Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1897-02-05


OH death |" whispered the kinswoman.
she was u good woman. y answered
the friend brokenly.
But the sick woman opened her eyes,
and they seemed to look eagerly over
the heads OF the watchers what do
you see?" they asked her. thinking it
delirium. Nothing but shadows, - she
sighed. ~ thought hoped And
her voice sank until il was inandible.
When the doctor came, she Rased at
him piercingly, then CLOSED her eyes and
murmured, IL thought you might be-
WAS looking for him.
She means the death angel. " said
the watchers
She spoke only once more before the
death angel in very reality entered and
laid his fingers upon her lips that
would mock no more. Then she gazed
through the clouds which seemed to
surround the familiar objects in the
room, pointed TO the portraits of her re-
jected lovers and weakly whispered:
Burn them. | hate them still. Dear
God, who knowest why, thou dost not
despise me---thou who nnadest me s0sn
Then her mind wandered. and she mur-
INJURED, "A munihoent reward And
her lips, which still smiled scorn NJ
life and death as they had smiled at
love, grew suddenly cold. When she
was buried, the world came, some to
weep, all Ia marvel and exclaim that
here, ut least, was one woman who
could live and die independent Of love
(which Is To say independent of nature.
This would have been all were it not
for the old yellowed letters which have
been mentioned They were not 10 old
and yellowed when the kinswomnu
found them the day before she departed
for her own home, hidden III All obscure
corner OF forgotten piece of furniture.
and started M she recognized the dead
woman's handwriting and signature.
'''ro my dear love"- What WAS thiss
No name on the superscription, hut in
the letter the fondest terms of endear-
ment, the most passionate expressions
OF love and trust and womHnly cling
ing. She read the other letters, all writ
ton in the same vein, ~ from woman
who gloried in showing her whole heart
to her lover. 90 whose name and identity
there was given, however, no clue. The
kinswoman brought them to the writer's
friend Here. " she said. '.look and SEQ
the living proof that your woman who
said she had no heart was human after
all. There are more of these letters than
can count They are Of all dates. RE-
mote AZ we'll IN recent--one was writ
ten the week before she died---and they
are all addressed to some man. some
lover. OF whom no one ever guessed. "
There was no such man, positiye-
ly asserted the woman friend. II knew
all her secrets; l saw every one whom
she saw; was aware Of every letter
she wrote or received was as inscpa-
rable M her shadow, and there was NO
lover to whom she ever listened. .
Nevertheless, when she was .alone
with the letters. she read them. know
Ing that there was no counterfeiting her
friends handwriting. and M she read
her wonder grew, for she read wom-
ans heart--warm. tender, glowing.
poured out for loves sake on these pagea
Us willingly as tho soldier sheds his life
blood for his country. And never did
hereto recant his errors ut the stake
more absolutely than she denied her
own denials and scorned the scorn
which she had progressed for love. They
believe me when say have no heart
sho WROTE but 10 moi care. You
kn0w---you only. ana that IL enough.
for no ono Will ever See these lines. II |
could not write to you would sicken
and die Of hope deferred. or my heart
would grow heayy III me ana break Tor
lack OF anything on which TO spend ltn
gold Dearest AM saving 10 Ton you
am spending 10 on you only--you OF
gil the world who know my secret.
Though. ~ not my desire that OF ali
wofnen's heartsf
Il hate those mon, whose likenesacs
keep to remind me how different you
are You guess why? II IN because tksy
are not you. OF each hoped he might
DO you. and when found he WINS not
could not forgive him, did not wrong
them they wronged and defrauded me. .
The reader gave cry and gazed FIX
eddy at the letter, which bore no name.
There was no name sho whispered.
There was no lover Oh. lonely, lonely
woman, to cheat your heart with shad-
known, M have known, the face, the
voice, the touch OF flesh and blood
lover. you could not have staid the Inn
perjons cravings OF your soul with this
poor pretense--with letters written 70.
but never read by, the uDfulhlled ideal
Ut your unackn0wledged dreamsi'
The letter written last, before her
death, was briofer, less hopeful in Its