Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-05-10
THE SUPERIOR SEX
BY HAZEL DEYO BATCHELOR

What has gone before.-John Steele
marries Anne Temple knowing that she
has secret In her past which she refuses
to divulge. He knows, too, that she does
not love him, but during their honey
moon, they are swept irresistibIy togeth-
err and for time are very happy. Then
Steele begins to think about Anne's Sc
cret, the more so because at times she
disappears mysteriously and refuses to
say where she has been Steele finally
yields to the temptation to spy on her
and he discovers that she is supporting a
child. In the shock Of his discovery,
his mind leaps to but enc explanation,
and when he accuses Anne of unspeak-
able things, she is too overwhelmed to
deny anything. That night she goes to
her child and finds her dangerously i'll.
During the night vigil Anne goes back
over the past and lives again in her mag
ination those sordid days when she was
the wife of Stanley Barton.-Now go
ON with the story.
CHAPTER XIV
Facing the Past
VIZ ITH Anne, her life with Stanley Bar
w ton had been a process of sOul-kill-
Ing, and yet during all that time she
had fought resolutely to preserve something
of herself, something that he could not reach.
If her time of torture had stretched over a
longer period she might not have been able
to do this, but as it was she had youth in her
favor, and to an extent she had been able to
forget. But she was able to do this only by
refusing to remember. That was why she
had not wanted to talk of it, that was what
caused the terror in her eyes whenever the
past was mentioned.
Now as she looked back she faced every
thing with a kind of stony calm, and in way
she was glad. She could even bring herself
to remember the day she had told Stanley
about Elinor. To Anne the thought of a
baby had been like a wonderful delfverance.
With child to love and care for, life might
take on a different meaning, and she had
told Stanley about it shyIy and with starry
eyes.
At first he had looked at her skeptically as
though he did not believe her. but when he
realized that she was telling the truth he
had raved like mailman. The horror of the
things he had said had sunk deep into Anne's
soul, and he had ended by striking her full
across the face and leaving her lying on the
kitchen floor until she recovered conscious
ness a couple of hours later.
month afterWard Stanley Barton had
died. neglected cold followed by pneu-
monia had ended the torture of Annes life
with him, and although he left her without
money, his death was kinder to Anne than
any act he had ever performed during his life.
Elinor had been born in the free ward of
one of the city hospitals, and for long time
Anne could not bring herself to love the baby
She remembered the shock of repulsion she
had suffered when the White-capped nurse
had put Elinor into her arms, she had seen
Stanley's features and looking down at the
baby face stamped on it.
Anne had averted her face quickly and
the nurse had rebuked her warmly. She
had seen many girl mothers turn away from
the babies placed within their arms, and
she entirely mistook Anne's attitude.
1.-THE baby needs you," she had said severe
ly, you must love her. she belongs to you"
Anne had not replied, she had been too
sick at heart to speak, but she tolerated the
baby and as she grew stronger loved it pas
sionately. When she was able to leave the
hospital, the superintendent of nurses had
called her into the office and asked her if
she would like to have the baby adopted
At first Anne had stared incredulously but
when the matron went on to explain that
many women preferred to do this because it
was easier to meet the struggle for existence
unhampered by child, Anne had drawn her
self up proudly, and with the air of royal
princess, as the matron told one of the
internes later, had refused to consider such
thing.
But the struggle for existence had been too
much for Anne. For year after Elinors
birth things had gone from bad to worse
Anne was unframed, inexperienced She
made only just enough money to keep from
starving, and she denied herself constantly
that Elinor might have the things she
needed.
On that rainy night when she had taken
shelter in John Steele's taxi, she had been
desperate. For two weeks back she had
realized that 1t would be impossible to keep
Elinor with her any longer, and during that
time she had gone without food in order to
save enough to take the baby into the coun-
try. By chance she had heard of Mrs Hig-
gins, a motherly, middeaged woman, who
loved children and who would have taken
Elinor for nothing, If she hadn't needed the
small amount Anne could afford to pay to
help keep the roof over her head.
Anne had taken the baby up to Hillcrest
and was returning home when she was caught
in the storm. 1t was lucky for her that things
happened as they did, for she had less than
fifty cents in her pocket, fifty cents to last
Afor the remainder of the week. and it would