Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-05-03

AALu Win lOO lIlllG pTlu6"dUU no
good sense at ALL And a little later,
when she had conquered her first fu-
rious indignation and sat down again.
he spoke words which she took at last
for truth, and which filled her in the
end with an overmaStering purpose
For Anders had said that a mans
necessity is not to be loved, but to
love; and that, to love, his fixed need
is to pursue-and conquer.
So, she, because she had will, and
it seemed that her whole life was at
stake, had actually achieved this i'm
possible. She had warped her nature,
she had broken her heart to pieces;
she had recovered the reserves of
maidenhood, made herself again mys-
FERROUS to this once familiar; she had
famed the last Pickering ember to a
flame. Now here he stood suing her
in the romantic night-her Horace,
bored no longer, and still, and still
Was it not ironical that, here
in the instant of her tremendous tri-
umph. her mood should be so skeptical
anu \ppi' 11OM Se WIS I1OT-
aces nose, she unsentimentally con-
sidered, how halting his tongue, how
really small his vanity and caution.
Had something then permanently
passed away? In the long process of
repression, of moral separation, so
painful at first, had she wrought in
herself an irreparable change?
She wondered, smiling shadowily, in
that second of thick silence. Now the
man, having drawn back step, spoke
abruptly:
Look here, what's come over your"
Come over me?''
you've changed so much-just in
this last yea-that you're like an
other persona stranger"
To. be sure, her heart swelled lit
tie at that.
But you hardly offer that as a COM
plant, Horace? Hastily recalling our
past, l feel sure you must find any
change in me an improvement"
That's just the tone l don't like
from you. Laurel. This constantly
evasive manner. Flippant, l am bound
to call it, and-and provoking l think
the times come to remind you that a
husband has some rights-and I'm not
getting mine"
"But-why, all this is news to me-
my dear. Your rights. I'd thought
you were frightfully fatigued with
them. whatever they are, years ago,
and gladly"
Never no! Ridiculous. IL
"Ah, that poor memory of yours,
shaking her finger in a manner in
sufferably satirical; and resumed de-
murely: But of course I'm glad that
you've forgotten that day-when, l
sobbing like a deserted village lass,
most crudely taxed you with having
ceased to love me, and you. poor dear,
could only reply, There, there -
most soothingly, I own, yet 1t morti-
fled me at the time, remember. You've
forgotten explaining to me that life
wasn't meant to be an amending song
of romance, that it was normal and
necessary that the disturbing heyday
of love should descend to afternoon,
to twilight"
$50 that's il" he interrupted sud-
denly. you've never gotten over that
one little scene-a mere incident? p
"Oh, l remember-Tve been
thinking back a good deal, here late
ly," he went or, rather thickly. "You
went off on visit to your mothers
then, and when you came back, the
change had cOme-that was the time.
You'd assured this singular and I'M
wifely attitude. This unfair"
What adjectives, my dear Horace
Was it unwifely or unfair to learn the
lesson my own husband set meY
That's more f.ippancy-you know
1t is. Look here--I wish to know. Did
you then-or have you at any time
since-come to take an interest in
In somebody else?"
She locked up through the black
leaves toward the moon, an odd tumult
In her breast, and laughed a little.
Your questions astOund me, of
course. And I'd supposed that even
wife was entitled to some privacy.
Remember, Horace. I've never ques-
toned you, though all the world has
known when you've looked over the
fence. But the breeze is freshening.
and I've detained you long enough.
Now I'll dress, waiting in the cabin"
mot so fast, not so FAST" said her
husband. blocking her way We've
started a conversation-we'll finish K
now"
"Oh, pardon me, l thought you had
finished"
mo, I've not finished. Laurel. 1
wish to know plainly. Are you trying
to say, by-all this-that you no long
er love me?''
"Oh! Really I'm afraid I've never
thought to ask myself such a ques-
ton"
ASK yourself now. 1 insist-it is
my right"
Her merriment died.
Il am. And, Horace" she said, re-
garding him duskily-"honestly-
don't know the answer
Yet in that moment, exactly, she
seemed to herself to have the answer.
Yes, something had gone out of her,
now and forever. Funny, but you
couldn't crack and make over your
nature for nothing.
"Oh, you don't know?" he said dark
ly. "Well, the times come for you to
find out"
why? What's your interest in the
ancient point? Haven't 1 the best
authority for saving that 1.-Two wocn,t