Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-05-03

a long time past, indeed. 1t had been
evident that she had undermined his
case in their relationship. For weeks
she had been conscious, in her with.
/ drawals and through the silences
that she had made so common be-
tween them, that he regarded her with
a new effectiveness. But he had
stopped there; his pride-or some
coWardice perhaps?-had restrained
MIN from word or act. Was it the
romantic solitude now. and the sud-
den sight of her in her wood-nymph's
gulse? Was it the thought of those
Kisses she had just taken from an
other? What? Into her husbands
eyes had come look she had not
seen these three years; and she Won
dered suddenly if, here and now, be-
You'd all calculation, her great mo-
ment had come al last
But do YOU think that she would
yield anything to him? Not she.
ironically grave, she answered.:
You are always kind, Horace. But
OF course I'd not dream of imposing
on you that way"
mo imposition at all. I'd enjoy it.
We find ourselves deserted-each by
our own chOice-what more logical
than to join forces, eh?"
Logical ~
| "And-and pleasant" said he with
his labored lightness. "Why not? Or
if you don't care to join the party
now-after what happened-why, we
might Just paddle about for a while.
The night-the nights fine," said
Horace.
Canoeing in the moonlight with
ones husband! My dear man, do you
want to make me the laughing stock
of the county?"
Her laughter, thrilling unexpected
~, took him quite aback; stung him.
too. as she saw with pleasure.
"a very little of that sort of thing"
said she, land gossip would soon be-
gin connecting our names!
81 don't think you run many risks
OF that" he retorted, with marked
stiffness. "And l wish you'd cease
this-this extravagant way of talking
its provoking. Now come along.
well enjoy it."
"On the contrary, I should die of
shame"
You're being absurd. Comet"
"A thousand thanks, but no."
There was silence. The breeze
fiuttered her long hair.
Il see you actually prefer the So
ciety of drunken male f1irts to that
of And this is typical, too"
He finished, all but impulsively for
him: "Pm sure you can't realize,
Laurel, how little we actually see Of
each other-these days"
All. but did she not realize!
She leaned back against the slender
bole of a white birch and stared up
at him liquid eyed.
How little! Why, Horace-good
gracious! That's literally all can
say-gOod gracious! Seven days a
week under the same roof, but sep
arated single day in"
Il know, know" he said in an
other tone, embarrassed. at seems
odd, l own-Td hardly think it was
possible. And still was Of
course sure you weren't conscious of
it, but"
He hesitated, peering at her with
his shOrt-sighted eyes; and then the
natural man let go a little more of
the unnatural constraint.
"Why, Laurel! You go out some
where every evening, with or without
me, or if you don't go out, you have
people in. At odd moments, when
there are, in the little between times,
as might term them, you're always
reading, or studying, or practicing
something, or else you're writing let
tiers or you have headache. Satur-
I days and Sundays and usually week
days, too, you have people staying in
the house, all over the place. Noise
and dancing and parties and rushing
abOut-never a quiet moment of-of
just the domestic sort"
"You certainly make it sound diff
ferent from the home life of our dear
Queen! I'd no IDEA it was so bad as
that"
II understand it, If anything. But
well, we won't go into it now. NV
point is, here, by chance. we have a
quiet hour for understanding nature
and no noise-no DRINKS. Well. don't
let's spend it standing on these rocks,
when the lakes right there. Come !"
She shook her head in silence, faint
ly smiling. Gently, she released the
hand that he had abruptly clutched.
She thought that his massive face
paled little then.
From far away over the water came
the faint muffled echoes of song; the
sound but accentuated the pervasive
stiffness. On the solitary trail the
husband and wife steadily eyed each
other, and she was thrilled with the
knowledge of her Unreasonable VIC
tory. In that second, her minds eve
flashed backward; she thought of An
ders Carthew, and the time and scene
which had been the turning point Of
her life.
When she had married this man,
glowering at her now in the primal
woods, he loved her madly, and she,
as she had soon understood, was ac-
tually all but Indifferent to him.
Within six months her interest in him
had become acute and constant; while
he, incredibly. was detected in recur-
ling lapses Of ardor. After two years
she adored him without restraint, and
for days and weeks together he was
frankly bored with her. Why? Was
Ii tho Stincr ln. nA 4l,.t