Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-10-22

ing CT her husSanc's letters was an IN
known thing to Dorothy Roob. She
did rot even know that it was letter
OF her husbands; more probably it
was a memorandum about the coffee
trees or the peon l2borers.
Two hours later Mrs Robb still sat !
motionless on the same lounge. with
the same scrap of paper tightly crum-
pied in her hand. She seemed dazed- !
not able TO understand. The note was
in Spanish; her knowledge of the Ian
guage was good. but she would not
trust it in this case. Every word in
the thing had been compared with a
dictionary And now that she had
verified her understanding of it, she
still conld not see what it was.
For Ernest was her husband mar
ried man. Why, therefore, should any
woman-Spanish or otherwise-write
him, calling him her dearest Ernes-
to" 1.-THE light of her SOUL "her be-
loved" begging that he would come to
her, in Vera Cruz, and that she was,
las always, his novia-his sweetheart,
Anita" 1t came to her dully-for the
heat had made her stupid. as she
thought to herself-that Robb had
sometimes murmured this same name
in his dreams. There had been all
those months. too, in Vera Cruz before
he had returned to marry her. Per-
haps he had then known this woman
Anita. But even if he had, why should
he leave his wife now to so to her
what claim or right could she have?
Meanwhile her head ached, and she
felt very queer and stupid. Perhaps
she had best lie down for while and
not think about it. Not that she was
suffering; it was strange to feel so
calm about it. Any other woman on
discovering that her husband was false
and cared no longer, would faint and
weep and cry. She couldn't. Tears
were impossible. She would lie down
and try to sleep.
Much later that afternoon the sun,
going down in a gorgeous blaze Of col
or such as one sees only in the tropics,
flung crimson and yellow streaks into
the quiet room, with it's pretty furnish
ings. One yellow blaze fell across the
lounge and changed Mrs. Robb's hair
from brown to gold, and fiickered I'M
certainly on her white brow. But she
never stirred-the heat and the shock
had so combined to stupefy her that
she could not but sleep. But she MUIR
INJURED uneasily in her sleep, and still
one small brown hand-sunburned and
roughened from the hacienda life
clenched tightly the soiled scrap of pa
per-the letter from Anital
Without a doubt, Mrs. Robb asleep
was almost as pretty as Mrs. Robh
awake. So Robb had often said, in the
attempt to tease her; so evidently now
thought a most peculiar insect that
was making its way, with a great dis
| play OF curious, snaky-looking feelers
| down the wall from the matched root
( of the hacienda. You couldn't call il
/ a spider, for it was three times the size
OF a spider, and most extraordinarily
marked on each part Of ii that wasn'i
| legs. About as big as the Mexican sill
| yer dollar, it was black and red and
all hair-covered 1t wiggled itseli
along slowly, now and then gathering
itself together in a small, black hairy
bunch.
Mrs. Robb, as she lay on her lounge
attracted the attention OF the thing
whatever it was. And yet not so mucl
Mrs. Robb as a yellow shining orna
ment that lay at the base of her throat
and which the 1ow-necked wrappe
plainly let show. 1t was only a tin,
gold locket, containing Robb's picture
which Mrs. Robb wore night and da,
out OF sight under her bodice. o
course the thing on the wall could no
know this; but it did want to inyesti
gate for itself.
II An uncomfortable tickling on he
! neck aroused Dorothy; half asleep, an
! thinking that Robb had returned, sh
II put up her hand and brushed at what
ever it was-doubtless Robb with
II straw. In reply th4re was a curiou
hiss. and a singing, frightfui pain
that was all. 1t woke her thoroughly
and she tried to sit up. But her hea
( was still aching badly and she SUP
posed it was a specially vicious fly
7! Anyway, what did 1t matter? Even
II it was anything poisonous, Rob
III wouldn't care. Nobody cared. Wha
i was the use to live? With a miserabl
? sigh, for the pain on the vital point {
her throat was vulnerable and ser
: strange thrills through her, sh
j Strengthened herself out on the loung
b not knowing and not caring what
: meant.
She was dead when Robb came hon
: late that night. The huge and deadl
a spider was curled up on her breast, an
t the note from Anita was still tight
g held in one hand. And, from her col
g vulsed face, she had suffered vel
D, much.
Awkward, Indeed.
The most awkward man in Il
world without doubt lives in Tenne
see. He recently shot a dog, and
explaining the accident to the doc