The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-09-02
CHAPTER III.
TWO LETTERS

Raymond Marshall look Cne Ienuereu
mlssives from the hands Of the anti
puated postmaster of Hopedale, thrust
one, an ordinary business missive, into
his pocket carelessly, but the other
his eye frightened and his pulses came
quicker.
From Edna" lie murmured, recog.
nizing the handwriting on the envelope.
-Something about the reception to.
night. I hope that tiresome Mr.. Brins.
ley is not to be her escort. 1t is toe
. precious. too sacred to read here.
He reached home and went to his
room with a gay song on his lips. The
memory of the girl he loved was al
ways with him, the possession Of
shy, dainty epistle from her enhanced
its sweetness.
Rather bulky he commented, as he
carefully cut open the envelope, as II
every scrap Of paper her hands had
touched was precions. MIR. Marshall
why! what is this? Oh, Edna! joke,
a cruel hoax, surely"
The words died in gasp. With star
ing eyes Marshall surveyed the letter
before him. Then staggering to seat
he sat glaring at it with colorless face
and chilled heart.
A formal dismissal, a cold, precise
disavowal OF all the past, the cruel
words seemed icy fingers reaching fo1
his heart, TO blight all the faith and
love of his nature with single touch.
Edps had written it-her sianting,
italian style showed in the chirography.
There could be no doubt Of that, but
the laneuage!-oh! what did it mean?
Briefly it addressed him as might one
q stranger. Circumstances, the latter
Said, had in an hour changed her des-
tiny. All was over between them. 1t
was better so, since fate ordained it.
Remember her as friend, their brief
filtration" as a wayward caprice for
passing the summer months away.
False! Deceitful! I will never be-
lieve it" painted the petrified Marshall
why! yesterday-the ring / gave her,
the pledges we made-oh! this is some
farce, some hidden dream! What is
this?"
Mechanically turning the wretched
missive over and over in his nerveless
hands, RAYMOND Marshall observed fol
the first time that it was comprised o.!
two sheets Of paper.
And striving to separate them, he as.
certained that stray patches OF mucilage
held the lower page to the other. In 6
few minutes he discerned that it could
not have been he intention OF the
sender to inclose the second sheet.
That was accidental. 1t had stuck tc
the top sheet and had been folded In
with it 10y hasty, careless hand.
It bore writing-not Edna's writing.
A dagger seemed driven to Ray Mar.
shal's heart as he tore it free, and the
bold, masc uline chrography danced be-.
fore his vision.
If he had been startled before. every
pulse stirred with fierce fire now. The
letter had evidently been received by
Edna the day previous, and was signed
with the name OF the only rival in her
affection to whom he had ever given
q thought, Miss Chandler's cousin,
Edna's announced escort of that even
ing-Barton Brnsley.
The letter of an accepted lover to the
woman he loved, it betrayed decided
en-, ,ouragement from Edna. 1t even
bore a slight ridicule of Marshall's pre-
tensions. Edna had endured this! Edna
had played him false, and while her shy
lips were responding to his ardent eX-
pressions Of devotion her hypocritica
heart was thinking Of Barton Brlnsley
The complication was maddening
With ewes dashed with the insanity o!
despair the tortured artist looked up
H. clenched the tell-tale sheets in his
hand as if they were the false heart o1
the girl who had Tilted him, and that o
the man who had stolen away her love
IL will kill him" he choked out, his
soul ahlaZe.
Ard then, realizing the folly OF sucf
sentment,' the right of any man K
honorably strive for a woman's prefer
ence, with the bitterness of death com
pretending that TIE woman was thi
deceiver, remembering MS mother
taun. once made that he had better
marry some one besides "A nameless
homeless, nobody" he calted down
put or his hat, ami walked from the
house like one in a dream, his LIP:
firmly set. but sick at kaart.
He went straight to the seminary
There was that in his heart SO manly
30 straightforward, SO inclined to Goub
the falsity Of the woman he had 5,
blindly trusted. despite the terrible evi
dence in his hanus, that, though tn
meeting killed him, he was determine
to have the matter settled now an
finally.
He would demand to see Edna-h,
would show her the letters. His philan
thropic friends had more than once toll
him that all womankind were changin
butterflies of sentiment. If she ha
indeed only played with his heart h
would leave her presence and the plac'
forever; without word accept the Dit