Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-25
CHAPTER .XI
The Country Club Dance

Women are the strangest things. After
my talk with Alice, l felt happier than !
had been in several days, but the nlsnt OF
the country club dance, in spite OF the TACT
that | was entirely satisfied with my ap-
pearance, I found to my amazemenC tnaI
was subcon sciously watching Norman.
After his confession to me, teehng OF
peace had swept over me- was nearer 10
him than I had been even IN the Ilrst lew
days of our marriage, because IL eeemeu
that I had passed an important milestone
But the minute Alice swept into the dress-
ing room, and with an inimitable gesture
flung off her coat, revealing the Almost
wicked loneliness of her scarlet and black
beauty, felt that my own dress OF sll'eE
gauze looked insipid and school glrnsn'
Alice did not look like a resident OF Hi"
ton. She was Partisan from the top OF her
sleek, dark head, to her slender feet In
their black slippers with red heels.
In vain did 1 fight to regain my self-con-
fidence. At home when had viewed my
self in the glass, had seemed ethereal.
fairy-like. My gauzy gown seemed fairly
to float around me, and my blue-gray eyes
looked misty and remotely mysterious.
When I had come down the stairs Nor
man had risen to meet me, and his eyes
had darkened with quick feeling.
"You look like a goddess" he had
breathed. IT am almost afraid to touch
you for fear you'll vanish into thin afr"
But when I saw Alice the thought struck
me with sudden force that goddesses are
not to be feared. A man may want god
dess in his home as guardian of his hearth
stone but the women to be feared are the
warm-blooded, scarlet-lipped. very human
types, like Alice. A man may hesitate
before marrying such woman, but he
never fails to respond to look from her
eyes, or touch from her fingers. And
what an advantage Alice had over men IN
other ways. After two months OF married
life I was an open book to Norman. In
spite of the fact that I was sure OF his
love sure that he honored me, knew that
he was not proof against the fascination
of other women because of the mystery sur
rounding them.
When Alice and I, outwardly the best OF
friends, entered the ballroom together, T
suffered a moment of intense agony. Nor-
mans first look should have been for me.
I wanted that look more than 1 had ever
wanted anything else, because 1t stood for
so much. But I was watching closely and
1 saw Norman's eyes rest for second on
Alice. In that instant Of time l saw his
eyes flash, and knew from the way Alice
flung her head back on her shoulders that
she had seen that look, and was aware Of
her power. 1t sickened me- 1t robbed me
of all the pleasure / had looked forward to
that evening, and when Norman came to
me for the first dance 1 knew that it was
not BECAUSE he wanted to dance with me.
He would have preferred Alice in his arms,
but l. was MS wife; ne was merely eAecuC-
ing his duty as husband, and. although
I kept my eyes turned resolutely AWAY. 1
felt that over my head his look was fol-
lowing Alice around the room, and all his
thoughts were of the time when he would
hold her close against him. At that mo-
ment I was suddenly sorry that I had ever
married Norman. Perhaps If I had held Off
if I had kept myself remote and mysterious,
he might have married Alice, and would
now be pursuing me as the unattained:
Alice would never lie the wife, she would
never make the mistake Of loving too much.
She would be selfish, but alluring, she
would take everything and give as little as
nossih1e while I was the typical wife will
ing and eager to sink my personality in my
husbands, and to forget that there was such
a thing as another man in the world
(Next-The Serpent's Toils.)