The Photo-Play Journal (May 1916-Apr 1917)

THE PHOTO-PLAY JOURNAL FOR JUNE, 1916. PAGE 7 In her desperation she appealed to her father who had never failed her yet. gest total of all on a day. This made her a favorite with the landlady, who in consequence made especial efforts to "civilize" the pretty young Jewess. But there came a night when the place was raided. A new inspector of police brought Berna and the other girls into the Court as lawbreakers. As each stood before the magistrate in his highly civilized state, he barked : "Guilty or not guilty twenty-five-andcosts-next-case." All in one breath. Almost before Berna realized she was being tried for crime before an American Judge, she found herself in a cab with Madame Spreenia, speeding back to the house they'd left so hastily the night before. "Don't shiver so, kid," laughed Madame by her side. "McManus paid our fines. "We'll be on the job again tonight, and that fresh inspector will get his transfer to the woods." But Berna was too shaken by the experience to take it calmly. She carefully put away a dollar every now and then until she felt safe, and one morning Madame Spreenia phoned McManus : "Send me another 'broad' as soon as you can. And no kykes, please. They get civilized too quick, and begin to save up for a store of their own." In the cabaret Berna frequented after that she found much money could be made and there was no one to "split" it with. She learned much from the other girls who came and went. Secretly they envied her, because she had no man — on the surface they appeared to despise her lonely state. "That's Nick Turgenev. lie's fiddled here quite a while," a companion answered her when one night she noticed a young Russian playing the violin near the table at which she sat. "He don't bother with women any — and he'd be expensive for one of us," her informant added. But Berna had learned a few things of men by then. Less than three months later she and Nicholas were man and wife, and she was spending all that she could make on him. He was ambitious as was she for him, and much of her earnings went toward the training of his innate musical talent. Soon he began to attract attention. He got better engagements. His vanity was great and applause added to it. But his superior demeanor as he climbed did not disturb Berna. A baby was coming, and she smiled to herself when her husband boasted of his family. What had family to do with love ? Fate and civilization were not through with this girl, however. Her husband met Ellen McManus at a reception, where he was lionized by the guests, and Ellen fell in love with him at once. Through her father's power and money she made sure of his success, and then set about winning him for herself. Flattered by her attentions, Nicholas took occasion to let her know that he was of good family. But it soon became necessary for him to reveal more. He told her of his wife, adding that she was a woman of the streets, whom he had married out of pity. Staggered for a moment, but too much her father's daughter to be long balked of her desires, Ellen sent for Berna and offered to pay her to give up her husband. "But I myself bought him!" she told the great lady. "He is mine. I do not wish to sell. Besides, we have a baby." She said nothing to her husband of this, but read in his abuse and neglect, then, the truth. She had made a bad bargain. In desperation Ellen appealed to her father, telling him of the miserable woman who kept her from the man she had set her heart upon. McManus was not favorably impressed, but he never refused his daughter anything. Besides he learned of Nicholas' family, and that he was rapidly developing into a great musician. "I'll move the wife, don't worry," he told his daughter finally, and set about it at once without inquiring more than the address of the pair. Nicholas did not come home for several days. Berna wondered but little and wept much. It seemed to her impossible that her baby's father could be so "civilized" as to desert them both ! The fourth day there came a knock at her door. Berna opened fearfully. Her husband and two strange companions entered. "Where is he hidden ?" said Nicholas, avoiding her eye. "The baby is here," she answered, turning to the cradle. And then the third tool of McManus crept in through the fire escape and crawled beneath the bed. Berna turned from her child to see her husband and his companions dragging a stranger into the centre of the room. She stood in amazement as the hired tool pretended to cringe before Nicholas and beg for his life. Then she realized what her husband plotted and that he had powerful friends to aid him. "I shall fight the case," she said simply as they made their way out, taking notes, so that memory should not fail them on the stand in the divorce court later. It was the baby that inspired her to speak. It was all too horribly easy, though. The case came before Judge McManus himself. He was only irritated that this woman should make a fight and called her before him. Until that moment neither had a suspicion of the identity of the other, but Berna recognized her seducer at once, despite his position and dignity upon the bench. It all came over her like a flash. The daughter of the man by whom she had been ruined wanted her husband. It seemed impossible that her baby's father could be so " civilized as to desert both