Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-23

bilNNi against tAC lOItiGlltTS ana IT,
fused to have anything to do with
Claude. He tried everything he could
think of TO conciliate them, but to no
purpose, SO after a while he apparently
gave it up in disgust and returned to
his Owl cocntry.
About six weeks afterwards Norma
herself disappeared and was never
seen again either in the low country
which she loved so well or at the home
of her guardians.
As for the old folks rhey didn't
trouble themselves much abo2t the
child. They had always thought she
was hayward and now they came 10
the conclusion that she was also
wicked.
So they simply wrote the words
BLACK Sheep against her name in the
old bible and consoled themselves with
the idea that they had lone their duty.
Letter the first, from Norma to
Claude:
Boston, Mass, April Z, 1850.
They say it takes two TO make n
quarrel, Claude. Well, you inded pro-
fess to be angry, but from me you
have had nothing but patience and n
loving, faithful heart. You remember
that last day in Pretoria when you
took heaven to witness that if | would
only desert my Cwn country and come
to yours you would marry me at once,
and YOU said and | knew that was all
that was necessary to make us both
supremely happy.
So now you have been lavishing
your money and wasting your time on
my poor self, on my education and sur
roundings, only to find out at last that
your rich friends will not permit you
TO marry a questionable character"
am sure that is what they call me,
and, indeed, how can | blame them,
seeing that my friends treated you in
much the same way?
However, there is this difference, my
dear Claude, hat | scorned my friends
and left them for your sake. And
now, what will you do? What have
you done?
Why, Claude, you have quarreled
with me, you have left me with anger
in your heart and with unkind, cruel
words on your tongue.
Oh, Claude, Claude, forgive me if |
am wrong, but you see | am a poor de-
fenCeless woman, and / suppose |
dream and imagine all sorts of i'm
possible things, and it even seems to
me now as il ] had nothing left to de-
fend me but my W will and my own
strength.
| am sure ] don't know what you
said or why ] should he so wicked as
to imagine anything of the kind, but
after you had left me today the idea
took possession of me that perhaps
after all you were in one way and an
other trying to convince me of the
misery of my position, trying to drive
me to eXtremities so as to make me
surrender and become to you some
thing less than a wife.
Claude, | can't, / won't believe that,
for if / could, / think, nay, / am sure
that | could kill you.
Come back, then, Claude, of the old
time, come back, not because l have
forsaken all for your sake, not because
| am helpless and dependent, but sim
ply because | love you.
Today | read a story of the slums
in London. A little girl about 5
years of age stood on the corner of a
SlltCl. pNSSlhSs IhNlN NtlC WV Vi
three hungry little children at home.
The mother was sick, the father was
dead. Pretty soon a kind lady came
along and filled the child's apron with
all sorts of good things. The mother
grew worse and worse, but the child
returned daily to the corner Of the
street and whenever II lady came along
she held up her little pinafore, but
said nothing. And so on, day after
day, and day after day through the
long, dreary winter, till at last hun
ger and death took the child at her
post on the street corner still waiting
for the kind lady to return.
When | had finished the story
Claude, I grew strong and hopeful, and
/ said to myself: Claude will return,
and hand in hand we will wait patient
Is, we will have faith, and all will yet
be we'll
A year later; letter the last, Norma
to Claude:
| understand you at last, and 1
thank God for it.
| scorn your proposals, and | feel
for you now nothing but contempt and
anger.
Hitherto you have had TO deal with
a girl who trusted to your honor and
to your sacred word, now YOU will
have to reckon with the daughter of a
Boer.
These apartments and all this luxury
which you have provided for and
lavished on your intended wife now fill
me with indescribable loathing and
1;.n,,.t nd +,1,,y .l,1., :. III F,a,,
me forever Just one word more.
/ go from this house to the home Of
your former friend, Robert Dearborn.
| send you a copy of a marriage IL
cense, and you will, doubtless take no.
tice that the principals to the con
tract are Robert Dearborn and Norma
Joubert.
Now / wish to tell you that your
former friend is a good mar and
honorable, and !, therefore, warn you
if your miserable life has any value
whatever in your own eyes-to keep
away from him. That is all
April, 1881, Claude to Robert.
Ny first thought is a horsewhip, but
to p%erforate your body with a bullet
or two as the case may require.
Now above all things | hate pub
licity, so | insist that we shall have
no seconds, no surgeons or nonsense
of any kind. AS you are the chal-
lenged | grant you the privilege to
name the weapons and to arrange in
any way. If you cannot and dare not,
/ will.
Robert to Claude:
In the name and in the defence of
Mona, / answer you. | will arrange
to the letter as you desire, and | shall