DID IT HAPPEN ?
THE CHINA MAIL, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1955.
THE SCENE ON
THE BALCONY
| | | 133 HETETLE
LIKE to believe now that this strange from my incident "youth, and the sequel which followed it, may be the attributed partly to effect that a bottle of win ordinaire had upon an over- stimulated imagination; and partly to sheer coincidence, I am not denying, however, that a quite different inter- pretation could be put upon it.
In the summer of 1926 I was invited by a friend to join him on a holiday in the # South of France. He assured that the couple at
me
whose villa he was to stay, would be delighted to see me. And he was perfectly right. For my hosts,
Captain and Mrs Tharby. could not have given me warmer welcome.
Well-preserved
ન
FACT or FICTION? Read this problem
story and judge for yourself. The answer
"
will be published tomorrow.
| By SEWELL
STOKES
BIOGRAPHER, of Isadora
Dublished
Duncan and Gladys Cooper, Bow Street proba- tion officer, film critic, prison visitor, Dick Barton's vet at 52, Sewell Stokes has been all this and much else. Oscar Wilde-the sub- ject of his pre-war clay-15 also the inspiration di a new novel
be to shortly. Born
Hampstead and educated at Canleigh, Stokes is one of the few bachelors who can calm to be a recognised expert on child behaviour. He lives. in Great Russell Street, near the British Musaum.
at
covered that her husband drank far more than was good for him, and in his moments of elation developed a top-roving eve,
She decided, therefore, that a more secluded life,.somewhere. abroad, would suit them better. and since the money was hers, she had no difficulty in persuad- ing the Captain that her decision was the right one.
Native pride
In similar circumstances an Englishwoman would no doubt have managed to rid herself of of such an unsatisfactory partner. But her native pride would not allow Mrs Tharby to admit- save in the strictest confidence that her marriage was not all it might have been. !
It was in little bursts of con- dence that she
gave me those details of her earlier days. Out to him, she never or paity
directly against the Cap- Spoke tain She treas odd behaviour; aware, I suppose, that I could scarcely have helped noticing those occasions when he was not quite himselt.
rather,
Drawing by Kootman
in a flash, it seemed, he pro- duced a revolver and shot her
in
trial.
Aner that summer I never
Ofter
Bnally
A 12w
Nathaniel Gubbins
SHALL never know And at home, although the dressed Communists living in
neat little suburban housea, why. May, the month election got by with a few half
Perhaps hearted scuffles, there was the
this horrible little of beauty and blossom- case of retired Colonel Green, man who said "Pardon?” was ing, is also the month of who summoned his son-in-law one of them? Perhaps he was violence...
for throwing a plateful of six spending Russian gold trying to cold sausages at him.
sorape an acquaintance with Mr Sparrowgrass, trying to convert When asked if In
retired
Mr Sparrowgrass? Why," of colonel ought to be afraid of six.
course. That was it. cold sausages, the colonel plied, "I am not afraid of my son-in-law or six cold sausages. But, in fact, there were seven cold sausages, and two of them caught me on the car."
Many years ago May 1 was chose us Labour Day. times of unemployment there were marches through the streets with banners and fights with the police,
May is also the favourite month for strikes. In May last year there was a railway strike. This year there were dock and railway strikes.
of
that
FL
You have to be pretty steady under are to count the ammual Hon.
This time it was Mr Sparrow- grass who swayed towards Mr Blowpudding and said:
Dirdyrottenicusycommunist.“
ding
"para" sald Mr Blowpud-
"You stink," said Mr. Spire rowgrass,
*Time
puddin day, Stinker.”
counter,--
gentlemen, please," But apart trom industrial
shrilled the nervous barata. troubles you will notice
Then there was the case of
Mr Sparrowgrass released his ordinary
peaceable the 6ft, father who complained hold on
and citizens,
glass enough during the winter, are in the Bristol, Juvenile Cour measured his distance to the said to Mr Blow- suddenly fali hatred for that his eight-year-old son had exit and other citizens at the very time hit him so hard and frequently when young birds are singing with a hammer that neighbours hopefully in the trees, believing, were obliged to send for the despite the experience
of older police. birds, that there is such a thing as an English surenér.
