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November 15, 1922.

Tilly Climac, the alleged perpetrator of many poisonings, sits in the county jail alone, deserted by relatives, scorned by friends, repudiated by her husband, who lies ill of arsenic poisoning, supposed to have been administered by her, enmeshed in a network of evidence which, if substantiated, could lead to the gallows.

She has one worry.

The women's cellmates smoke cigarettes, and the smoke makes her headache.

It is the same head which, according to charge, is mounted against her, planned the death of three husbands, one sweetheart, and several relatives.

Ugh, they smoke these cigarettes.

Me, I don't smoke. No, they make me sick, those women. Ugh. It is the only

flare of spontaneous emotion which this brittle enigma of a female bluebeard permits herself.

But this inconsistency is in keeping with Mrs. Climack's conduct throughout the investigation.

Mrs. Climick had the hardness of an opportunist and the habit of getting what he wants,

the indifferent superiority of a master, the cunning zeal of a creator, the sneer of a cynic, and the detachment of a philosopher

as she sits in her cell and baffles all who question her. She may have led a life, if reports

be true, as full of sex adventures and intrigue as the records of many of the most

talked of women in the courts, but she has none of the signs of triumph that modern Borgia's

display. No sable wrap envelopes slim white shoulders. A dark red sweater stretches over a form that echoes a comely young figure,

now gone. No smart frock, but a calico workdress, neat, serviceable, efficient. In place of a mass of

blonde curls, Mrs. Clymax's brown hair is twisted in the common-sense

nod of a housewife who has no time for foolishness. And the deep dimple curves now in scorn

where it once beguiled with coquetry. The woman whose appeal has ensnared many men displays an almost sexless impersonality

as she surveys the younger women in the jail and criticizes their indiscretions.

With spirit, she discusses the modern young woman and recalls her own strict youth.

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