Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1923-12-14
Xxx (continued)

NUl VdinS and rug. the low book
eases built undeA direction and
Hlled with his corite books. the
reiectory table and other pieces of
dark, old English oak that he had
Drought from home. and several
FAMILY portraits on the wall. re-
stored his equilibrium and his
Vralh was abnormally clear. He
wondered if he. ever would sleep.
again. Better think 1t over now. :
Mary zattiany as she talked had.
never changed her expression. She
might have been some ancient or
acle reciting her credo. and she
seemed to have narcotized that
magnetic current that had always
vibrated between them. NeYerthe-
less, he had been fully aware that
she felt like nothing less than an
oracle or the marble bust she
looked. and that her soul was
facked and possibly fainting. but
mastered by her formidable will.
Formidable. Did that word best
express her? Was she one of the
superwomen who could find no
mate on earth and must look for
her god on another star? He GER
tainlye was no superman himself
to breathe on her plane and mate
that incarnate will. Had she any
human weakness? Even that sub
terranean sex-life in her past had
not been due to weakness. She was
far too arrogant for that. Life had
Jeen her foot-stool She had kicked
IT about contemptuously. Even her
establishments had been the die
tates Of her imperious will. And
her pride! She was female Luci-
Ter in pride.
No doubt the men she had dis
missed had been secretly relieved;
Sung for the only time in their
lives perhaps, with sense Of in.
feriority. 1t must have been like
receiving the casual favors OF
queen on her throne Well, she
had got it in the neck once; there
vas some satisfaction in that, lie
wished he knew the mans name
He'd hunt him up and thanh him in
hehaH Of his sex
For an hour lie ex2ariated her.
Hated her, feared her, d;sSoeiating
licy from the vast army Of woman
hood. but Communicating, him SELF
dpun having Known her She was a
unique il crueifying study
With restored YOUTH superim
rDSed upon that exhaustive AnO"i-
edge OF Iife-eYery phase OF it that
counted in her charlottesville
rejuvenation of all her great natu
raj endowments, she'd probably &c
back and rule Europe What use
could she possibly have for any
man?
lie made himself cup of coffee
over bis electric stove, turned on
the malodorous gas, which affected
his head, stood out on his balcony
FOR a moment. then lit his pipe and
felt in a more mellow mood.
After all, she had suffered as
only woman so literally endowed
coild suffer, and over a long period
Of wears. She had known despair
and humiliation and bewlderment,
lethargic hopelessnesss and finally
a complete sacrifice of self. His
imagination. in spite OF his rebel
lious soul, had furnished the back
ground for that bald recital.
And she must have an indoml'
table soul, some inner superiine
spiritual essence. with which AFRO
rance and even pride had less to
do than she imagined. Otherwise
after the life she had led, she
wmtld either have become an I'M
reyions. uncomfortable old woman
Or one of those faltering nonenti-
tjes crowded into the backwaters.
a. life by a generation which in
cnires them with nothing but tim
id,tv and disapproval. Towering in
dIvidualities often so down to de-
feat In old age.
And nothing could alter the fact
,bat abe was the most beautiful and
-. most wholly desirable woman
had ever known, the one woman
had focused every aspiration
is mind, his soul, and his body.
Lnew he must ask himself the
table question and face 1t with
N thinking. Was he appalled, by
her real age; could he ever get
awav from the indubious fact that
whatever miracle science may have
efrected. her literal age was verg-
tng IN sixty? If she were not an
Ia woman she had been one. That
beautiful body had withered, unde-
s;red Of all men, that perfect face
Lnd been the battered mirror of an
sSsd ego. He did not ask himself
=, tbe metamorphosis would last. il
the shell might not wither again to-
. -. He was abreaSt OF the imt
aortant scientific discoveries of his.
6sy and was not at all astonished
mot the problem of senescence