Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-08

country walk with Warren Holmes, a
man she knows only slightly. The in
evitable scandal follows, but year
later Miriam feels that she has buried
the incident forever. 1t is then that
Anthony Breen comes into her life and
although she cares for him she believes
Anthony has no very high opinion of
women, but in spite Of himself Miriam
interests him.-Now go with the
story.
CHAPTER XXI
Primitive Impulse
n n lRlAM returned to New York with
lVI only dull ache in her heart as a
memory of that sharper suffering
she had experienced. She believed herself
cured of her foolishness, she felt that she
had conquered her weakness and she
plunged into her work with a zest and en-
thuslasm calculated to absorb her entire
mind.
Anthony knew that she had returned He
heard it from Christine, and because he
did not choose to believe that he really
cared for Miriam, he deluded himself into
thlnklng that he was angry because she was
so Indifferent where he concerned
At first he decided to let her alone to
turn his thoughts to other things, but the
temptation came to him to follow this mat
ter up, to make her care for him. and then
give her to understand that he had been
amusing himself
This thought appealed to him. it satisfied
his growing restlessness and one evening
without telephoning her in advance he
dropped in at her apartment. Miriam
opened the door, and then because his ap-
pearance was so entirely unexpected, she
stood perfectly still, staring at him as If
she couldn't believe the evidence Of her
eyes.
Aren't you going to ask me inn" he
said finally
The girl struggled for self-control She
could have laughed aloud at the belief that
her love for him dead. At the sight of
MN her heart had seemed to turn over the
PAIN In it was as sharp ever, and here
he was suayely elegant always, a half
smile on his face, and teasing note in
his voice.
Anthony never knew what wild impulse
seized him as he stepped across the
threshold, but suddenly he realized that he
had missed her intolerably, that she had
had the power to hurt him, and that he
mad been helpless to do anything about it,
AS usual, she was aloOf from him, wrapped
in reserve, impossible to reach, and the
thought was suddenly maddening. With
out word he reached toward her Under
the thin material Of her dress he could feel
cne smooth warm roundness of her shout
ders, and suddenly she seemed more access
sible to him.
His arms went around her, and he drew
her close to him. A feeling of exultation
swept through him and although he was
hardly conscious Of it, he laughed aloud.
He could feel the beating of her heart
it seemed to shake her, and as he bent
over her he could hear her breathing quick
and hurried, before his lips touched hers
In that omment before he had stepped
forward, Miriam had stood as if rooted to
the spot. She felt as If a spell had heen
suddenly cast over her, and when he had
knn hpr in Sh had VII oil nd tn
the impulse to surrender. Then he had
laughed, a triumphant laugh, that had
forced realization upon her with the agony
Of a physical blow. She knew then that he
didn't care, that she had been right all
along, and yet her poor, weak body refused
to obey her, for she hadn't the strength to
tear herself out of his arms. She wanted
him to kiss her, even though 1t meant for
letting his respect if she allowed it. At that
moment she didn't care, she gloried in her
shame, and when he kissed her the world
seemed to rock under her feet as she chung
to him. Barriers went crashing down in
that moment of close contact, pride disap-
peared as if it had never been. Here was
woman in the arms of the man she loved
and for just a fraction of time every other
thought was crowded out of her mind save
the one thought that she loved him.
CHAPTER XIII
The Power of Love
T>HEY drew apart, the spell broken.
Miriam pressed her fingers against her
throbbing temples, and stood there
trembling for a moment. Then she spoke:
please go. | want to be alone"
Why do you want me to go-now?" he
answered, his voice deep. He was strangely
shaken, he was in the grip of an emotion
he had never experienced before but the
whole thing had been so sudden and he had
come here tonight with no clear idea Of
what he intended to do. He remembered
hazlly that his idea had been to rouse her
to some show of feeling Beyond that he
mad had no thought, but now-now-he
wanted to go on, although he wasn't as yet
sure of what he wanted to do.
Generations of conservative living and
conventional thinking were behind Anthony.
He came of line of men who believed that
women were inferior to men. If the thought
Of marriage had occurred to him at all it
would be the marriage based conven-
ience, binding emotion would have no part
in it. And yet here he was shaken to the
depths because he had held this girl in his
arms and felt her respond to his passion.
1t wasn't in the order of things, and yet 1t
was strangely sweet. He was finding it in
creasngly hard to bring reason to bear on
the subject, he was in the grip Of something
stronger than logic.
He heard himself speaking and even as
the hot words came tumbling out his reason
stood aghast at what he was saying.
'Why are you sending me away now"
he repeated Surely you must know now
feel Why I'm mad about you. I've lived
through an eternity since You left that
night Why didn't you write to me? Didn't
you know that l counted hearing from
you? Didn't you realize what it would
mean to me TO live through day after day
of silence?
1t was part of the madness that had seized
him How the men at the cluh would have