Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-29
"Ihe Gates of Silence"
By Meta StmmfnS, Author of FLUSHED J7b''

| house the day long? Where's your pride
girl-where's your pride?'
! ne I1ted as he spoke the brass cake
stand SO roughly that one of the plates.
| ihsecurely set slipped and its contents
ieH scattering over the rug Sir George
S"oFe ana rang the bell. Betty started
| up Just Tor moment the brutal injus-
slce OF his words had held her dumb; he
mad never said so much to her before
SINCE the day he had told her of what he
| mad done-the public denial of her en-
gasement which he had inserted in the
papers But now she saw that evidently
ne mad been drinking, as he had slipped
INTO the habit Of doing these last weeks
not enough for stranger to notice per
| maps, out sufficient to make him violent
and irritable and less master of his tenn
| per than ever
| rather, say nothing to Fairchild when
she comes in. You mustn't swear at the
servants. It's horrible. II forbid It,"
Sir George, utterly taken aback by this
unexpected attitude on the part of his
daughter, actually did stand silent when
the maid entered. He stared at Betty
while she gave her orders, his shifty eyes
nlled with amazement, his cheeks deepen
ing from red to angry purple.
But as the door closed behind the maid
he found voice.
| You forbd?' he cried shrllly. You?
How dare you speak so to your father.
miss? Is it not enough that you have
brought public disgrace and shame on his
name without your adding insolence?"
Public disgrace and shame?" Bettys
sea grey eyes rested calmly on his face,
out there was no calmness in her heart
1t beat furiously. so furiously that in
stlnctively she raised her hand to her
breast as though to still it. "Expain
yourself, please father" she said quietly
That he should speak so to her after
after-it was hard to keep silent bitterly
hard at that moment while injustice
choked her; while she thought of all that
had been sacrificed for this mans sake
for this mans honor! Honor! At this
moment Betty Lumsden felt almost hatred
for her father.
5ettys Defiance
Explain myself? Don't come your fine
tragedy airs over me, my girl mean
your shameless conduct in openly associa-
ing yourself with-wfth a felon"
for her farther.
Father" There was something In the
one sharply uttered word that silenced
even this choleric man. his nerves
twitching and upset. his mental outlook
obscured by the fumes Of drink-of some
thing more deadly than drink.
How dare you speak so? You, of all
men! YOU" Her look, her voice, her sud
denly outfunR hand, all cried aloud an ac-
cusation none the less terrible that it was
clothed in definite form of words.
A sudden change came over Sir Georges
face. It paled, and the immediate tran
sition from angry purple to mottIed
whIteness was startling. His eyes met
those of the girl, standing up there,
stra ght and slim In her white gown with
| a frightened stare.
Betty turned away quickly There was
something In his aspect that she could not
bear to see; looking into that suddenly
whltened face those sobered eyes, was
like looking into an open wound.
"Oh, I don't know" she said, rstlessly.
"Only please try not to speak so to me
again l can not bear It, You must
know-and If you don't l tell you now
and beg you never to forget it-that the
man you have spoken of as a felon is the
man l love. An innocent mana man"
Her voice broke. without another word
she turned and ran blindly out of the
room Sir George Lumsden, standing on
the hearthrug beside the untouched tea
table. stared after her as she went his
lips twitching under the thick white
moustache.
What can she know" he muttered to
himself What can she know
Upstairs in her bedroom Betty turned
the KEY in the lock and flung herself face
downwards on the little white bed under
the picture Of the Good shepherd, whose
sheltering arms and outstretched hand
| of q hGn1
abandonment.
II was all so useless-so utterly useless
the thing she had done That was the
burden of her sobbing cry as she lay
there her face buried in the pillows.
What was to be the end of it? After
all had her silence saved her father ma
terially? From public shame and expos
ure, perhaps yes; but at that moment the
girl was inclined to undervalue the pain
that public infamy brought. 1t was the
standing condemned at the tribunal of
ones own conscience which mattered,
which brought suffering and shame that
nothing could assuage.
Jack! Oh, my dear, my dear she
whispered. her hands close against her
breast "Afterward, when there Is per
feet understanding, will you know and
forgiven
Her mind, utterly worn out by grief
and suffering, revolved aimlessly always
around this central thought Of the silence
which Paul Sake had enjolned on her
the silence he had rendered imperative
by those words whispered to her on the
day of Rimington's arrest in that spartan
ly furnished private office in Chichester
House, where the great bouquet OF Ameri-
can Beauty roses had struck so incon-
gruous note.
What an ugly coil the whole thing was!
Betty, too inexperienced in business, too
utterly a child in all matters concerning
the law, could only listen horror stricken
while Paul SAKE had explained to her the
net In which she was caught
Not herself alone nor Jack Remington,
were overshadowed by that death which
had come suddenly and unknown TO the
ugly money spider in Tempest street
Her own father, Edith, her stster-these
two were involved, as SAKE had shown
her with merciess clearness.
Lying there in the little blue-and- white
bedroom, she reconstructed the scene.
IT'S a hateful thing to have to tell YOU