Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-07-05

had happened. He was smashed.
beaten down, ohiterated. AS he alight-
ed from the train he was lust where
he had started fifteen years ago-no.
he was in worse case than he had
been then. Fifteen years ago he had
dared to embark in business for him.
self He had possessed youth and
hope, and about his neck was no mill.
stone of responsibility. He could make
or break and no damage done to any
but himself. 1t was different tonight.
When his creditors finished with him
he would not have. two nickels to jim
gle together. Even the house toward
which he walked so slowly and he3v-
1ly-that would be gone He dreaded
the ordeal of breaking the news to
Jane.
Usually he rode home In a jltney-
tonight he walked. walked to save the
quarter it would have cost to ride. He
took the short cut through a vacant
lot to his back door, The soft lawn
deadened his footsteps as he rounded
the house to the low porch. and he ar
apprehension of the coming interview
with his wife that he was unconscious
of his surroundings until he stood at
the corner of the porch. Then the
sound of a mans voice arrested him,
He paused, not intending to spy, and
the mans words came to his ears. We
hement words, impassioned words. -. d.
John Firth was making love to his
wife,
Mcdonald hesitated. He did NOT
think clearly: was incapable of sharp
decision.
"You must love me-" he heard Firth
say. "YOu must. You must. l
can't get along without you, Jane
Jane :. :" There was brief silence.
"Tell me you love me. Say you'll go
away with me. Nobody, nothing
has the right to keep us apart If we
love. It's sin to keep us apart"
"I-oh, let me think. let me Think"
said Jane.
think You've had time for think
ing. Weeks ard months Of it. You
must know. You do know. Oh,
Jane, nobody ever loved you as do"
TITS sweet to be loved" said Jane.
Butch, woman has so much to
think Of"
"Just think Of you and me-of the
happiness we have a right to have. 4.
Tell me, Jane, tell me you love me-"
mot now. john" Mcdonald heard
his wife say, mot tonight. Let me
have just this night to think Tomor-
row Pll-I'll tell you-how it is to be-"
you'll tell me you love me? You'll
tell me you will go away With me?"
Jane paused, while Mcdonald wait
ed dumbly, unable to speak. unable to
move. "I-I hope So" she said, soft
ly.
Mcdonald turned slowly. Stealthily
he walked away. He did not want to
be seen or heard. He wanted to get
away and to face this new disaster, to-
stare into its eyes and to demand its
meaning. He tramped. Hour after
hour he tramped, his head seething
with incohefent thoughts. So he had
lost everything business, wife, home
all in one debacle! He tried to realize
it, to peer ahead and to picture his flu
ture. He could not. He CROPPED for
some plan to follow. for some action to
take-but there was no light to follow.
only the murk of bewilderment. One
thing he knew, one fact stood out. He
did not want to lose his wife and his
home. Perhaps his wife might be a
better wife and his home a happier
hOme-but they were his and he want
ed them. The thought of losing what
lay yonder was fntolerable to him.
There were savage thoughts, too;
violent thoughts, but he fought them
down. Somehow he did not blame
Firth. and he could not blame his
wife. Circumstances, cursed circum-
stances. were at fault. 1t was just the
way things had happened. And
then, as dawn broke over the eastern
tree tops. fatalism came to his succor.
I'm at my blacklist hour" he said
to himself. I'm broke. If she's
any good she'll stick by me- If she
leaves me at a time like this she's bet.
ter gone"
SO. once again. he turned his foot.
steps toward his home. The house was
still as he admitted himself and mount
ed the stairs to the room which was
his wife's and his own. He opened
the door Jane heard the sound Of it
closing, and sat up. startled.
ooh. Mcdonald" she said. and then
she sat more erect and stared at him.
at his gloomy. despairing eyes. at his
weary. haggard face "What time is
it, she asked.
"Nearly five"
"What-what is the matter. McOOn.
aid? Where have you been all night"
walking" he said: walking"
"Walking!' Alarm was in her voice
-.,4~.ned? What's the
l.t I",tisru. Which calamity should
lie al,.uunce first? Something, not
reason. told him there was but one
calamity to announce. About his dis
covery of last night he would be silent.
He could not bring himself to speak Of
it, and in that moment he knew that.
whatever came, whatever should be
the outcome, he could never tell ter
what he had overheard. 1t must be
buried, buried in his heart. never to be
exhumed.
'I'm broke!" he said badly.
Broke! What do you mean"
Il mean," he said, patiently. "that
the business has gone up the spout.
I've lost everything. Even this house