Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-08
THE LOVE TRAP
BY HAZEL DEYO BACHELOR
CHAPTER IL
The Price of FrecdOm


q J the Kennerley Limousine, hailed a
passing taxi and sprang in. Her nina
was chaos and her thoughts were in such a
| tumble that she hardly realized what she
had done until she reached the Thornton
and realized that she had no money
PAY the driver, will you, and put it on
my BILL she said imperiously to the door
| man, and moment later she was in the
elevator on the way up to her room. Once
there, she sank down in a chair and tried
to collect her thoughts. A vague dismay
seized her, and yet back of 1t there was a
fierce joy. At least she was free. No mat
ter what terrors the future had in store for
her, she had burst her bonds. No longer
would it be necessary for her to play up to
the crowd, to endure the paving of Arch
Kennerley to act the fool whether she felt
like it or not. She was free, free, and for
the time being that was enough
A deadly tiredness was creeping over her.
The reaction of the last few months was
setting in, and she began to realize how
physically weary she was. An ache that
spread over her entire body made her feel
numb. Her limbs were held in a deadly
lassitude that made her doubt whether she
had the strength to rise from her chair, and
yet her brain seemed on fire and she dread
ed getting into bed and putting out the
light for fear Of lying awake in the dark
ness, a prey to agonizing thoughts
Jeffry Arnold! How he must despise her!
Oh, she had succeeded in running her life,
there was nothing for her to do now but
confess herself a hideous failure. And yet
she was glad that she had broken away she
was thankful to be free, no matter how
great the price.
The last thing she did before getting into
bed was to take off her engagement ring
put it in it's velvet box and lock it away.
Tomorrow she would send it back to Arch
by special messenger. She would write him
letter, too; she owed him that much, for
after all, he was not to blame. He was
merely product of the oyer-feyerish life he
had been leading.
Finally she was in bed, the light was out.
She tried to WOO sleep by making her mind
a blank, but thoughts kept yelling up into
her brain until she felt that she would go
mad. To make matters worse, the telephone
on the table by her bed began to jangle ir-
ritatingly. The sound startled her so that
she began to tremble violently-but she
made no attempt to answer it. She knew
who was at the, other end of the wire and
she had no intention of listening to Arch's
reproaches Or of attempting to explain her
actions of that evening.
After time the bell ceased ringing and
later still Gail dropped into a feverish sleep
She dozed ftfully through the night, waking
up at intervals and dropping off to sleep
again 1t was the most terrible night of her
experience, for meyer before had she suf-
Tered quite so much; not even the night of
her last talk with George Hartley had caused
her so much agony~of soul.
1t hardly seemed the same Gail who de-
scended to the dining room at o'clock the
next morning. The gay arrogance of her
manner was gone, and she looked pale and
tired Over her coffee she read letter from
her mother that had arrived that morning.
1T was full of Dalesburg gossip, but most
important of all was the news that George
Hartley was engaged to Violet Fowler They
would be married in the early spring.
You talk SO indefinitely of your own
plans, wrote Mrs Martini 'fSurelv Won wi
come home to be married. We are all eager
to meet your fance, although your father
says you probably won't feel that the old
place is good enough to receive him. You
seem changed, Gail; you've grown away
from us, and from the tone Of your letters
| feel sometimes that you're not quite
happy"
MISUNDERSTANDING the Future" This
story comes to an end next Saturday. Re
new your subscription NOW if it expires in
March, so as not to miss the final chapter
A