Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-15

issue In order to set the matter right zoe
are pUbljshjNg tlro chdpters toddy)
CHAPTER xxx
~ ONTRARY to Peters expectations his
fears, the incipient. scandal had done
him no harm. For this he was grateful.
Immediately relieved. He had little sef.con-
ceit or egotism and scarcely realized he was
so strongly 1ntrenched in his profession that
what might have ruined less clever and
Popular man could not affect him adversely
Ills success Il surgeon, his being called in
consultation by older and established special
jsts his known work in the hospital had in
i way set him above anything a woman like
Nurse Bundy could do to harm him.
That Mrs. Williams name had been kept
out OF it-publiCly-was a source Of great
qualification to him. He liked and respected
his woman whose assistance both personal
md with the aid OF her great wealth had
helped him in his plans for the crippled chill
dren; this woman who gave SO freely of her
time, herself, to the little sufferers Had the
matter developed into vulgar gossip regarding
ler 1t would have distressed him immensely.
He did not tell Althea that this woman
whom she-as he thought-meant to use as
means to divorce him, had seen the papers
md had offered to bail the nurse out, keep
ng both Peter and Althea out of the case
nd that he had had Il difficult time to per-
uade her it unwise
The offer had touched Peter deeply. This
woman who because Of her own sorrow helped
10 tighten the sorrows of others; this woman,
whose social position was unassailable, had
been willing to mix in this common affair to
help Althea; to him.
Always it had been an almost uneXpressed
sorrow to Peter that Althea took so little in
terest in his work, especially in the hospital.
She seemed fond of children, devoted to Nell
Backwels little boy, was kind to animals,
thoughtful and generous to her servants. If
occasion he had spoken of the crippled
children she had appeared callous, uninter
ested Now he felt that her attitude was in
measure explained, even her seeming dis
interest in little Doris Howard.
She was watching him-Mrs Williams. By
keeping away she had made their working
together look like personal intimacy instead
of an intimacy of devotion to the same work.
Again as so often before they each had
labored under a misunderstanding Of the
other; had built up a wall of reserve neither
could pass.
Only one thing seemed clear now to them
both each wished to be rid of the other. Yet
in the days that followed, Peter, with the
power his life had given him, turned his mind
to his work-amost.
Occasionally as he sat at his desk or
drove home from the hospital, he would
close his eyes for moment, racking his
brain for solution of the case, for way
out without giving Althea up, paving the
way for her future happiness, only to go
on after a moment-putting off any de-
cision.
..I,m q coward" he muttered. I'm self
ish [ love her but do l love her enough
tn want her to be happy without me?"
And ND in her sitting room or going ABOUT
her own affairs, Althea also would WONDER
if she were strong enough to give up re-
ter; if she could go on living without NM
She believed him true in action, but she also
4lo1z fhnIJo oh "
living with her, to all outward appearances
amicabIy, while he longed to be with Ruth
Williams the woman who for his sake spent
hours daily at the hospital, who had taken
Doris Howard into her home so that she
might see more of Peter-see him untram-
meled by prying eyes.
Now the thought that had often come to
her again obtruded. 1t had been banished
completely because of the Bundy matter
But now it was too late; she had kept still
too long.
She was still peculiarly antagonistic to,
ward Miss Howard, who had accepted the
situation the fact that Athea disliked her,
and no longer made any overtures. She
came and went automatically devoted to
Peter and his interests, almost worshiptng
in her girlish way because of his kindness
to her little sister, his goodness and his
thoughtfulness of her.
With Kenneth Moore she had felt little
constraint because of Peters abrupt dis
missal Of his proffered help, also because
she had intended to ask it. Peter too had
avoided Moore for a time, but gradually
the constraint had worn off and he came
as usual Perhaps Althea saw him bit
more often. ~eB =
Always she compared him with Peter and
while his gay comradeship fascinated her'
helped her to forget, it was always in Pc
ter's favor she decided. AS Rodney Black
we'll had declared: there were few men like
Peter-none, she had come to believe
Yet unconscientiously perhaps her man
ner toward him was colder, more distant
than ever. She was more scrupulously po-
lite. especially before the servants; more
particular that his home should be so kept
there could be no cause for complaint. They
chatted at table and before their friends;
but when alone there would be long 81
Iences unbroken by either.