Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-22

We mustn't whine You believe me-
Believe YOU, Jack? I cant bear it-I
can't can't. Jack. 1t is very cruel I'm
bound and tied in a net-such net
She broke into passion Of sobs and
leaned her head on his ann.
Betty, what's troubling you? Nothing
fresh? Has mas he"
mo. no" She spoke quickly, as though
in terror of a name being mentioned
Hes done his best according to his
lights"
A Last Request.
But If the light within YOU be dark
ness, how great is that darkness" Rim
ington quoted. grimly, under his breath
Betty. dear we haven't many moments
but before you go l want you to promise
me one thing If the worst comes to the
worst. II he tries to coerce you in any
way, promise me you will tell your father
the whole truth I shall be dead then
Betty"
MY father" whispered the girl. with
so strange an intonation. so convulsive a
grip on his hand, that Remington added
quickly
"Or Harrington better stnl, your broth
er-in-law. He will cut the meshes Of the
net for you Promise me, darling"
Tony Betty repeated "Oh, Jack
Jack you don't know what you are say
ing. vision of Anthony Darlington as
she had seen him last floated before her
ear-drenched eyes-the vision of a man
turned 70 stone, with eyes that seemed to
hold only hatred
movement from the watchers, that
made her cling tighter stin
"Betty"-he best over her "a must 40
now-go out Of your life forever Before
go want to near you say what you said
to me under the trees by the river" His
face was near her own. He felt that
nothlog could have separated her from
him before he heard her speak
"Jack-i love you! Jack-if could die
for YOU! II II we've only l-only myself"
"JackH There was such a sharp AGONY
OF reproach In her voice that he ceased.
He could find no words for what he
wished to say-that she was not TO waste
her freshness and her youth on memory
OF him. 1t was monstrous to think Of her
going mourning all her days.
She strained closed to him.
"oh, my dear, love you'll am yours
always, only yours. Whatever may hap.
pen 70 the shell of me. all that am--the
real woman-ls yours, and yours only.
Jack-Jack-"
The time for parting had come With
out sight or hearing she knew It,
Betty for my sake keep brave
'front.' His eyes were fixed on her face
IN one last look-on that child's face
grief-distorted as It seemed to him now
as 1t had looked that night down by the
river when the sight OF her bag found in
the empty room at Tempest street had
brought back her lost memory.
Good bye" His lips touched hers not
passionately there was something sacra-
mental in the last kiss and received at
the altar OF death. Then he was gone He
did not so much as dare to look back.
TO the woman watching him, sick and
faint. hardly knowing where she stood.
knowing where she stood knowing only
the ache of utter desolation. came swift
remembrance of familiar words:
BE not afraid of them that KIN the
body. and after that have no more that
they can do
Jack had no fear Wronged, trapped-
an innocent man going silent to his death
through love Of her, when speech might
perhaps have saved him--Jack had no fear.
NO, II was for her that fear lurked at
the crossroads. The awful fear of one
able 10 destroy the sou"-fear of the
man who had already dealt so mortal a
blow to her soul
The world rose up to meet her-the reel
ing, swaying world and the great merci-
full darkness rushed in on her from every
side overwhelmingly She cried and
stumbled and fell, with the roar of many
waters sounding in her ears,
The Choice.
II was nearly o'clock on the afternoon
of the day following lack Remington $
trial that Edith Darlington awoke She
woke slowly after the benumbed manner
Of the drug taker and for a couple of sec
onds lay listlessy. with hardly opened
eyes still half under the influence of her
dreams, feeling that this awakening. so
painful so horrible, was one of them also
this unfamiliar place of drab ugliness on
which her eyes rested -one OF those phan-
toms conjured up by the drug that brought
stupor Il not complete forgetfulness.
Then, with a little moan. a writhing OF
her lax limbs under the coarse sheets
with the weight OF blankets heavy with
cotton. she remembered. 1t was no dream
this drab lodging house bedroom 1t was
her home the only place on earth she
could call her home-since the morning
she had fled from her husbands house il
Princes Gate.
she knew now how mad a thing thai
]
and anguish had seemed the one thinl
possible. had been a tacit confession o
guilt that Anthony harrington Judged i
So she knew from the simple fact that ST
far as she could Judge, he had made Nc
effort TO trace her He had been conten
that she should disappear out of his life
/ Tony the man she had believed to he The
I truest worshiper a woman ever had. thu
man who had loved her beautiful body
surely, as well as that hypothetical soul
had cared so little that he had not trou-
/ bled to discover where that body was
/ housed or how il was fed Well lit woult
be- difficult soon for her TO tell herself, she
+ thought. with the surface tears Of self
pity rising in her eyes The small stock
/ of money she possessed money raised OF
the few trinkets she had carried away
with er-the simple iewelry OF her unmar.
red days-a few ornaments belonging t.
her mother would soon be gone Ant
after?
The End OF Il All
Her thoughts that had travelled out
formlessy. came to a sudden halt
n