Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-05-03

z ESLIE WARD had found the autumn
| l extremely tedious. His old passion for
! A~ Nina now and then famed up in him
| but her occasional coquetries no longer de-
ceived him. They had their source only in
her vanity; she exacted his embraces only
as tribute to her own charm, her youth her
! fresh young body.
And Nina out of her setting of gaiety of
a humping piano, of chattering, giggling
crowds, Of dancing and bridge and theater
boxes, was queen dethroned. She did not
read or think. She spent long hours before
her mirror fussing with her hair, in trim
ming and retrimming hats, or in the fastidi-
GUS care Of her hands and body.
He was ashamed sometimes of his pitilessy
clear analysis of her. She was not discomfort
ed, save at the enforced sombreness Of their
! lives. She had found in marriage what she
wanted; good house, daintily served; a
man to respond to her attractions as a wom-
an, and to provide for her needs as a wife;
dignity and an established place in the world;
liberty and privilege.
But she was restless. She chafed at the
quiet evenings they spent at home, and re-
scented the reading in which he took refuge
from her uneasy fidgeting.
For heavens sake. Nina, sit down and
read sew, do something. You've been
at that window dozen times"
I'm not bothering you. Go on and read"
When nobody dropped in she would go up
stairs, and spend the hour or so before bed
time in the rites of cold cream massage, and
in placing the little combs of what Leslie had
learned was called water wave.
But her judgment was as clear as his, and
even more pitiess; the difference between
them lay in the fact that while he rebelled
she accepted the situation. She was cleverer
than he was; her mind worked more quickly
and she had the adaptability he lacked If
there were times when she wearied him,
there were others when he sickened her.
Across from her at the table he ate slowly
and enormously He splashed her dainty
bathroom with his loud gasping cold baths.
He flung his soiled clothing anywhere. He
drank whisky at night and crawled into the
lavender-scented sheets redolent of it, to
drop into heavy sleep and snore until she
wanted to scream But she played the game
to the limit of her ability.
Then, seeing that they might go on the
rocks, he made valiant effort, and since
she recognized it as an effort, she tried to
meet him half way. They played two-han-
ded card games. He read aloud to her, poetry
which she loathed, and she to him, short
stories he hated. He suggested country walks
and she agreed, to limp back after half
mile so in her high-heeled pumps.
He concealed his boredom from her. but
there were nights when he lay awake long
after she was asleep and looked ahead into
future of unnumbered blank evenings. He
had formerly taken an occasional evening at
his club, but on his suggesting it now Nina's
eyes would fill with suspicion, and he knew
shat although she never mentioned Beverly
Carlysle, she would neither forget nor entire
y trust him again And in his inner secret
soul he knew that she was right.
He had thought that he had buried that
brief madness, but there were times when he
knew he lied to himself. One fiction, how
ever, he persisted in; he had not been in
fatuated with her. 1t was only that she gave
him during those few days something he had
not found at home. companionship and Quiet
intelligent talk. She had been restful Nina
was never restful
He brought a New York paper daily arc
read it in the train. The Valley had opened
to success in New York, and had settled for
long run. The reviews of her work h9(;
been extraordinary, and when now and then
she gave an interview, he studied the photo
graphs accompanying it. But he never car
ried the paper home.
He began, however. to play with the
thought of going to New York. He would
not go to see her before metropolitan au-
dience to add his mite to her triumph.
There were times when he fully determined
to co. when he sat at his desk with his hand