The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1874-03-07
The Secret of the "Blue G,loget. 20

Pioi Ae'ie nohe 'nau OeoIE{a4 DurCor
bad, seldom falls to the lot 0s (jny nian;
His Annette and tho chiefly bli.hs
some cottage of which she web the Mi.
tress, so wonderfully became ess,h other
and got to be SO associated in his fancy,'
that it is hard to tell which hia thought
smiled upon him the sweetest welcome q
on his return to them for restIafter the
burdensome labors of the day. kH5ad .
George Burton was a Woodworking
lawyer. Day in and day oht he wa.
busy studying and trying casea| IL was
only at home, in the evening, that he
could call his time his own, land spent
it as he chose, which was Hsually in
reading or talking to Annette. But
even then he kept "don supplied
with law-books and other Implements
for work, whittier he would retire, on
occasion, to consult with sofae impor.
tunate client.
That room was tte'siaversion
When George shut himnelfS1p in it he
was lost to her for the rest ef the even
ing. She called it the "Blus5 Closet -
but, unlike the hapless FatimSs she felt
no wish to explore its secretss Perhaps
it might have been diferesS had her
husband kept tbe door looked and the
key i6 his pocket. ifhneL !,
1t was one Of Georges working even
ings, and Annette went itdspend an
hour with her cl,atty little ;neighbor,
Mrs. Cherrup, hoping her husband
would be disengagcd by thoitine she
got back. But on her return, the door
of the Blue Closet was still shut, and a
light streamed through the kfyhole,
With sigh of Disappointment, An
nette was passing on to theilittle parlor
to wait till Georges worg was done
when she heard the sound eicas one.
of ttaeul a woinan's, broken taitk sobs,
the other that Of her husband, in low
and earnest toues. She distinguished
the words "deceiver" and "villain -.
uttered by the former, followed by some
thing that sounded like remunstrance e
On Georges part.
Annette had never known what it
was to be jealous, and was not more
curious than the average Of her sex;
but for once she felt an unacoouutablc
desire to penetrate the secrets of the
Blue Closet. 1t is hardly probable she
would have pceped through the keyhole,
though possibly she might have stayed
to listen longer if the opening Of the
door had uot put her to flight.
She heard the footsteps of George
and his visitor along the passage, aud
the opening and closing OF the hall-door
as they went out together. What could
it all mean? No lady clients had ever
called there before. Then the sobs, the
passionate exolamations, Georges earn
est remonstrance-all taken together
perplexed her entirely.
She sat down and tried to read, but
the words had no meaning. Half an
hour elapsed, and George did not re
turn. She began to feel uneasy, yet
wouldn't admit as much to herself.
What was thero, after all, in Georges
going out with the strange lady7 At
that hour it would lave been rude not
to see her safe where she was going.
Still, Annette would have much pre-
ferred it had George been at her side
at that moment n
She hardly knew what impellod her
toward tho door of the Blue Closet.
Somehow it possessed a strange fascina
tion for her. 1t stood open, and light
was burning within. She entered, aud
approached her husbands writing
On it lay an opened letter. Between
her and George there were no secrets,
and she took it up mechanically. The
words were traced in woman's hand,
and purported to be written by an
absent wife to her husband. "Dear
George" the letter began; and, after
going On to announce the writer's intan
ton soon to rejoin him from whom she
had been so long unhappily separated,
it wound up with "Y,ur Atfectiona.e
Wife,"
Annette staggered as if under blow
She. had not known George long before
their marriage. He had come from a
distant city, aud they had met as stran
,yara Rut ha had abnwn himsslf in all