Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-30
HIS FIRST WIFE.

in a satin gown, a much be-jetted mantle,
and bonnet which, to the casual observer,
consisted of crimson bow and a couple OF
tinsel butterflies.
Terrible accident on the Midland Rail-
way; so people killed; collision with a
goods train; extra special; full particu-
lars"
So chanted the newsboy.
Captain Blount was hurrying along
Cheapside. He had promised to dine and
60 to the play with an old comrade, and
was looking forward like schoolboy to the
mild diversion, for Lavinia when at home
ngidly exacted his attendance at dinner
He might lunch out. he might be out all
day if he chose, but the evening must be
spent in the bosom of his family at Saracen
Crescent The discordant veil OF the news
boy put an enc to all such thoughts.
1t was with a horrible quaIm that he
glanced at the black lettered placard and
then paid his penny for the evening
paper.
He tore it open and greedily drank in
the details of the accident Good Heavens!
it was the 11:20, the train by which
Lavinia must have travelled. He jumped
into hanson and drove home. His wife
had left in time to catch the II 20, the
housemaid told him. She had heard her
mistress tell the cabman So A reference to
Bradshaw showed him that the fatal train
was the only one which stopped at the little
station near which Lavinia's aunt lived.
Another reference to Bradshaw showed
him that there was a train leaving for the
scene of the accident at $40 A. NJ. He
took out his watch-9:1O Then for the
first time he remembered his appointment
and sent off a message to his friend, ex-
planning his absence He wired also La
vinia's aunt and received an answer saving
that his wife had not arrived. On receipt
of this he felt that there was no doubt of
her death or injury-ordinarily she would
have reached her journey'ss end long be-
fore. Then he went upstairs and made a
pretense of resting till it was time to start
for the station. He returned from his bed
room with shudder. 1t was Uttered with
traces of Lavinia's toilette; he had not
loved her dearly. still she had been his wife
for ten long years, and he could not now look
on those dainty feminine trifes without a
pang.
He was off at last, whirling through a
sleeping country on chilly autumn morn
ing. To his dying day Captain Blount re-
membered that journey. The pale dawn
creeping over the horizon, the first faint
sounds of awakening life, the smoke rising
from early cottage nreS; the gllmpSeS of
laborers trudging along the road to their
days toll And through all the horrible
suspense he thought of Lavinia, of the
days when her plump, fair prettiuess had
bewitched him, of those later days when
her scolding, peevish temper had estranged
him. Then he took from his pocket the
newspaper and read again the chastity de-
tails OF the accident The collision, the
fearful smash, the flames in which the
wreekage was wrapped, the disfgured dead
and wounded.
1t came to an end at last, that horrible
journey, AND he stepped out on the platform
of the little country station. The birds
were singing, the dew was glittering, the
air was fragrant-it seemed hardly possible
that in the midst of such fresh beauty a
tragedy lay hidden.
In a little while he had stepped from
the sunshine across the threshold of a
room in (which the blinds were drawn;
round which lay the bodies of the dead
One by one his conductor turned down
the covering from a rigid form, and each
time the husbands heart gave bound of
relief-the dead face was not Lavinia's.
At last he had seen sll-all but one