Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-13
CHAPTER XLVI
ST TovaH XOII'1

WHY did he look that way? 1t was not
w an expression of anger, rather one of
intense hurt, and his face was so
white that it terrified her.
Il loved YOU he said finally. 81 think
must have loved you from the first, but l
knew that you didn't care for me that way.
You were always unaware of me. | could
not reach you, and that night when [ asked
you to marry me, it was not to save you
from a sorry predicament; it was because l
wanted you. Do you remember that I told
you so them"
Eyes, but I didn't believe you," Miriam
whispered the words.
"WeIl, it was true. Then you ran away,
and [ came to the city and searched for
you, but [ couldn't find YOU That's all, eX-
ceptng that I didn't think of that night at
the inn serious thing. l thought you
attached too much Importance to it. 1t
wasn't until We reached the Pine Notch
hotel, and saw the way people treated you
that I realized how you would suffer-" He
silent, and Miriam, whose anger had
died away, sat very still thinking. Then,
all of sudden, she burst out laughing. The
situation was funny, tragically funny.
why do you ask?' he asked tensely.
''Why? Oh, because I was thinking how
funny it would have been if I had cared for
YOU"
Funny, why?"
Don't you see? If had cared, and we
had been thrown together that way, how
advantage of the situation. 1t Wouldn t. have
mattered, people believed the worst, anyway.
AS it is, I'm paying for something that never
happened"
"You don't mean that. You're just hurt,
bitter"
Perhaps you're right. But at least it's
over now, and I'm going to try to forget all
about it,
She extricated herself from her steamer
rug and stood up, and Holmes, too, rose to
his feet. For just a moment they stood fac
ing each other, and then Miriam held out her
hand.
please don't feel that I not appreci-
ative of what you have told me. You see
didn't know that you cared"
His fingers closed over hers, but as he
looked down into her face he could not read
what was going in her thoughts. There
was something about her attitude that dis
missed him, gave him the feeling that this
was the end, that she did not want to see
him again.
She confirmed his thought by her next
words
This is good-by. There is nothing that
we two can bring each other, you know"
And he did not argue with her. He
merely bowed over her hand, and then
turned on his heel and left her. But he did
not despair, not by any means. Fate had
thrown them together in a strange fashion
and this could not be the end. Of course
she had mistaken his meaning. She had
taken for granted the fact that, although he
had once cared for her, he did not love her
now. What a child she still, so young
and embittered. And what kind of man
had been loved by her? He must have been
rather poor specimen to- have had the
right to hold her in his arms, to know the
touch of her lips, and then not love her in
spite of anything she might have done
even if she had told me of a real cpl
sode in her past his thoughts, cit
wouldn't have made any difference in my
feeling for her. She is a rare woman, the
kind of woman men never forget. I'd like
to meet him. I'd like to see the man who
could love her and give her up. Perhaps I'll
have that good fortune some day"