The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-05-03

beautiful head upon his shoulder and
whispered to him that he was foolish
to he angry, for she loved him so dear
ly and then he felt happy again.
Three or four days after that, Mrs.
Ruthven told her husband one morning
that she was going out shopping.
Write one or two notes for me he
fore you GO" he said; for the captain
had fallen into the idle way, so natural
TO some husbands, of never writing
letter himself, but always asking his
wife to do it for him.
Alpy consented, with n smile Mt his
laziness. He watched her as she UNI
locked her desk and sat down to an
swcr his letter. His eyes dwelt fond
ly on tue sweet earnest face, the
graceful figure and the little white
hands. lie thought how beautiful she
was, how dearly and truly he loved
her, how different his life was now
TINT he called May Brooke wife.
He smiled when he saw how care
fully she locked up the little desk.
Then she kissed him and said Good
morning" She was going to buy
some of the things she thought it
time to prepare for taking to India.
For many long, sad weeks Captain
Ruthven remembered his wife's face
as she gayly bade him Good morn
ing"
He continued to read his newspaper
for sometime after she had gone, and
then he remembered another and most
important letter that he had forgotten
to mention to his wife
Her desk was locked, but he pro-
duced his own bunch of keys and
found that one of them opened it, He
took some paper, wrote his letter and
directed it, but could not find any wax
with which to seal the envelope An
other of Captain Ruthven's peculiari-
ties was his want of faith in adhesive
envelopes every letter he wrote must
be sealed; but in this case it seemed
as though the wax was not forthcom-
ing. He turned over one paper after
another hurriedly, for he could not
bear delay, and in so doing his eyes
fell upon a half-Sheet of paper, cover
ed with his wife's handwriting. the
beautiful, clear running hand that he
had so often admired. 1t was but the
half-sheet of what seemed to have
been letter torn hastily in two. At
first he put it aside with the rest, then
as though actuated by some sudden
impulse he turned to it again and read
1t through.
AS he did so his face grew lvld and
terrible TO behold, his lips white and
rigid, and flame of wrath cleaned
in his eyes. Slowly he read it over
and over again, as though to master
the full sense of 1t; then, as if seized
with II sudden hope, he compared the
handwriting with that upon the en-
vclope which his Wife had only a
short time before addressed. They
were the same-no man in his senses
could doubt It, The words were not
pleasant ones for husband to read,
for they ran as follows
II know ! am wrong in writing. one
mistake does not excuse another.
Mine has been the mistake of n life
time. | married without love and |
must endure the consequences of my
own act until the end. Do not let me
see you again. can live without love:
but | cannot and will not do wrong
wrong 1t would be to see you and
listen to YOU again"
And those words were written nv
his own wife-the woman who had
'NhNu w illll Nllsll It WAS HtT TIiSI,
last, and only love-" the woman who
that very morning n few hours
since, had laid her head upon his
shoulder and said how dearly she
loved him!
lie was strong man; but his very
heart sickened as he thought OF her
falsity, her deceit, the foul wrong she
had done him, in marrying without
lou l,., I i
had seen her first so sweet, so modest
so true; he thought of the golden hour
under the lime-trees, when he had
asked her to be his wife. and she had
promised to be true to him until death
He could not realize the fact that this
innocent child had played him false
had deceived him, with the most cruel
deceit. Her looks, her words, her love
had all been lies; for she had written
TO this other one that she had married
without love. All The fairy fabric Of
his happiness fell to the ground, all
the hope and the love Of his life died
in that hour. The only woman he had
ever loved was false, and had never
cared for him.
He groaned aloud as these thoughts
ran through his mind. He would far
rather have seen her dead at his feet
than have to live and scorn her She
was dead to him. Never should she de-
ceive him with her sweet words and
smiles again. Better the loneliness that
shadowed his life than this false love,
He could go back to India, and live as
he had liyed-alone.
Then his self-control gave way, and
he laid his head down upon the table
and wept like a child. He did not
know how time passed, he never heard
the hours chime. He was aroused by
light touch upon his shoulder, and a
sweet voice said gaily-