The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1899-07-13
Two Points of View.
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| Stll. us ue luiliUlcu WIFI HIS ldlclhe.
in the lock. At length he opened the
door and was surprised to find the place
In darkness.
Monica" he called Monica"
| There was no reply.
1t was certainly very unusual for his
wife TO be out at that hour, and he
hastily lit the gas to see if there was
| anything 10 explain her absence. Yes
there on his writing table lay a letter
| addressed, rather curiously, he thought
to himself as Sydney Egerton. Esq
Without pausing TO consider the un.
necessary formality of the sufiiX, he
tore open the envelope and glanced
through the letter.
What's this?" he Easped.
His face was pale as death and he
clutched the table for support while
the letter futtered unheeded to the
floor. After the first shock he grew
little calmer, and picking up the let
ter he read it through again. more care
fully than before. He stood thinking
for minute or two then thrusting the
letter into his pocket he laughed un-
easily.
How absurd"' he muttered. What
jealous little woman she is, TO be
sure. What's to be done? I'm sure I
don't know. I'll go round and see
Blair"
He rushed round to the next street,
and by good luck found his friend at
home, luxuriously stretched in front of
a good fire with pipe and a novel.
Halo, old man. What's up?" cried
Blair You look scared
Scared, indeed! Read this
Blair took up the letter, which ran
as follows:
ITO My Husband: 1 call you hus-
band. but you are now my husband
only in name. You have basely and
cruelty deceived me. and | hope never
TO set eyes on you again, or to hold any
communication with you. If your con-
science does not tell you, you will find
the cause of my flight in the bundle
of letters lying in your desk. l saw
them when | came to dust this morn
ing. My eyes are opened now, and
sham and mockery. Farewell! Your
miserable and broken-hcarted wife.
MONICA EGERTON."
HIN! Very awkward. Very awk-
ward, indeed" said Blair, glancing over
the top of the letter at his friend and
stroking his chin meditatively.
Awkward! Deuce take you! What
do you meanF cried Egerton, angrily.
Don't get excited" replied Blair,
calmly, as he laid down his pipe and
put his back TO the fire. "The letters,
Of course"
You don't mean to say Man
alive, you know me better than that, |
hope. You know that my wife is
dearer to me than anything else in the
world"
"Yes; but the letters:"
Easily explained. They belong to
a friend of mine whose Christian name
is also Sydney, and they tell the story
of an episode in his search for an ideal.
With a cynical lack of feeling in the
matter he offered them to me with the
remark that as / was bit of writ
ing man l might be interested in them
as human document
But didn't your wife know this?'
"No; unfortunately"
"Well. the only thing to do is to let
her know"
But how?"
Blair answered with shrug.
Look here, Egerton, dom. worry
yourself. Why, you're all Of a trem-
ble."
Eyes, my wife is such a sensitive,
highly strung little creature that I feel
afraid something may happen to her."
Nonsense, old man, nonsense. In a
day or two you will both be laughing
over this little comedy of errors"
But, unfortunately, Blair's prophecy
did not come true.
Egerton went home, but he did not
sleep a wink all night, and early next
morning he commenced making in
Quiries in all directions, but not the
slightest straw of information could he
find. He consulted the police. He put
notices in the "agony columns" of the
newspapers. Blair and he did every
thing in their power to find the miss
ing one, but at length they came to the
conclusion that she was in hiding some
where In the vast wilderness of Lon
don, and reluctantly the sorrowing
husband gave up the search, trusting
that she would one day return to him,
or that chance would give him n clew
as to her whereabouts. But for Blair's
optimistic assurances that all would
come right in the end he would have
given way utterly to dependency.
Week succeeded week, and month
succeeded month, and still Egerton
heard no news of his wife. His health
and his work both suffered, and at
Blair's suggestion he gave up his fiat,
warehouSed the furniture, and went TO
live with his bachelor friend whose
buoyant spirits and cheering
sympathy helped somewhat to enliven
his dark days of despair.
Blair was ''in Somerset~house," n
phrase which described his occupation
as definitely as was ever found neces
sary, and his salary was comfortably
beyond the point at which the govern
ment performs a little sum in substrac-
minus income-tax-be-
fore handing its servants their checks. |
He possessed some talent, lack Of
and cultivated gift Of tax