Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-17

onlv dress. a soft blue silk. But she
had sewed frail ruffles around the
neck and in the cuffs, and her plalr
hat was becoming. She was going &c
dinner with Charlie Harmon, and in
spite of the fact that she had deter
mined to accept his invitation mainly
for what she could discover about Of
flee conditions, she felt a pleasuraple
thrill of excitement.
| Only one thing c1ouded her imme'
diate pleasure, and that was the fac'
that May Watson obviously d1sap
proved of the engagement. 1t hap.
pened that the day before, f1ay hae
asked Harriet to go with her to see
George Raymonds trousseau, ane
Harriet had been forced to refuse
Nav had seemed surprised because
she knew that Harriet had no friends
in the city, and Harriet had impul-
sively told her the truth. She never
| forgot the q,leer expression that hac
crept into Mays eyes. 1t said as
plainly as any words that she d1sap-
proved, but she had said nothing
Harriet had felt a wild impulse tc
defend herself and she had said i'm
pulsively:
"Why, don't you like the tdea?'
And May had looked at her thought
fully with no trace of jealousy In the
replied slowly after a moments hest
tation:
"It can't lead to anything good"
! "a dinner engagement needn't nee
essari1y lead to anything" Harriet
had retorted somewhat angr1ly.
"But it generally does with man
like that"
"You don't know anything about
Mr.. Harmon" Harriet had returned
and then had blushed because she had
been so quick to defend him.
quickly. Grace Raymond has often
spoken of him. He's a gay ne'er-do-
well, not nearly good enough for you
to bother with even If he were Sc
rious."
1t was then that Harriet felt again
the impulse to tell May why she was
going, why she did not dare to incur
Charlie Harmons enmity, but hel
better judgment told her that it would
be foolish to take any one into he1
confidence just now. 1t hurt her tc
have May misunderstood her motive
but it was unavoidable, and Harriet
had fancied a certain stiffness Il
Mays manner when she had seen heI
that morning at breakfast.
Harriet sighed as she pulled on her
old blue coat, and ran lightly down
the three flights of steps. She was
standing in the hall when she saw g
taxi draw to the door, and without
waiting for Charlie to ring the bell
| she went out to meet him. Some
how she dreaded having him enter
that cold mausoleum of a place
with it's mingled doors and its dark
dreariness. She was ashamed of this
feeling, but she made no attempt
to resist 1t.
| She shook hands with Charlie Har-
mon outside on the steps and some
how the manner Of their meeting
! helped to increase her feeling Of
guilt. She did not want to fee
guilty. but May Watson had helped
to implant that feeling in her heart
and she could not help wondering
what Charlie was thinking. Suppose
he believed her to be a flirt, ready
and willing to carry on a filtration
for what there was in it? Certainly
there was no reason why he should
believe her otherwise.
He helped her into the waiting taxi
and his fingers closed tightly, proprie-
tari1y around her arm. The color
mounted to Harriet's forehead in
wave after wave of resentment, and
she sank into corner Of the cal
as far away from him as she could
get.