Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-01-18
THE BREAKING POINT
By Mary Rob ertS Rinehart

! that her protests resulted only in
sort of clandestine giving or lend
ing, she had exacted a promise from
him. 'I ask only one thing, David, y
she had said Tell me where the
things go, and when. There WASH t
| blanket for the guest room at the
time of the diocesan convention"
I'll run around to the Wheelers
and get them" Dick observed, in a
carefully casual voice. "I'n see the
Carter baby, too, David, and that
clears the afternoon. Any mes
sage?"
Lucy glanced at him, but David
moved toward the house.
Give Elizabeth kiss for me-" he
| called over his shoulder, and went
/ chuckling UP the path.
Black and white, right and wrong
! the proper course and the improper
course-he lived in a sort of two
! dimensional ethical world. But tc
Lucy Crosby. between black and
white there was a gray no man S
| land of doubt and indecision; a hall
way house of ompromlse, and some
times David frightened her. He was
SO sure.
She passed the open door into the
waiting room, where sat two OF three
patient and silent figures, and went
back to the kitchen. Minnie, the
elderly servant, sat by the table
| reading, amid the odor of roasting
chickens; peace was in the air, a
gesture of homely comfort, order
and security.
NTippio oOt III
"Iu unpin your veil for you." she
offered obligingIy. you've got
time to lie down about ten minutes
Mrs. Morgan said she'd got to have
her ears treated"
IT hope she doesn't sit and talk
| for an hour"
l"SheTI talk, all right" Minnie OBJ
served. her mouth full Of pins
"She'd be talking to me yet If Ia
stood there. She's got her nerve
| too, that woman"
81 don't like to hear you speak SC
of the patients who come to the
house, Minnie
"Well, 1 don't like their asking me
questions about the family, either
said Minnie, truculently. "She want
! ed to know who was DR.. Dicks
mother. Said she had had a WON
an here from Wyoming, and she
thought she'd known his people"
Mrs. Crosby stood very still.
81 think she should bring her
Questions to the family, she said
after a silence. Thank you, Min
ME"
Bonnet in hand, she moved toward
the stairs, climbed them and went
into her room. For ten years life
had been growing increasingly calm
and less beset with doubts. For the
first time, with Dicks coming to
live with them, a boy Of twenty-five
she had found a vicarious maternity
and gloried in it. And, as David
gave up more and more Of the work
he took it on his broad shoulders, eff
ficient, tireless, and with growing
popularity.
She put her\ bonnet away in its
box, and suddenly there rose in hel
frail old body a fierce and uneXpect
| ed resentment against David. He
had chosen a course and abided bJ
| it. He had even now no doubts Oh
falterings. Even in the first anX
ious days, there had been no doub
in him as to the essential Brightness
of what he was doing. And now
/. This was what came of taking {
life and molding it in accordance
with a predetermined plan. Tha
was for God to do, not man.
What did Mrs. Morgan knoW-ol
suspect?
~HE sat down near her window
and rocked slowly, to- calm her
~ self Outside, the Sunday
movement Of the little suburban
village went by. The elder Wheeler
girl, Nina, who had recently married
Leslie Ward, in her smart little car
Harrison Miller, the cynocal bachelor
who lived next door, on his way tc
the station news stand for the New
York papers; young couples taking
small babies for the air in per
ambulators: younger couples, theil
eyes on each other and on the
future.
That, too, she reflected bitterly
Dick was in love. She had caught
as simple David with his celibatt
heart could never have caught, the
tone in Dicks voice when he men
\ toned the Wheelers. She hat
7 watched him for the past few
months, in church on Sunday morn
ings,, and she knew that as she
watched him, so he looked at Eliza
beth.
And David was so sure! So sure
The office door closed, and follow
ing that came the slo wascent q
David as he climbed the stairs tC
wash for dinner.
"DaVidw she called sharply.
He opened the door and came in
a bulky figure, still family aromatic
of drugs, cheerful and serene.
"D'you call me?" he inquired.
Eyes. Shut the door and come
in. 1 want to talk to you"
"All right, my dear. Let's have
it,
did Mrs. Morgan have anything
to say?"
He stared at her.
"She usually has," he said. g
never knew you considered it worth
/. repeating. No. Nothing in par
ticular."
The very fact that Mrs. Morgan
had limited her inquiry to, Minnie
confirmed her suspicious.
I want to talk to you about Dick
"Yes?"
'I think he's in love, David"
David's heavy body Strengthened
but his face remained serene.
1--WE had to expect that, Lucy. L
: it Elizabeth Wheeler, do you think?'
yes"
For a moment there was silence
do you think she cares for him?'
II don't know. There's some tall
of WaIlie Sayre. He's there goot
bit"
''WalIe Sayre" snorted David
He's never done a days work II
his life and never will"
you're evading the real issue
= David, aren't your"
perhaps I am" he admitted. 81
he's got any idea that he shouldn'
} I'd better talk to him. That's non
sense"
| IT don't mean that, exactly" Lucy
) persisted. II mean, won't he wan