Right at the
beginning of the month the Frinton and Walton Urban District Council made up
beth
and Councillor Parker must sit on opposite sides of the debating table because Counell- lor Parker gave Councillor Narbeth a push. As the meet ng Councillor Parker said that Councillor Narbeth amateur phrenologist and made rude. remarks about the shape of other counelllors' heads.
was 助
The Tharby's villa was situated alive, I might have done worse its mind that Councillor Nar-
somewhat remote spot about than consult him. three miles cut of Antibes, and was reached by a tortuous road winding up into the hills. In the saw the Tharbys again. heat of
of the day this climb was letters passed between us; I sent something of a
But at them a copy of the book I had night-time one minded it less, written while enjoying their And on the night in question I hospitality, and
our welcomed the opportunity it communications dwindled to an afforded me of covering from exchange of Christmas cards. a convivial evening.
I would think of Mrs In the company of several Tharby, seeing her in my mind's friends from England whom I eye as she had sat in bar villa The next day it was reported had chanced to meet at a cafe all those
Mr Frederick George ago, a lonely that a year's in the town, I had drunk woman,
older along Perkins
share growing
62-year-old the arm of Sidney more of the cheap with the man she had married bolder in decidedly
Co., Ltd., had French wine than I was accus so impulsively. And things she Slavel and
and tomatoes at tomed to. I felt none too steady had said to me when I was a thrown eggs
I sometimes re- the chairman and missed him at mag.. when the time came to take my young leave of
them.
Nor had 1 membered, and saw in the light a range of four yards.
But on this May morning, altogether recovered on arriving of experience what wise things
villa. back at the
So, on a they were.
evidently distrusting his marks I sat the grounds
chair- manship, he struck the seat in wandering if it was practicable
man on the temple, hurled his spectacles at him, was fined £5 That Mrs Tharby was a lonely for me to manage the stairs to
and bound over for 12 months woman became
increasingly my bedroom without disturbing
to keep the peace, evident; and 1 understood what the household. she had meant by saying that In the bright moonlight the
Not until some time after the I would be doing a kindness in villa looked like an immense iced
its every
detal thrown war had ended, did I learn what prolonging
She cake,
had become of the Tharbys. The obviously enjoyed the company clearly into relief. There was a
reached me in a mat of even such an immature person stillness over everything, and I
had the impression of watching casual manner. A man I met at on empty stage, waiting for the party, who had lived for many still had his house there, remembered the they
he had never couple, though he actually known them. It hardly that both were dead. After all, surprised me to learn from him they were getting on in years when I had known them.
my stay.
At the end of three weeks my friend had to return to his regular job in London. But since my own job-I was writing a book at the time-could be done iri place as as well in one another. Mrs Tharby made a suggestion. Why should I not stay on at the villa for as long as 1
1 cared 1c.. enjoying the brilliant sunshine and the blus England with him, she had met Mediterranean to which I had and instantly fallen in love with, She Captain Tharby, a retired Army become greatly attached? and her husband, she said, would fleer of uncommonly handsome. consider it a kindness on my appearance. They were married
If occasionally they did ex- within a month of meeting cre part,
change a sitary word, it could another Mrs Tharby was a Parisian.
Lot uthfully be said that the While no longer young, what
For a lime all seemed weli Tharbys ever quarrelled. Not in beauty had been hers, was won- with them. They were asked my presence, at any rate. Indeed, derfully well
preserved,
The out everywhere, and themselves they appeared on the whole to daughter. 0: distinguished axertained on
3
exten- be quite good friends in their mental specialist, she had for sive scale at a house they had way, which made all the more many years acted as her father's taken in Eaton Square. But surprising the strange scene that
Mrs Tharby dis- I witnessed late one night. to before ng
secretary. Then, on 1 visit
a fairy
as myself.
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news.
Sad end
actors to appear. Which suddenly ars at Antibes,
to appear. Which suddenly
followed closely by the Captain. They stepped through the tall windows on to the balcony out
I thought side their bedroom. they had merely come out for a breath of air. But their actions soon proved otherwise.
Passionate embrace'
the
But the man's next words shook me a utile:
"Their, end was rather sad. you know. At their time of For some
seconds they lite they didn't feel equal to remained side by side, gazing facing the consequences of an cut towards
distant aca.vasion. So just before the Then the Captain embraced his Ger
Germans marched in, Captain wife passionately. Mrs Tharby Tharby shot his wife, and then clung to him with equal fervour. himself. He left a note for the Upon his releasing her, she magistrate, making it quite clear moved backwards a few paces, that what he was about to do, and stood facing her husband.
And then, in a flash it seemed, he did with his wife's consent." he produced a revolver and shot The more I think of it, the Her. She fell to the ground. more convinced I am that my And with his head lowered the
remote connection with the Captain turned quickly back tragedy was purely coincl-
into the room.
