Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-12
The Gates Of Silence"
BY Meta Smmin5, Author NJ "Hu5hed Up"

I tnouEht so lnsupportahle that a dew Of
pain started out upon his brow His
child. What future lay before it? food
Of other thoughts so black and terrible
that he hardly formulated them even to
himself swept over him with bitter
cry he rushed from the room.
A Physical Fear.
Outside the door, however he paused
To reach the place where his wife was
he must pass the room where the thing
that had once been a man lay Actual
physical fear laid its cold hand on him
With an effort like that of a child com
PEELED to pass through an empty room
he made a dash for the stairs and reached
him wife's apartment
The sitting room door stood aiar the
bed room door was locked He knocked
loudly upon It.
There was an nstant's hesitation. the
faintest whisper Of voices, and II was
opened to him by the housekeeper, her
face wet with tears
! don't think you should come in. sir, +"
she said Mrs. Darlington is not well
Darlington looked al her with wild eyes
Was she in the plot 10 hpodwink him toe?
J can not help that, he said, roughly
The woman fell back little. cowed by
his manner for, in spite Of his popularity
in his household, Anthony Darlington was
a man who was feared by his servants
The doctor said my lady was not to be
excited" she continued with a certain
doggedness
Am likely to excite Mrs Darlington ?"
Anthony demanded, angrily go down
stairs: I wish to speak privately-to your
mistress"
The woman went with some unwilling
ness, and Darlington entered the bedroom
and locked the door He said nothing.
but stood there with his back against
the door which he had locked and looked
across the room at the woman who. al
the first sound Of his voice, had sprung
up from the couch where she had flung
herself One look al her husbands face
zen aer that the end had come, that the
blow had fallen q last as she had always
known # must; and with the knowledge
all the nervous trembling, the agonizing
suspense and tension, relaxed She faced
him like a woman Of stone: she would
not fight, deny, or lie. she placed herself
in the hands Of Fate and waited
FACE TO FACE.
Still harrington did not speak but
looked al her grimy The feeling crept
in upon her that her very life depended
on her returning that look
What have you 70 say for yourself7''
he asked at last "Why should not KIN
you you stand there-send you to loln
your lover7"
Hts voice broke the spell which bound
her
Tony, what do YOU mean Don't stand
staring at me with those hard eyes, or |
shall 90 mad! Am SO little to YOU that
YOU should condemn me. unheard2"
on have been so much to me in the
past" he cried. that IT is only the
thought of my son that keeps me power
less he ia my son2"
Tony Edith Darlington made a few
unsteady steps toward him. then fell
back, quelled by the contempt, the ha
tired in his face For one supreme in
slant physical fear dominated her men
tai anguish. and she dreaded that she
was alone with a mailman Then she
told herself that on her camness de
pended her safety, and forced herself to
look at him steadfastly. You have no
right to ask me such a question" she
said with quiet dignity
No right The man laughed. such
hideous travesty of mirth that 1t chilled
her blood
ooh. l deserve all the blame and scorn
you can cast upon me- she cried for /
have heen a coward, but not bad wom-
an, Dony not in intention faithful to
YOU and loving an, heaven knows how
loving"
Bad" he calculated with a sneer.
What do YOU call a woman who per
iures herself at the altar whose every
down. sitting and uprising for years was
Irony. at any rate. whatever has hap
pened, YOU can not forget that am your
wife YOU can not repudate me. For lit
tie Pills sake
i am not SO sure Of that. harrington
said not so sure first that YOU are my
wife. Who were yOu-what were you
when YOU married me?'
He looked at her keenly. more natural
", as 1t seemed, and with a little cry
Edith stretched out her hands to him
II believed that | was a widow when
married YOU she said
"A widow" Again he laughed, harsh
~ and unmusically, and there was such
that Edith. meeting his eyes, felt hot
shame tinge swiftly from head TO foot
Yes Edmond Levasseur's widow "
Her utterance Of the name of the dead
man seemed to her inexpicably --to add
fuel to the fire of her husbands anger
she did not know that in it Darlington
imagined he found a confirmation of all
his doubt Of her Edmond's Levasseurt
That was what he said to himself. with
bitterness If this story she was telling
were true-this story that she poured out
with a quick flood of impassioned words
finding in her anguish and her fear an
unexpected eloquenCe-She must have
known the falseless of this assumed
man who called himself by it, as he
knew IT,
Continued Tomorrow.