Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-03-31
THE SUPERIOR SEX
BY HAZEL DEYO BATCHELOR
An EnthraUing Romance

BY HAZEL DEYO BACHELOR
What has gone before-John Steele
takes Anne Temple home with him on
stormy night when he finds her asleep in
his taxi, and weak from illness During
the fight that ensues for the girls life,
he falls desperately in love with her, and
in spite of the secret in her past, which
she refuses to divulge, he marries her.
Marcia Steele, his mother, disapproVes of
the match, but she makes the best of it.
From the beginning there is no question
of love on Anne's part, and Steele prom
ises never to ask more from her than she
is willing to give. A desperate need of
money has urged Anne into taking this
step, but on the honeymoon trip in the
tropics, Steele's considerateness and gen
crosby gradually undermine Anne's reso-
luton never to trust a man. The time
comes when Steele's iron will breaks and
the two are swept irresistibly together.
But Anne's elusive personality battles
him, and even in the midst of their EJve
he does not feel sure of her. Now 20 on
with the story.
CHAPTER XVIII
The ShadoWX Past
q TEELE did not know how rare happiness
was to Anne. He did not know that
~ with the love she gave him there had
lions in her. Life had taught her that love
meant pain, and pain had taught her many
things. In her girls heart she had resolved
to have no more to do with love. For time
she had shrunk in terror from the very idea
of such a thing, but Steele through having
first won her trust had disarmed her, and
when he had caught her in his arms that
night, she had forgotten everything but the
fact that she loved him.
AS the days passed, she loved him more
uF11 NJOn 4I1O4 81 h t1,o
poise, the breeding Womanlike, she thrilled
to that domineering quality in him, she loved
to feel herself mastered, and yet the husky
tenderness of his voice, the alteration in his
eyes, belied his fierceness with her, and there
were times when the tears would well up into
her eyes with the wonder of it all.
It wasn't until they were the steamer
bound for home that an incident happened
that was far-reaching in its after effects. They
became friendly with a Mr.. and Mrs. Norris,
who happened to sit at their table in the
dining salon. The acquaintanceship was not
brought about through Steele, but through
Anne, who took great fancy to Grace Norris,
Steele did not like PaytOn Norris. He hated
the way the mans rather bold eyes rested I
Anne, but he appreciated the fact that Anne
craved the companionship of another woman,
and tried to be agreeable.
But after two days of this steamer friend
ship it was plain to be seen that PaytOn Nor
ris was doing his best to have filtration
w
not a stage villain, he was simply rather
coarse grained and obviously bored with his
wife, and Anne seemed entirely competent to
manage the situation But if Norris attitude
were not important, the effect of 1t upon
Steele was. He felt a sense of fury toward
Norris that was out of all proportion to the
Importance of the thing itself. 1t reached a
point where he could hardly contain himself
and yet because Of Anne he did not want to
precipitate crisis. He was hardly civil to
Norris, but the man was so thick-skinned or
else so accustomed to reactions of this kind
in husbands, that he appeared not to notice
that anything was wrong.
One night Norris Unanswered things so
that he and Anne walked together on deck
while Grace and John were forced to follow
them. Steele, with his eyes fixed on Anne,s
straight, slim back, was tense with anger. He
did not say a word to his companion, and
Grace, who realized how things were going,
was considerate enough to refrain from max
ing conversation. She thought 1t rather rldlc-
ulous that Steele should be so jealousy and it
was jealousy that burned in his heart. For
the first time he realized that after all he
knew very little about Anne's past. He had
never asked about her secret, he had thought
it unimportant, but now he began to see
things in a new light.
Had Anne been loved by other men? That
was the question that kept darling through
his mind. How could it have been otherwise?
Her Witching loneliness was a target for all
eyes. At Colon the officers had gone mad
about her. Then, how could he, Steele, have
been fool enough to imagine that ne mad
been the first man in her life?
That secret of hers! Was it connected with
some man? Anne's scornful attitude toward
men in general. Didn't that point to some
experience in the past with some one VINO was
unworthy? The more he thought about it
the more convinced he became that he was
right and the idea was agony to him.