Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-23
CHAPTER XXIII
The Lnn Before the Storm


Norman and were very close in the days
that followed his confession fo me- and in
spite of the fact that | lJhged to know
more than he had told me, refraned from
asking questions.
PERTAINS the average wife would condemn
me for this and would insist that 1 had the
right to know. But our marriage was not
the average one and l had married Norman
with my eyes open to his weakness, there
fore felt that must build differently, and
that l must not let him suspect that dis
trusted him.
1 learned through Margaret Hunter that
Alice had gone west for the summer to visit
an old school friend, and it wasn't until
then that I began to feel easy in my mind.
Not for the world would 1 have confessed
this to any one, but even after Norman's
protestations I did not entirely trust him. He
had lied to me once and l felt that with
sufficient provocation he would do the same
thing again. So that it was deep satisfac-
ton to me to learn that he had meant what
he had said and that everything was over
between himself and Alice.
Two days after that scene~in my bedroom
Norman brought me a gift an exquisite sin
gle topaz on a long very thin chain. 1t was
a truly lovely thing, but something in me
shivered away from it, and felt that could
never wear it with any real enjoyment. To
me it was peace offering, something to
make up to me for what had happened, to
salve his conscience for the neglect he had
shown me, and / never appreciated before
a mans attitude regarding a thing of this
kind
A woman confided to me once before I was
married that her husband never sent her
flowers or brought her any gift that she
didn't think of it as a conscience offering.
At the time / thought this horribly sordid
way of looking at things, but now know
what it meant.
of course there were days when I suf-
fered keenly. l could not help wondering
at times whether Norman had kissed Alice,
and that thought was agony. Then, too,
there was always the feeling that perhaps
Alce's contact with the outside world had
enabled her to give Norm; something in
the way of companionship that 1 did not
have to offer. But did not allow myself to
brood, and when my Imagination flew away
i tn me l asked myself one question: Wo I'd
have been happier if 1 had never known
Norman, even though he had made me suf-
fer? And the answer was always no.
And all during this time, Norman was UNI
speakably dear to me. Not even in the first
days of life together had he been SO
sweet and considerable and he seemed ut
terly contented with the simple life we led.
The summer drifted away and 1 forgot to be
unhappy. There were long evenings with
the Hunters and the Fultons, playing bridge
and dancing afterward to the photograph;
there we're picnic suppers in the cool of the
evening, when we would take the car and
that sense of jolly companionship, al
though there were times when Ruth and
Margarets attitude toward life irritated me.
They were so content in little gatherings,
to draw together and talk woman stuff,
leaving the men to discuss the affairs of the
day. I resented this because 1 wanted to
keep up with Norman; l saw reason why
we shouldn't all talk together and it bored
me to listen to conversation about the maid
question, how long it took for a four-year-
old child to wear out pair of shoes, wheth-
err it cheaper to trade with Haney or
the Italian who had opened a new place in
the village, and so on.
1t late in August when Norman star
tied me one evening by saying that we were
seeing too much of the Hilton crowd. In
flash 1 knew that he was bored and that
meant danger. For the first time in weeks
that old sensation of fear swept suddenly
over me.
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