Much as I wanted to believe the contrary, 1 was convinced that the ghastly thing had hap pened. At first I couldn't bring myself to move, so frozen was with borror; and it must have been at least a quarter of an bour before I found the cour age to go to my room-immedi ately above the Tharby's fling
HP
the window, and peer down
on to their balcony. Where Mrs Tharby's prostrate body should have been, nothing whatever was to be seen.
After that, I dare say I'd have looked upon the incident as no more than the result of a bad dream; had not been for certain fact that it recalled to my mind. A few years before, when I was 19, a woman novel ist who prided herself on being that psychic, had informed me
I was too. At the time I had thought she was talking abso- lute nonsense. But now I wasn't 90 sure;
dental.
WORLD COPYRIGHT RESERVED
DID IT REALLY HAPPEN?
YES
NO
© Pet your Dick in the space abuse and keep this panel by von votil tomorrow whan the oazwer will be given-with another stort in this series by
ORSON WELLES
Did yesterday's story-The Paramount Chief's Revengs, by.. Elspeth Huxley actually happen? Answer - YES.
It was in the evening sun- shine of May that Rocky Mar- of the ciano appeared guilty attempted manslaughter of Don Cockell, and it was in May that there was some vielous quarrel
ng and fighting between some Vietnamese characters with the of Ngo Dinh beautiful names Diem, Van Voh Vy Van Tee Ty and Tran Trang Dung. Pham Cong Tac. Lee Van Vien,
MAUDIE LITTLEHAMPTON ON HOLIDAY by OSBERT LANCASTER
"Maudie! Please remember all those things'- you're always saying about the way American debi be have outside Buckingham
Palace!"
+
"S'not day," said Mr Blow- pudding. "Snight"
"Goo-night, then," said Mr Sparrowgrass.
Asked if the dear little chap ever played with other boys, his
"Goo-day, said Mr Blow-
as he pudding
watched Mr mother said, "No. He prefers to play with us"
Sparrowgrass fall over a stool How can cricket, football, by the door. leapfrog, hop-scotch, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians Tale Of A Snail compete with the fun of hitting your father with a hammer? At The Purple Bison
Sparrowgrass
und Mr M Bicwpudding
had beer standing at the bar of he Purple Bison for a long time,
They were rocking backwards and forwards gently on their heels and toes.
Their eyes were glazed and at each sometimes they stared other In blank astonishment, with undisguised sometimes hatred. They were bored with each other, Both wanted to go home to dinner but neither had a safe courage to leave the
and risk the anchorage stormy passage between bar and exit
1
S there were not enough A things in the world to worry about we now have to worry about snails.
also
According to Mr. P. H. Fisher, animal psychologist, they not only have to stop for breath
have poor Journeys but every yard of their weary little memories. This means that when they have arrived panting on the other side of the garden path they have forgotten where they are going and why they were going there, wherever it was,
If you cared about mails you make would start at once to tiny notebooks for mother snails to help them with their shop- ping. But ever. If you did what would happen?
Mr Sparrowgrass and Mt Blowpudding had plenty to say The foolish mother snail'would but were incapable of saying it carefully write down lettuce coherently. Mr Blowpudding's for lunch" in her notebook, pop
whirled with
angry it in her, bag, call the children unreason... thoughts about the
to follow and start off for the mind
Blowpudding who vegetable garden. able ars always had dinner on the table Mr Sparrow. mirad whirled with sharp at seven,
angry thoughts about strikes, grass's
Communism, and the recent weather,
the
Suddenly, like a pistol shot in silence broken only by heavy breathing through two noges, Mr Sparrowgrass shouted:
"Blurryawfulweather!
Mr Blowpudding swayed an inch or so towards Mr Sparrow. grass, stared at him with fixed intensity, and said:
"Parn?"
If there was one kind of man Mr Sparrowgrass hated above all other kinds of men it was the man who said "Pardon?"
Mr Blowpudding, ・ swaying neзrer to Mr Sparrowgrass, said:
"Pern me. But-djoo¬spedic-or- did-the-win-blow?"
*So, thought Mr Sparrowgrass, he not only looked a silly little man but was a silly little man full of stale little jokes. As the weather was not enough to endure
without this the weather that was caused by H-bombs which had been ex
ره
As it is also revealed by Mr sometimes Fisher that snails sing i would be a happy little, party. Mother snails, free of all the worry of trying to remem ber anything but her notebook, would be humming a merry little tune with the children romping in slow motion round her.
After
an hour's journey, or 6ft from home, the about inother small, plump and pant- ing, would sit down and begin to wonder what she was sup- posed to remember..
