The great West., 1889-12-06

were what he now realized; confused
blockade Of windowless carriages, flung off
the line or hurled one on the top of the
other, pyramidwise, across the rails;
shrieks and means Of injured or terrified
passengers; he himself standing upright,
and unhurt, and at his feet the body Of
dead man.
Sick and giddy with the horror Of the
scene, he knelt beside the PROSTATE figure,
and, unfastening his coat, placed his hands
above the still heart It was his fellow
traveller, with whom he had been wrang-
ling. as it seemed, only few short min
utes ago. His back had been broken by
the collapse Of the carriage, and the pur-
pose OF his journey, good or bad, had been
frustrated.
A folded letter rustled beneath Harry
Edwards hand upon the dead mans breast.
Tears rushed to his eyes at the sound. It
was probably from some woman who loved
MIN, and to whom the tidin2s of his gastly
death must be communicated.
us he deada" asked a man, stopping be-
fore the two figures. note book in hand.
"Yes. He was in the same compartment
with me. It's an awful sight"
"A friend Of yours2 What is his name!
IL don't know. But here is letter that
may tell u.s."
Even while Edwards drew out the letter
his questioner had been called away. Harry
would have followed him, when his eyes fell
on the handwriting.
Did all women write alike, or was he the
victim of some delusion acting on his over
wrought brain!
He looked at the letter again. It was the
distractei appeal Of married woman,
tempted, but striving to resist temptation,
to the honor and chivalry of man she had
grown to love.
And the writer was his wife-Isabel Ed.
ardes.
II have been wrong, terribly wrong"
she wrote. II know it now. These flying
visits to London, and the friendship that
has grown up between us during the past
few months SO naturally, from your re-
lationship to my sisters husband, and con-
slant presence at her house, have all been a
mistake. Your letter proves it. All, Ger
aid, pity me and forgive me, it have given
you pain; have been SO dull 50 unhappy,
for 80 long, that your sympathy, and your
thoughtfulness and kindness made me for
get the dangers of my position. II you
knew the life lead at home; if you could
tell what it is to a girl, brought up in Paris
and London, among surroundings that were
bright and beautiful to be transplanted to
dreary manufacturing town, with
household of an old man and three good,
narrow-minded old maids, who have hardly
ever been outside Cheir native town, and
who think the bliss of being married to
their brother ought to keep any woman
happy. OF course, should have protested
long ago; but when married, was 15 and
he 80. He had been single too long, and
had been taught to think of women as of
two kinds only-drudges or toys. And as I
was neither one nor the other, was a
failure. And they have obeyed him so long
at home that his manner al once puts me in
the wrong. Besides all that, Gerald, 1
loved him, have never complained of hi N
before. You know it. But my heart has
been dying in me for four years. And any
man who treats me as woman with a
heart and head has power to raise more
tenderness in me than the thought of my
husband can ever do again, I am afraid.
"You have often told me how you honor
and reverence me. You must prove it by
keeping away from me now. You have your
work, your life, before you, Gerald. Let
me go back home with feelings of gratitude,
as well as friendship, toward you. Don't
try to see me again; for my sake l ask it,
Don't even write. l can hear about you
from my sister. And when, later on, you
marry some good woman, as l hope and
pray you may. rem ember all l have told
you, and that women and men are not so
unlike in their natures as husbands TOO
often think. Good night am crying so
much l can't see what 1 write-and good
BY"
Harry Edwardes read this letter twice
through and then destroyed it.
AS soon as he arrived in London he
drove to his ister-in-law's house and
asked for his wife; and when Isabel Ed
wardes and fragile-looking with start
led, dark eyes. and shrin king constraint
in her manner-made her appearance, she
was lifted in her husbands arms and en-
braced with the tenderness of man who
RECEIVERS what he has nearly lost.
They live in London now, and the next
time Harry Edwardes goes abroad Isabel is
going with him. He has realized at last
that man may have other duties toward
his wife than providing her with money to
spend and house to live in. And he
has the astonishing discretion to let the
dead past bury its dead, so that Isabe has
never yet learned how reglectful hus band
was taught lesson in q CHASTITY and never
To- be- forgotten fashion, by Chance or Fate
Some Short Peculiar Names
The family in France which has no
other surname than the letter B has,
since the publication of the account of