Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-29
A WOMAN OBSESSED
BY CAROLYN BEECHER

BY OAROL4N BEECHER
What has gone before.-Bruce Con-
ways wealthy father cuts him off be-
cause of his elopement with Muriel Dan
gerheld before finishing college. The
young couple set up housekeeping in
H Westfield. Muriel not only is a poor
! housekeeper but is intensely jealous, and
! is unsympathetic with the light-hearted
nature of her husband. She opens let
ter addressed in feminine handwriting to
! Bruce. 1t is from his fathers old house
! keeper urging him to visit his father,
I . who is i'll. Muriel destroys it. She be-
| comes moody and insulting to her hus-
I bands friends. Her mother comes in
I answer to Bruce's telegram and warns
| Muriel she is about to lose her husbands
love by her unreasonable jealousy. Their
| child is born but dies.-Now go on with
the story.
CHAPTER XII
! n TuRIEL was soon up and around and
! MI Mrs. Dangerfeld went home. AS Bruce
i - Ia parted with her at the station she said:
'"Try to be patient, Bruce. You are both
| young and mistake now may spoil your
whole life as we'll as Murels. She loves you
and will learn to be more reasonable about
some things as time goes on. Try to be as
patient as you can with her When she is
well again things will be better"
"IH remember" he returned soberly. al
shall miss you, mother. 1t has been so good
to have you
''Thank you. my boy I want you to know
you have made me very happy by letting me
feel you are real son. The mother-in-law
\ jokes never can touch u.s." She smiled at him.
81 should say not, Why, you're like dad,
an awfully good SPORT She knew it was high
praise for Bruce. ga good SPORT meant so
much to him. They kissed each other good
by and Mrs. Dangerield promised to let June
Ispend part of her vacation with them. 1t
would cheer Muriei perhaps. Anyway. June
would be company for her.
| Your mother is a wonderful woman,
Loo Il Il
so sensible yet such good sport. I know
now something of what I have missed by
never having known mother-what father
has missed also. Poor chap!"
| Whenever Bruce talked in this manner
he had good deal of sentiment in him with
out being entimental-Muriel never replied.
He though nothing of it as she was naturally
quiet. He had thought this quiet seriousness
of hers delightful before they were married
and for time afterward. He thought it
meant depth Of character, beautiful thoughts
If now he ached for little more respon-
siveness, if he had found the silences were an
indication of shallowness he never gave it
voice.
With the peck marked maid in the kitchen
the home was more comfortable. The food
was not quite satisfying as when Mrs. Dan
gerfeld was there to overlook its preparation,
but it was so much better than when Muriel
did the cooking Bruce had no cause for COM
plant.
Muriel, now we'll again, refused more OBJ
stinately than ever to make friends of the
people he met and liked.
IF baby had lived you would have been
contented to stay at home with u.s. she said
whenever he spoke of going out. II hope
We'll have another child, don't you, Bruce?"
Cant say that care much about it-un-
less it would make you happier"
"Why Bruce! You would be different,
wouldn't care about other people at all if we
had children"
He made no further reply, but as he went
n thn ho coiH
''No--I don't want them! It's bad enough
as it isl Then felt remorseful that even in
his thoughts he had seemed to find fault with
= Muriel.
Sometimes he thought it was because he
didn't understand her that he seemed to be
getting so far from her. Perhaps he's was a
nature he would have to wait years before he
knew how to take her, make her happy and
have little joy himself without her recrimi-
nations She worried him with her demands;
, he had never heard word about the hard
ship of working in the kitchen all that first
year, although she hated it, as he knew. She
had been willing to go without to practice all
sorts of economies in her own personal eX-
penditures. She had no trousseau because of
their elopement and had bought herself
scarcely anything. She had turned her little
income over to help pay the necessary eX-
penses without in any way making him feel
she was doing anything unusual. She hardly
spoke of it, fearing it would hurt his pride.
Many women would fail in all these ways.
In what naQ Mur1oI Idll0u CHdC lie was So us
contented even though he hid it from her?
She didn't want him to be with other people,
but neither did she want outside friends for
herself She wanted to bind him, keep him
in a sort of prison of love with the windows
barred against his escape. This was 1.-THE
sense that his freedom was curtailed. He 70
; longer acted of his own free will openly. He
felt he must make apologies even when he
knew there was need. He must keep
things to himself when he would have liked
to talk them over with her.
Yet he still loved her, or thought he did.
He never had really cared for any other girl,
, which was in Muriels favor He could not
compare her with another. He knew Muriel
loved him though at times he wished she
loved differently. Still he never questioned
her loyal affection, her passionate desire for
his society to the exclusion of all else as a
: proof of her great love for him.
Yet before they had been married two
l years Bruce owned to himself that some way
, he had failed in getting the happiness he had
looked for that Muriel was often unhappy
too in spite Of all his efforts to please her.
: : Continued Saturday. Renew your subscrip-
y ton not to miss an installment OF
y this absorbing story.
OTTIPS AND OTUDDITTEC