"Children," she would say, "Where are we going and why?"
"We don't know," one of the brighter children would answer, "We thought you had written it down in a little book"
"So I did, you clever child," mother small would say. “And where did I put the little book?"
"In your little bag.”
“Of course, of course. In my little bag."
Well, as you might have.. guessed, she has left her bag at
ploded to defend the free world Home So they all start back against Communism.
for the tile house under the
It was
all the fault of the Communists. flower pot, thougir none of them What's more, there was The
is singing now and some of the Enemy Within he had been children are crying. reading about in the rews. papers, The respectable, neatly
(World Copyright).
LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM IS
A MATTER OF ECONOMICS
A
New York.
·MERICANS are marry-
and ing younger
By JACQUELINE ENGERT
The way I looked at it was this. If by some supernatural means I had been given a pre- view, as it were, of a tragedy that was to occur in the future, then it was my duty to speak + I couldn't hear cut. And yet
younger, and in some ous American economy and the rare, often they myself interrupting one of those condidential little chats with states teenagers are in such never never" America's newly Mrs Thatby with the words
They can good things of life. "Oh, by the way, I thinks you a hurry they are breaking reds need rarely do without the should know that it's more than the laws by marrying under buy cars, homes, and furniture
almost have babies Ukely your husband is going to age. In 1890, the average and shoot you one day. So, please, do be careful"
No more wine
students, Ministers report, mora 16 and 17-year-olds marrying than ever before, though they advise against It. Last year, in the Detroit, are le
marriages of girls forces and overseas. Out of under 16 increased by 25 every
100
adult
American cent, and between last civilian males only 15 are be
ber and single. A generation
Were ago the the
80 under-18 For agure was 30,
every 100
in the marriages
city. Some debutanter
of 18 to 19, there will be declared vold, for the young bridegroom was 26, lenient "instalment plan" i rms.
are only 68 men aged 20 to 22 Michigan state marriage limit is his bride 22. Today, the There are additional factors to escort them, Debutantes and 18. In some Southern states bridegroom is 22, the bride Young Americans are said to country girls alike are annoyed the limit is 12.
the world when GIs bring home foreign › is only 20, and high school be worried about marriages are far from rare, situation. In marriage they say brides
Still Young they seek some kind of security
of **Columbia while they Students --and happiness
the shooting had taken place at humiliated at being amable to
the height of a quarrel. In my support his wife. There are
dream—as I now came to rega
"""
What eventually decided me Reason for the accelerating may. Sald one young woman; University. New York, and the A national report on high to say nothing was a sudden downward age trend is not realisation that if there was romance, it's economics Young "What I feel most about living New York University recently school marriages said that cure something inity then the wives are trained and willing is its impermanence. The only polled thought marriage and ricula may have to be adjusted a posadble to meet the needs of married tragedy had to happen anyway, to work to provide half the happiness we can count on is college definitely
for ourselves combination. Sald one student students and provide a prov Besides,
I soon began to see the family income. This is an ac- what we make
nhalt dran.!! Improbability of the whole septed ides today. The young and our
think It's a great idea, If gramme of marrigae education. the fight girl comes along "Fewer and fewer educators" it situation. It wasn't even as it husband no longer fecla
Growing up together would be says, drawing the line at
married, students,
Young couples are having children earlier and closer to- children are gether, so when grown, parents are still young and sprightly enough to have a gay time. With: Increasing" age, utterly ridiculou
only, family income while young someone else does, if in responsible for -1 resolved, however, to keep of busbande finish, their college American girl isn't, oploss by expectancy, todara chlidren
kay app the time, she is 20, statisticians More suprising is the boom grow up with more relatives that potent cheap wine in future educatin And I remember thinking, too, Parents often
often subsidize say she may be right in think ideenage, marriages Ameri than ever, and will probably that if Mrs Tharby's disin" young couples. But the resting she will never and a bus can high scisools may have be on good terras with a few
420 married sets of great grandparents. guished father had still been fairy godmother is the prosper band, Eligible bachelors are from
Mrs Tharby and the Captain
appeared to have been on the
Fewer Males
working women in
and labour experts
Girls, too, are very anxious Another student, 25 and the of two, said: marriage Mrs America of the about the fact that in "America father
have two
vers
best of terms. For him future will work except when males are fewer than females. had helped his career. "You to have shot her just then her children are in the nursery. They want to march their mature when you
people to be be
Would
obviously hav
have been. Brides frequently provide the young men to the altar before three or four
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