Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-05-18

one who shall open this" What corlt
1t meanp Had the hand of the deaf
been reused to sudden action, provoked
by her desecrating tOuchp Or hai
Old Greanleaf committed this awfu
sentence to paper, foreseeing the some
time intrusion of her curious eyes? To;
scared to answer these questions fo1
herself, cousin Emily rushed dowr
through the chambers to the parlors
The package was torn open in the hope
OF finding some clue to the old mans
family, who, it was conceived, might
be glad to hear tidings of an eccentric
relative for whom they could grieve
with the happy consciousness of dis
charged responsibility.
Snugly wrapped in yellow paper
which was traced with delicate wo
mans writing. was a child's picture
Only a commonplace chubby Child
whose baby face contIasted oddly with
its faded surroundings; but what was
its connection with the spare celibatef
Only faded letter, worn much with
handling, but could it have been touch
ed by the old mans passionless hani ?
1t is only by their relations that facts
are verified, and here was a possible
combination that stirred the blood.
The letter was dated at a remote
country town, and this clue was fol.
lowed up in the faint hope that il
might unravel the mystery of the old
mans life.
Strangely enough it did. In an oh
scure village the enquirer found a
white-haired. sad-eyed old lady. whose
daughter, a sorrow-faced widow of
forty, held In her arms the counterpart
OF the picture in Mr.. Greenleaf's green
bag. A grand-child had come to com.
fort the sad-eyed woman, Charles
Greenleat's wife, whom he had desert
ed thirty years before.
The story of this woman was brief.
but tragic ia its anxious sorrow. She
had begun her married life happy, as
the wife of the principal of the village
school. For several months she had
been uninterruptedly happy in the cares
and affections of home, husband and
child. Her husband was successful in
his profession of teacher, and almost,
as the young wife thought, too thor
oughly devoted to his work. But this.
she argued was happy fault, and
would bring them fame sometime; for
he had even then begun his work on
the grammar. When their child was
three months old, Mr.. Greenleafs first
prolonged absence occurred. This he
explained to his wife, was wholly on
account of his book, for which it was
necessary to collect material. He
stayed away some weeks, and after
this the wife was often made anxious
by his mysterious absences from home,
each succeeding one longer than the
last, his communications with her grow
ing each time more irregular and uncer-
tain.
Two years passed in this way, when
the trouble which she had dreaded
came upon her. From one of these
journeys Mr.. Greenleaf did not return.
She wrote and le-wrote in vain to the
last address which ne had given hey.
to any and every place which she knew
or fancied he had visited. Her poverty
forbade the elaborate use Of detective
means which wealth secures, and she
never saw or heard from the husband
of her youth again until she received
from strangers the history of his
strange life and lonely death. But any
fact, however sad, came as a relief to
her, and her daughter had been too
young at the time of her fathers deser-
ton to feel any but sympathetic sor-
row.
AS for Charles Greenleaf himself.
who can explain the motives of his
mind which prompted him to this
strange and wandering life? How was
it that the fond husband became the
treacherous deserterp By what subtle
processes were the forces of his con-
science turned toward the accomplish
ment of an object whose fancied i'm.
portance took him away from what he
once most lovedf 1t is most probable
that he, least of all, sorrowed when
death closed the struggle between his
natural instincts and the fantastic
prompting Of perverted ambition.