to do! Things that
she was ashamed of afterward!
Dick was worth ten Stanley Wayburns.... And yet Dick couldn't make
her glow and tremble by simply clasping her hand, as Stan could!
... And Gloria wondered if she would care if she came upon Dick
kissing another woman.
She supposed she would.... She wasn't sure. But then Dick wouldn't
do such a thing!
There floated up to her sounds of the merrymaking downstairs.
The jazz band was playing "Tea for Two" again.
Some one was singing it in a husky tenor ... Stan Wayburn's voice!
"Nobody near us,
"To see us, or hear us...."
Gloria clenched her little hands. The nails bit into her palms.
... In her mind's eye she could see Myra Gail watching Stan with her
long gray eyes. And Stan, no doubt, was singing the lovesick words
straight at her!
... Well, Gloria made up her mind, she'd soon put a stop to that!
"Dick!" she called sharply. Her mind was almost clear again.
"Well," he answered. He was standing looking out of the window.
"Don't you think you ought to go down to our guests?" Gloria asked.
"Tell Maggie to serve supper right away. Then they'll go home. I'm
so tired of the noise I could die! ... Get rid of them all, please!"
Dick came over to her. He sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Gloria," he said harshly, "I'm going to ask you a question. And I
want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! Get me?"
Gloria nodded. She held her breath.
"This fellow Wayburn.... How long have you known him?"
"Oh, a couple of years. I used to have a sort of kid's crush on
him," Gloria answered.
"And you still have?" Dick asked. "You still have a crush on him?"
Gloria closed her eyes.
"I wouldn't answer your foolish question!" she said. "Look here,
Dick Gregory, what do you think you're doing ... giving me the third
degree?"
Dick set his square jaw. Suddenly he seized Gloria in those flexible
steel hands of his. He shook her.
"Answer me!" he said. "You are in love with him, aren't you?"
Gloria gave a little scream.
"Oh, you're hurting me!" she cried.
Dick loosened his hold. There were white marks on the pale-rose
flesh of her arm where his fingers had pressed.
Instantly he was all tenderness.
"Darling, I did hurt you! I'm sorry," he said.
Gloria leaned back on the pillows and closed her burning eyes. Dick
stroked her hair back from her damp forehead.
... How like a child she was, he thought, with her love of fun and
pretty clothes!
He looked at the dress Gloria had worn that night, as it lay across
the back of a chair. He wondered what staggering sum she had paid
for it.... Well, when the bill came in he would pay it cheerfully,
no matter what it was!
For, after all, she was his only reason for working and making money.
Without her ... well, Dick couldn't picture life without Gloria!
There was a knock on the door. Then Maggie's troubled voice.
"Mr. Dick," she called. "Shall I serve supper or not? The company
seems to be leaving. Something's happened. You'd better come
downstairs!"
Gloria opened her eyes.
"There, you see!" she cried. "I told you to go downstairs and get
that wild crowd out of the house before the whole party went blooey!
... What's happened, Maggie?"
But Maggie had followed Dick downstairs.
Gloria crept out of bed. Her head swam. But she went out into the
hall to listen.
Below there was a babble of voices. The front door slammed.
Then she heard some one running up the stairs toward her.... It was
Lola Hough. She was crying.
"What in the world is the matter down there? What's happened?"
Gloria whispered. She drew Lola into her bedroom and closed the door.
She was much more interested in the outcome of her party than in
Lola's tears just now.
"Oh, it was just me and my crazy jealousy!" Lola sobbed. She had
sunk down upon the floor beside Gloria's dressing-table. "You know
... you know Bill's always been wild about May Seymour! And she
doesn't give a snap of her fingers about him! ... Well, he was trying
to kiss her behind the curtains in your sunroom, and I saw him....
And I guess I lost my head...." Her voice ended in a burst of
sobbing.
"What did you do when you lost your head?" Gloria asked coldly.
She had no sympathy for this shabby woman who did not know how to
hold her husband.... It was her own fault if he made love to women
who had sense enough to take care of their looks ... to keep their
"pep" and style!
"Oh, I bawled him out in front of everybody," Lola replied dismally.
"I bawled the whole crowd out! ... I 'said my soul' about these
drinking parties! ... Somebody's husband and somebody else's wife
making love in dark corners! Everybody getting pie-eyed and spoony!"
Lola stopped to wipe her eyes. Then she went on.
"What fun married people get out of petting parties like these I fail
to see!" she cried. "To me they're horrors!"
Gloria drew in her breath. When she spoke her voice tinkled like ice
in a glass.
"Well, Lola," she said, sarcastically, "I'm glad you enjoyed my
party!"
Lola stood up and began to brush her hair before the mirror.
"Oh, I know I've made you angry, Gloria," she said. "But I've
reached the point where I don't care what people think of me! ...
Bill's just driving me crazy. He's never at home! He hardly ever
gives me a cent for the house! I'm up to my eyes in debt.... And
then when we go out any place where May Seymour is, he drinks and
makes a fool of himself over her...."
"And what does May do? She snaps her fingers at him!" Gloria broke
in. "And that's why he's in love with her ... because she doesn't
care whether he lives or dies! ... Oh, can't you see, Lola, that the
way to make Bill love you is to treat him like a doormat?"
... Lola looked at her, wide-eyed.
"How could I ever treat Bill like a doormat? Why, I love Bill!" she
cried. "He's all I love in the world ... besides the babies!"
"Yes, the babies! Always the babies!" Gloria mimicked her. "The
babies are all you think about! ... Your whole house is run for the
babies! No man wants his home to be a day nursery!"
"What does he want it to be, then?" Lola asked.
"A jazz palace!" Gloria told her. "You show your husband a good time
at home ... and he won't wander all over town looking for it
somewhere else! Show a little pep, Lola! ... Go out and buy yourself
a face massage and some new clothes ... and make Bill foot the bills!"
But Lola shook her head.
"You don't know Bill," she said. "He never pays for anything!"
Gloria looked at her.
Lola's hair was faded. Her mouth drooped. Her sallow skin was
innocent of powder.... And she had worn that same blue foulard dress
to every party for the last two years!
She was beaten ... whipped. Life had passed her by.
Well, that was what Life did to you if you let it!
That was what a husband did, if you let him get away with it!
... And just let Dick try to keep from her ... from Gloria Gordon
Gregory ... the things that were coming to her! The attention! The
clothes! The good times!
She'd be no Lola Hough to sit by and cry! Not this year ... or any
other!