The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-12-14


had never changed her express
sion. She might have been some
ancient oracle reciting her credo,
and she seemed to have narcotized
that magnetic current that had
always vibrated between them.
Nevertheless he had been fully
aware that she felt like nothing
less than an oracle or the marble
bust she looked, and that her
soul was racked and possibly
fainting, but mastered by her
formidable will.
Formidable. Did that word best
express her? Was she one OF
the superwomen, who could find
no mate on earth and must look
for her god on another star? He
certainly was no superman him
self to breathe on her plane and
mate that incarnate will. Had
she any human weakness? Even
that subterranean sex-life in her
past had not been due to weak
ness. She was far too arrogant
for that. Life had been her foot
stool. She had kicked 1t about
contemptuously. Even her read.
justments had been the dictates
Of her imperious will. And her
pride! She was a female Lucifer
in pride.
No doubt the men she had dis
missed had been secretly relieved;
stung for the only time in their
lives perhaps, with a sense Of in
feriority. It must have been like
receiving the casual favors Of q
queen on her throne Well, she
had got 1t in the neck once;
there was some satisfaction In
that. He wished he knew the
mans name. He'd hunt him up
and thank him in behalf Of his
sex.
Hate
For an hour he excoriated her.
hated her, feared her, dissociating
her from the vast army Of
womanhood, but congratulating
himself upon having known her.
She was a unique IL crucifying
study.
With restored youth super
imposed upon that exhaustive
knowledge Of life-every phase
Of it that counted in her
calculations-the rejuvenation of
all her great natural endow.
ments, she'd probably so back
and rule Europe! What use could
she possibly have for any MAI?
He made himself a cup of coz
fee over his electric stove, turned
off the malodorous gas, which at.
fected his head, stood out on his
balcony for a moment, then lit his
pipe and felt in a more mellow
mood.
<ALIC4 dAAB SIG AAou 6ulLGECO DIS
only a woman so literally en-
dowed could suffer, and over a
long period OF years. She had
known despair and humiliation
and bewilderment, lethargic hops-
lessness, and finally a complete
sacrifice Of self. His imagination,
in spite Of his rebellious soul,
had furnished the background
for that bald recital.
And she must have an indon.
table soul, some inner superfine
spiritual essence, with which ar
rogance and even pride had less
to do than she imagined. Other
wise. after the life she had led,
she would either have become an
imperious uncomfortable old wo-
man or one Of those falterfng
nonentities crowded into the
background Of life by a genera
ton which inspires them with
nothing but timidity and disap-
nroval. Towering Municipalities
often go down to defeat In old
age.
And nothing could alter the fact
that she was the most beautiful
and the most wholly desirable
woman he had ever. known, the
one woman who had focused
every aspiration Of his mind, his
soul and his body. He knew he
must ask himself the inevitable
question and face It without
blinking. Was he appalled, by her
real age; could he ever get away
from the indubious fact that what
ever miracle science may havo
effected, her literal age was verg-
ing on gixty7 II she were not
an old woman she had been ore.
That beautiful body had withe~ed,
undesired OF all men, that per-
feet face had been the battered
mirror of an aged ego. He did
not ask himself II the metamor-
phosis would last, If the shell
might not wither again tomorrow.
He was abreast of the important
scientific discoveries Of his day
and was not at all astonished
that the problem of senesence
should be solved. It was no moro