Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-03
THE SUPERIOR SEX
An EnthrdHin Romance
BY HAZEL DE 20 BACHELOR

conventionality of the step he was
taking. His mother would be shock
ed out of her senses. She would
think that he had suddenly gone
mad. But just the same she would
do as he said. He was master in
his own house. and had had his own
way ever since he could remember.
CHAPTER "
The Fight for Life
q TEELE'S arrival with the un--
conscious girl turned the usually
quiet well-run establishment into
confusion. His mother was not at
home when he reached there, and
Steele carried the girl up into one
of the guest rooms and left her to
one of the maids when he telephoned
for the doctor.
The doctors arrival came stimuli
taneously with Mrs. Steele's, but
when she met the look in her sons
ewes she knew that it was useless to
argue with him.
Throwing off her brocaded eve.
ming wrap Martha Steele followed
the doctor upstairs and into the bed
room. But as she looked down upon
lIl6 UNCONSCIOUS 1llllO 1lS III z III bAAS
big bed the icy look in her eyes soft
ened to something very like tender
ness.
"Why, she's nothing but child"
she exclaimed.
The doctor was bending over the
girl and as he Strengthened he re-
marked dryly: "She's been starved,
that's what caused the faint, and L
don't like her breathing. If she gets
pneumonia in her undernourished
condition We'll have hard time saw
ing her."
His eyes met Marcia Steele's full
as he went on speaking. Wen
have to get her to hospital or send
for a nurse. I'm afraid it will mean
a lot Of trouble if you keep her
here"
For a moment Marcia Steele hest
tated and rebellion rose in her heart.
After all, why should she go to any
trouble for this waif who would be
better off in a hospital? If John in
sisted they could pay the bills and
put DR.. Henderson in charge of the
case, but why was it necessary to
keep her here; the girl was nothing
to them?
And then while she stood there de-
batting the advisability Of having an
other talk with John and trying to
persuade him that the girl would be
better off in a hospital, the mys.
ferrous stranger opened her eyes,
turned them wildly from side to side
and then sat up in bed. Nora, the
maid, had slipped one of Marcia s
own nightgowns on her, and above
the pale pink silk and cobweb lace
the girl was uncannily beautiful.
Her cheeks were scarlet and her
eyes were very bright, but in their
depths was a look of the most ter
rible fear that Marcia Steel had
ever witnessed.
Drawn by something that she
could not understand, Mrs. Steele
went forward, and, sitting down on
the bed, put her arms around the
girls slim, shivering body. She was
moved by an impulse to calm her
fear, to reassure her, and her voice
was soft as she whispered sooth-
ingly, Don't be frightened, dear;
you're quite safe. Trust me, won't
you? Nothing can harm you here!'
For a moment the girl chung to
the older woman, questioning her
with wild terror-stricken eyes, and
then, as though there were some
thing about Marcia that could be
depended upon, she tried to smile,
gave little gasp and quietly tainted
away.
1t was Marcia who laid her back
among the pillows, and as she rose
from the bed she said quickly, 81
want you to do everything necessary
for her, doctor. Send for a nurse by
all means, and I think, for the pres
ent, we had better keep her here"
1t was thus that Anne Temple
made her appearance in the Steele
household, and if she had been a
piece of thistledoWn blown in by the
wind, she could not have been more
mysterious. In the days that fol-
lowed when the doctor called twice
a day, and both a night and day
nurse were in constant attendance
in the sick room, it seemed that the
Veriest breath might fan out the
spark Of life that remained in the
girls frail body. But she did not die.
1t was willed that she should live,
for there was more than the average
woman's share of love, and suffer-
ing still ahead of her.
NeXt-An Iron Will
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