San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-19
A Woman ObSeSsed
(c) 1898 Carolyn Beecher

AZ know I wouldn't" Martha re-
Joined. I'D be glad. The poor fellow
hasn't had any kind Of life with her.
Poor as l am and no education l
wouldn't treat a man like she does him
and he so good to her. Gets riled
lately once in a while but most men
would go away and never come back.
Oh well, she's made her bed and she'll
find it lays mighty hard. Must you
go, Jane? Come again soon for it's me
has enjoyed your visit"
With a desperate Forcing of her will
Muriel crawled back TO her room.
Stunned. she went over and over
things she had heard. She repeated
them in whispers but without really
grasping them. Her head ached, she
was dizzy. She would be all right
when she got into bed. 1t was SER
wants gossip; nothing she should pay
any attention TO.
"She's his woman" she muttered as
she fell on TO the bed. What did they
mean? Bruce had no one but her, his
wife. She wouldn't try TO think-she
would rest.
All energy seemed to have died in
her. Thoughts beat ceaselessly upon
her brain. but nothing registered clear
| ". She had only one clear thought
she mustn't be i'll, really i'll. She
might repeat some of those strangely
awful things she had imagined she
heard some one saying. She shivered
with cold and drew the covers over her.
She knew no more.
For days she lay apparently noticing
nothing, her lips tightly closed. Bruce
came and went. The doctor admitted
that he was puzzled.
ut is like what some great shock
might produce, yet you say there has
been nothing?" he said to Bruce.
Nothing that l can learn" Bruce
replied. The maid tells me she re-
manned in her room all the evening.
l thought she was asleep when 1 came
in and did not disturb her."
Gradually Muriel came back to a
realization of life, and to the knowl-
edge that however much she wished it
she was not going to die. But she
mended slowly and during the long
days of convalescence her thoughts be-
came clear. 1t had been no phantom
voice she had heard condemning her.
1t had been old Martha and her crony,
the woman who lived in the house with
that woman-that Miss Hammond.
The woman they declared Bruce loved.
They said she was gay and bright,
and that she talked and laughed with
Bruce. They said he ought to leave
his wife, divorce her and marry that
tt-O ~ Il
him?' she asked herself.
She seemed not to recall the things
they had said about her-that they
said she was wicked and selfish. Her
thoughts wound themselves about what
she had heard about Lulu. She had
lost him to another woman-lost
Bruce. Why should Bruce prefer her?
Was it because she was gay with
him? Bruce was very gay when she
married him. full of life and good
spirits, full of fun. Suddenly she rea-
lized he wasn't gay any more and
hadn't been in long time. What was
it Martha had said about how he
stopped whistling when he reached the
steps at home? Bruce like people
lots of them. "She said / had made
my bed and that it would be hard"
Muriel recalled. II wonder what she
MEANT"
SO the poor brain struggled. not yet
fully conscious yet cropping always to
find something TO comfort-and fail
ing.
"Oh, God! Oh. God, Tell me /
haven't lost him :" she prayed. not
knowing what to do to get rid of the
dull pain. 81 have never loved any
one but him-and he loves that other.
They said he did"
She said nothing of all this TO Bruce.
When he came in to inquire how she
was. even when he bent down and
kissed her, she kept silent. noting that
he was cold and that there was no
light of love in his eyes.
Then came a day when the entire
conversation came back to her. All
that Martha and her friend had said.
all they had accused her OF. the way
they had blamed her, Bruce's wife, for
his desertion.
Ito be continuel)