The Washington herald., 1922-09-30
The Beautiful
And Damned
continned FROM Yesterday.
By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Continued from Yesterday.
He approached her with arms
outstretched. but she held him away.
l''You don't want me to 60 with
you." she said evenly: maybe you
are going to meet that--that girl"
She could not bring herself to say
wife. How do I know? Well. then.
I reckon you're not my fellow any
more. So 60 way"
For q moment. while conflictins
warnings and desires prompted An
thony. IL seemed one of those rare
times when he would take a step
prompted from within. He hesi-
tated. Then a wave of WEAKNESS
broke against him. II was too
late-everything was too late. For
years now he had dreamed the
world away. basing his decisions
upon emotions Unstable as water.
The little girl in the white dress
dominated him. as she approached
beauty in the hard symmetry Of her
desire. The fire blazing in her
dark and injured heart seemed to
glow around her like a flame.
With some profound and unchanged
pride she had made herself remote
and so achieved her purpose.
L didnt-mean to seem so callous
Dot"
TT don't matter"
The fire rolled over Anthony.
Something wrenched at his bow
els and ne stood there helpless and
beaten.
Come with me. Dot-little low
ing Dot. Oh. come with me.
couldn't leave you now
With a sob she wound her arms
around him and let him support her
weight while the moon, at its pc
Tennial labor OF covering the bad
complexion of the world. showered
its Illicit honey over the drowsy
street.
The Catastrophe.
Early September in Camp Boone,
Miss. The darkness. alive with in
SeCts. beat in upon the mosquito
u9tting beneath the shelter of
" hich Anthony was trying to write
a letter. An intermittent chatter
over a poker game was going on In
The next tent and outside d man
was strOlling up the company street
singing a current bit of dOggerel
about * K-K-Katy."
With an effort Anthony hoisted
himself to his elbow and. pencil in
hand, looked down at his blank
sheet Of paper. Then. emitting any
heading, he began:
4 can't imagine what the matter
s. Gloria. haven't had a line
from you for two weeks and it's
only natural to be Worried
He threw this away with a dis
turbed grunt and began again:
Il don't know what to think.
Gloria. Your letter. short, cold.
without a word Of affection or even
a decent account of what you've
been doing. came two weeks ago.
IT'S only natural that l should won
Ter. If your love for me isn't abso-
gfC'v dead Il seems that you'd at
east keen me from worry
A-ain he Crumpled the page and
-ossed it angriIy through a tear in
he tent wall, realizing simultan-
soUsly that he would have to pick
M in the morning. He felt dis
Inclined to try again. He cou,d get
10 warmth into the lines-only a
persistent Jealousy and suspicion.
since midsummer these discrep-
nCies in GlOria's CORE spondencs
lad grown more and more notice.
able. At first he had scarcely per-
,eived them. He was so Injured to
the perfunctOry dearest" and
"darlinCs" scattered through her
letters that he was oblivious to
their presence or absence But IN
this last fortnight he had become
increasingly aware that there was
~"uI"tninE amiss.
He had sent her a night letter
saying that he had passed his cx-
aminations for an officers training
camp and expected to leave for
Georgia shortly. She had not an
swered. He had wired aCain-whan
he received no word he imagined
that she might be out OF town. But
it occurred and required to him that
She was not out of town, and a Sc
ries Of distrausht imaginings began
to plague him. Supposing Gloria,
bored and restless, had found some
one, even as he had. The thought
terrified him with its possibility
u was chiefly because he had BEEN
so sure OF her personal integrity
that he had considered her so spar
jnEly during the year. And now. as
= doubt was born. the old angers,
tHe RACES OF possession, swarmed
back a thOusa ndfold. What more
natural than that she should be in
love again?
He remembered the Gloria who
promised that should she ever want
anything. she would take il. insist
ing that since she would act entire
could 70 through such an affair un-
sulirChed-it was only the effect on
a persons mind that counted. any
how. she said. and her reaction
would be the masculine one, OF
sa-iation and faint dislike.
But that had been when they
were FIRST married. Later, with the
discovery that she could be jealous
~ Anthony. she had, outwardly. at
least. changed her mind. There
were nc other men in the world Cor
her. This he had known only 700
surely perceivinC that certain
faStidiOusress would restrain her
h. had grown lax In preserving the
'ompleteness of her lOve-which.
after all. was the keystone of the
entire structure.
Meanwhile all through the sum-
ruer he had been maintaining Dot n
q boarding house down town. To
- this it had been ueccs sary to
write to his broker for money. Dot