Omaha daily bee., 1901-03-10
Copyright. 1900, by 4. n. HawkinsJ
PART I-CHAPTEH
4 supprcssed Passage.

PART E-tHAPTEH '.
Suppressed Passage.
Mr.. Jenkinson Neeld was an elderly man
OF comfortable private means; he had
chambers in Pail Mall, close to The I'm
perium club, and his short, stoutish figure,
topped by a chubby, spectacled face, might
be seen entering that dignifed establish
ment every day at lunch time, and also at
the hour OF dinner on the days when he
had no invitation elsewhere. He had once
practiced at the bar, and liked to explain
that he had deserted his profession for the
pursuit OF literature. He did not, how
ever. write on his own account; he edited.
/ He would edit anything, provided there
was no great public demand for an edition
! OF II. His taste was curious and his
conscience acute. lie was very minute
and very scrupulous, very painstaking and
very discreet I'm the exercise Of his duties.
Sometimes he fell into a sore struggle be-
tween curiosity and discretion, having inn
/ pulses in himself which he forebore to at
! tribute to posterlty
He was in just such a fix now. so he
thought to himself, as he perused the
manuscript before him. II was the Journal
OF his deceased friend, Josiah Cholderton,
/ some time member OF Parliament Tin the
| liberal INTEREST,", for the borough of Bax-
tho congress OF Munich in "a. and inventor
! OF the hygroxeric method OF dressing wool.
At times and especially during his visits
to the continent, the diarist INDUCED him
! self in digressions about people he encoun-
tered and these assumed now and then a
| character so personal or dlvulged episodes
| so private that the editor had recourse 10
his blue pencil and drew 1t with a sigh
through pages which he had himself found
no small relief from the severer record
OF Cholderton's services to the commerce
OF his country. Mr.. Neeld sat now with
blue pencil iudicially poised, considering the
following passage in his friends recollec-
tlons. The entry bore date Heidelberg,
1875.
at the widows CMr. Cholderton Is speak
ing OF a certain Nine. de Kries) pleasant
villa became acquainted with a lady
who made something OF a sensation in her
day, and whom | remember both for her
own sake and because OF curious occur
renee connected with her. year and a
half before (or thereabouts) society had
been startled by the elopement OF Miss t
with Sir r. E. They were married,
went to France, and lived together a month
or two Suddenly Sir R went off alone.
The lady was not long left in solitude, and
when I met her she passed as Mrs. F,
wife of Captain F.. The captain seemed
TO me an ordinary, good looking. reckless
young fellow: but Mrs. F. was a more
striking person. She was tall, graceful and
very fair beautiful woman Il might
rather say girD beyond question. Talk
revealed her as an absolute child in n
moral sense. with a child's infinite candor,
n child's infinite deceit, a childs love OF
praise a child's defiance OF censure where
approval would be too dearly earned The
natural feelings OF woman, at least were
strong in her, and she was fretting over
the prospects OF the child who was soon
20 be born to her. Captain F shared her
anxiety. | understood their feelings even
more fully Tin any case the situation was
distressing when / learned from Nine de
Kries that in certain events (Which hap
pened later the lady and her baby after
her would become persons of rank and m-
portance.
Now comes the scene which has stamped
itself on my memory. ] was sitting In
Nine de Kries parlor with her and her
daughter-an odd, dark little thing, . or Q
years old. Suddenly Mrs F came in. She
held a letter in her hand and waved it III
the air crying: Sir RS dead, Sir Rs
dead We can be married, Oh, we're in
time in time, in time!
Extraordinary as such exclamations may
appear. when the circumstances and my
own presence are considered, | have re-
peated them verbatim. Then she sank down
on the sofa, Nine. de Kries kneeling by
her, while the Imp (as | called the child,
whom | disliked) stared at her open-eyed
wondering, no doubt, what the fuss was
about. Directly after F. came in, almost
as upset as Mrs. F., and the pair between
them managed to explain to us that she
had received letter from Sir Rs servant
with whom she had apparently maintained
some communication announcing that his
master had, after two days Illness, died OF
heart complaint on the 9th OF June. Think
OF the difference it makes the enormous
difference she gasped, jumping up again
and standing in the middle OF the room,
We shall be married directly she went
on, with that strange absence OF shame or
pretense which always marked her, and
then it'll be all right, and nobody'l be able
TO say a word In the future!' She went on
in this strain for long while, until Nine.
de Kries at last insisted on her calming
herself and proposed to accompany her to
her own house. At this point | made my
excuses and retired, the Imp following me
10 the door and asking me, as | went out,
why people had to be married again when
other people died. She was child who
needed wiser and frmer bringing up than
her mother gave her.
~ did not myself see Captain and Mrs.
r again, as ! left Heidelberg the next
day, June %. | learned. however, from
Nine. de Kries that the wedding was hurried
on and took place on the day following my
departure; after this the pair went to Baden
and there. three weeks later, the child-a
boy-was born. / must confess that I was
clad tha Cd hn Ia It
they were in dread OF,
MY feelings were, however, abruptly
changed when, on paying a fying visit to
Nine. de Kries a few months later, ! heard
of the sequel OF the story, told me in the
strictest confidence and in violation ! fear
OF the old lady's pledge Of secrecy. Sir
r. F. did not In fact die on the date
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