Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-02
CHAPTER TX

a T times during Nora's, delirium
| IA the nurse was forced to strap
| ! \ her arms tightly to her sides.
In her mad fancy she saw
floating just ahead of her winged
ouija boards. She fought to grasn
them, imploring them to tell her that
her lover was alive.
You lied to me, but that does not
count, ii you will come down now
and tell me the TRUTH" she cried.
once she called for Ed Dulany.
| Attendants stroVe to ascertain his
| identity. She answered them quite
clearly. He was my stepfather, but
| DON'T know where he is-any more
I Just wanted to ask him something
Something about the ouija. Ed would
know. But never mind"
After ten days Of semi-delirium
| youth and health ) asserted them
selves, and Nora's mind became nor
NAL.
Soon she was back at her office
desk, paler, thinner, even more re-
served than before. But otherwise,
to outward, appearances, unaltered by
the tide OF sorrow which had swept
across her life.
In the vague fashion to which HUI
man nature adapts itself in the first
period of suffering caused by death,
Nora took up life's tasks, or, rather,
became once more active in their per-
Torrance.
For life, to the rief-stricken, is
Dulled, Indifferent, sick at heart of
all that is and at the loss of all
that might have been, most people
go on with the routine because, on
the whole, it is still far easier to live
souls delude themselves with the
thought that duty alone still holds
them on this plane of disappointed
hopes. But rarely is this really true.
Those few to whom living is no
pie solution of the problem. And
those many in whose hearts still
glimmer, however dimly, the will-o-
the-wisp called hope, continue.
2. Too young and healthy minded for
this habit, Nora was clear of brain
and honest of heart enough to real
ize, even at this time, that for her
the daily bread Of life still possessed
a SAVIOR, even though the feast of
love spread before her in such sud-
den fashion had been suddenly re-
moved.
This place within her heart, SO
warmly, SO gayly occupied was emp
recognized, was not uncomfortable. 1t
seldom is.
Nora's greatest suffering and
herein is indicated the selfishness
of a fine nature-lay in her realiza-
ton that Roger was cut off from
ultimate enjoyment. Soft winds,
flowers, the warm grasp of kindly
hands-she still had these and all the
| other by-products Of just merely liv-
ing.
But what was left to Roger?
AS often happens, Nora could not
| recall Roger as gay or happy, even
though her knowledge of. him had
been full of real enjoyment
They had danced together at hos
| outwardly reserved, Rogers capacity
| for pleasurable sensation was deep
and his pulsing response to the call
| Of the music as they glided oyer the
! floor together had thrilled, in turn,
the girl within his arms. The trans
port of his eager, ecstatic face on
such occasions should have been
deeply etched on his wife's memory.
! But Nora could not find it there.
All that she could now see were the
| hungry eyes and pale, twitching lips
of her lover as he parted from her
| on their wedding day.
| Physical suffering-Nora had Wis
| tied a camp hospital, she knew what
pneumonia meant, even granting all
| care possible-utter sacrifice and
| lack of all reward. these had been
| Rogers portion from Nora's desolate
viewpoint.
| His parents she had never met,
but the sedulous and successful fash
ion in which Roger had ministered
to their comfort had been, for Nora,
one of his finest traits. She had
realized, without need of words, his
code as similar to her own, CHASING
selfishness with dishonor.
1t was, in truth, Rogers loyalty
TO his father and mother, his feel
ing that he must insure their safety
before yielding to the impulse, of
wars adventure, that had held him
Nora knew all this now. Nor
could she escape the inevitable con-
/ clusion. -,
| 81 hurried him away to his death
This was her constant self-repro9 CHI.
''I am still here, strong, awe,
breathing. But Roger is dead"
(To Be Continued)