The Washington times., 1894-03-30
AS IF HE HAD DONE NO SIN
Continued from First Page.

came down and we shook hands She said she
supposed she had astonished me by the sub
stance of her letter: that it was worse than a
divorce case. We took seats, she ON a divan, l
on a chair, in the rear of the room. She narrated
the circumstances under which she had made
the agreement with Mr.. Rhodes Until then
had not known who her mother was / had
known her father, but not whom he had mar
ried.
"As soon n she told me she was living with
her aunt, Mrs York Keene, / knew who her
mother was, because her uncle, York keene, had
been in my brothers regiment Because her
father had died in straitened circumstances
and her life with her aunt had not been pleas
ant she wanted TO leavef Mr. Rhodes had fallen
in love with her, but she had respected him as
an older man, but had not loved him. She
wanted to know whether he could compel her
10 marry him, treated the matter with some
levity: said knew of no law in this day by which
she could be compelled TO the specific perform
ance OF a marriage contract
"She grew grave, looked as though she felt
like crying, took out her handk erchief, put it
before her face, and / got up and walked the
room / asked her if her mother was alive. l
had not seen her mother. / never have, in fact,
but she said her mother had not approved of the
contract, and it had made unpleasantness in the
family. spoke of her grandfather. knew her
grandfather and uncles. We had ceased to
walk the room; she was sitting on the divan, and
was standing beside her. / started TO leave,
after some expressions of sympathy, but she de-
tanned me. She said, the plaintiff did, Its
much worse than that, its much worse than that,
He insisted on marrying me. / didn't want to
be like Aunt Lou, with a house full OF children
and unable TO educate them. She put her hand
kerchief to her face.
Here Col Breckinridge spoke very slowly and
reproduced the mournful tones which a young
woman might use in making such confession }
'She said: 1 gave him a-higher-proof-than-
that-contract' Then said she ought to marry
him anyway She said: i can't have grown
away from him / know what other men are,
and his very presence is offensive to me-
II replied: You can't afford not TO marry him,
young girl as you are Then the conversation
drifted away. There was nothing more could
say. She seemed TO have said all she cared to-"
There was an exquisite minor key of retro
spective pathos as the colonel sunk his voice
through these passages.
1.-The conversation drifted away" he repeated
refiectiyely, lingering the Bible at hand LAS
stood there with my hat in my hand she said: i
have set my heart on becoming an authoress
said: Il don't see why you can't do that, but you
must remember that this double life-Chere he
assumed the stern tone Of moralist man
stainless above reproach, reproducing the pa
ternal, advisory manner Of the counsel he said
he gave 10 the young womanl this double life.
said, may come up against you any time. He
has you in his power. A young girl can't afford
that You should marry him as soon you can.
''She said, i won't do that now anyway; no
danger of his giving me up
Then she spoke of an entertainment at Vine
street. She said there was to be cornetist play.
have been going TO Cincinnati ever since was
a boy, but never knew which of the hills
Vine street was on She said, in an entirely
proper way, perfectly proper" Col Breckenridge
seemed anxious IN make assurance doubly sure
on this point-'that We might ride. ! asked II
they would let her 60 She said she was a sum-
mer boarder. and she knew OF no rule against il.
"Then young man came into the room, whom
recognized as Mr.. Brown, for although did
not know he was connected with the school he
had represented Jessamine county in the legls-
lature. We shook hands, and he said it would
be perfectly proper for us to go. Then / took
dinner at the Burnett house After dinner
walked up TO a stable and selected a carriage
without any particular thought, no particular
thought about what kind il was. 1t was a warm
August evening There was quite a little group
on the portico. Nothing was said about a closed
allusion whatever, no excuse, nor any reason
for any excuse"
In the mild deprecatory gesture with which
the colonel brushed away the breath of sus-
picion OF tmpropriety from his action at that
time, he knocked a tumbler from the stand with
a crash which startled the room, and men looked
around apprehensively, as though they thought
of Kentucky shooting-irons
I'VE started in an entirely proper way" he re-
sumed. ANY excuse would have been wholly
out of place, nor was any reason asked"
For the first time the flow of silver depreciation
was harshly torn by the matter Of fact query Of
Major Butterworth, "How long were you at the
college that afternoon"
"oh, about hour or an hour and half.
There was light conversation, which deepened
became light again"
'.Did you speak of going to Lexington the next
day2'
Nothing was said about going to Lexington
that day, and the next day when started to
Lexington was surprised TO find her on the
tram"
What do you know about any bogus tsle-
gramg
II never heard of any such telegram until after
this suit was brought There was no way could