Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-03-11

should be q wedding gift tor her
daughter and Fielding To have await
ed the result Of her revelations there
| in New York required more strength
of purpose than was left at her COM
mand.
Sitting there by herself in the room
where she had dreamed her foolish
| dream about Fielding, she told her
self that If she could no longer live in
New York neither could she live at the
gulch. Life would be intolerable at
either place. She and Nine. LIE Due
! would have to make some sort of
home for themselves away across the
sea in madame's beloved Picardy.
She was not actually unhappy. She
felt that at least all of those whom it
concerned knew the whole truth about
| her, and such friendships as she might
retain would be all the more valuable
because of her own clear conscience.
Strange how much vitality had come
into her life since that coming of the
Fieldings! Here she was, quivering
and starting at every sound because
Jimmie McNab had gone out to Ten
bridge for the mail Surely she would
hear tonight from some of them! Had
she made it all perfectly clear to Mrs.
Desbrow Had she made too many ex-
cuses for that forlorn girl standing on
the curbstone, distracted with fears
for her baby's life?
She had kept copy of her letter to
| Mrs. Desbrow, and whenever these
doubts assaulted her she read it over.
She took it from her pocket now, and
bending low over the dancing flames
of the wood fire, read it once more.
Dear Mrs. Desbrow," she read, 81
can imagine your surprise when you
learn that l am the mother of Diana
Towers. Years ago, frightened by the
brutality of her drinking father, who
had struck her, vowed to put her out
of his. reach. / did not know when
left home with her that morning what
l was going to do with her. When
stopped to look at the gay throngs
about Madison Square Garden l had
just been turned away from the third
asylum l had sought fof her. She was
not an orphan, her parents were not
paupers-there was no place for her
but the home CD where she would be
at the mercy of drinking brutalized
father.
Il stopped to look at you in your
carriage, as others had stopped 1t
was not of your costly wraps, nor
your glittering diamonds l was think
+ ing. Your face was gentle, good, re-
fined-my little child would be safe
with you!
II had my senses only half about me
when ] crossed the street and APP
preached you. l do not think l had
any definite plan of action then; was
but miserable frightened child my
self. One never knows, l suppose.
what are hidden springs of ones own
actions.
when that half-crazed girl flung her
baby into the basket before you, she
thought of it as a temporary refuge,
she meant to find out who you were, if
she meant anything, and ask you to
tell her what she must do to protect
her baby against another blow.
Then that alarm of fire added to
the uproar Your horses plunged; l
saw a policeman glance at me suspi-
ciously, and-I fied-carrying with me
no clew to your name or residence.
"That night my husband, James
Woodrow, came to his death acct
dentally. l knew that suspicion
would fall on me. / could not prove
that he did it. Self-preservation is
an imperative law of our natures.
had but one desire, to get out of New
York city as rapidly and secretly as
! possible.
Fortune was kinder to me than she
generally is to the poor and friend
less. Going to the Grand Central de-
pot, with the intention of buying a
ticket for the nearest railway station
| to my old home in the Catskill noun
| tains, l fell in with family of trav-
elers whose maid had deserted them
at the last moment. I offered to sup
ply her place, and was accepted;
when my employer asked me for a
name, gave him one that had seen
in magazine story little while be-
fore-Harriett Monette. Wishing to
approximate the truth as nearly as
dared, l told them that was wild
ow. My youth and childish appear
ance were responsible for the prefix
of their selection. When my good
friends, the Farindales, did not call
me Harry they called me Young Mrs.
Monette. 1t is to them I owe my
fortune.
Il am almost done. I cannot ex-
pect my daughter ever to feel a child's
affection for me. You must use your