Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-03
CHAPTER -NLII
Bitterness

H URING this period in her life il seemed
| J to Miriam that she was experiencing a
49, horrible kind of nightmare. She went
through her days mechanically. She felt
daZed and always there lurked in the back
ground a misery so stark that she dared
not face it.
Mr.. Carson had been highly considerate.
He had asked no questions nor had he made
any comment when she told him that she
would continue with the firm. But shrewd
man of the world that he was, he knew with
out asking THAI something had happened to
Miriam; something serious enough to sub
due her radiance and sap her enthusiasm,
and mentally he called Anthony Breen a
fool.
"A cold-blooded aristocrat," ran his
thoughts, "and he's hurt that girl horribly
1t was then that he thought of sending
Miriam abroad. as had been originally
planned. The trip would do her good and
she would return with a firm grip on herself
dulled by time.
Miriam responded eagerly TO his sugges-
ton Yes, she could get ready to leave at
once. She would like to go as soon as posi-
BILE. And so the plans We're rushed through,
and she spent her days in such a Whirl that
her unhappiness was less acute than it would
have been if she had had more time to
brood. She was determined not to see An
thony She appreciated the danger of his
charm, and, although she realized now that
she would never nnQ happiness WITH HlL1 SIle
was afraid of what might happen IT he
should take her in his arms.
There were times when the thought OF
never seeing him again was like knife
thrust in her heart. Every time the tele-
phone rang she trembled and on THAI last
night when he had come to the apartment
she had broken down under the strain of
not admitting him.
When the bell had pealed through the
apartment she had sat tense and rigid in the
living room. Her fingers dug into the up
holstery with the effort to keep still, and at
last when she could bear it no longer, she
had gone into the hall to be nearer to him.
1t was then that she faced her fiercest temp
tation. Only the door separated them, ana
she had only to throw it open to see his
face, to feel his arms about her and his lips
on hers
Why not see him, just this once? Surely
it would do no harm to say 9oOd-by to him?
But the very fierceness of her desire to see
him was a warning to her, and she knew
that she must resist the temptation After
tonight it would be easier. This was the
final test. And so she had slipped to the
floor and had crouched there weeping bit
terly until his footsteps had retreated down
the stairs. Then, with all her senses
numbed with pain, she had struggled to her
feet and, returning to the living room, had
forced herself to go packing.
Tomorrow she would be on the ocean. To-
morrow she would be away from all this and
some time, some time IN tne Lar ulSldhE u
ture she would cease to suffer as she was
suffering now. She tried to tell herself all
this as she continued to fold her things and
lay them in the trunk, but the outlook was
intensely dreary. With the passing of An
thony had gone more than Miriam cared to
consider. 1t seemed to the girl that she had
lost faith in mankind; that she would never
again trust any one, for her illusions were
dead. AS for love, why, the very idea Of
such a thing was absurd. Love between
man and a woman was as fictitious as the
proverbal fairy tale and the idea of living
happily forever after"