Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1901-03-09

It has been some time since you saw
DR.. Fleming"
"oh, don't begin that" said Blanche,
pretending to pout. ~ am getting along
beautifully"
But II want-you must see doc
tor" he stammered. "I shall feel bet
ter now to know that everything is be-
ing done that should be done for YOU"
You talk as If 1 were going to die"
said the girl "Why, I've just begun
to live"
For a moment he looked confused.
He could not reveal his real fears, and
yet he was now deeply troubled about
her condition.
"of course, it isn't anything serious"
he said; .'but still to please me you
will Let me send for DR.. Fralich."
mo, don't know him, and don't
like to make new acquaintances. Be-
sides, DR.. Fleming is coming to New
York in about ten days. 1 promised
faithfully to see him when he re-
turned"
How do you know he IL coming? ?"
asked the major, in surprise.
Il had a note from him yesterday.
He explained that he was coming to
New York earlier than he expected,
owing to sudden change in his plans.
win go TO see him, II you Insist on it,
but I know he will tell me 1 have
taken enough Of his tonics."
"Weil, that viii do" said Goddard,
reluctantly. He thought of the GRIM
SON pictures in the medical book he
had consulted, and his heart sank.
After all, his new-found happiness was
only to end in her death, and then
Goddard's meditations about Blanche
always stopped there. He had shut
his real wife out of his thoughts as
men who are striving for better
things shut out the memory of past
evil deeds and associations.
That night when the house was still
and he found himself alone in his study
he forced himself to the Ssk of COM
muDicating with Jeanne. And as / can
in no better way reveal the workings
of his heart, ! shall reproduce the Let
ter word for word.
In beginning it he wrote ''Dear
Jeanne" but there he stopped abrupt
~, and sat staring at the words for
several minutes, then he tore the sheet
into small bits and let them filter
through his fingers. His letter began
simply as follows:
well, have at last done your bidding
was mailman. / confess that-the very
| flames Of hell had scorched my brain.
| have committed an unspeakable crime
| against the purest, loveliest creature that
| GOD ever gave life to. You will be sur
| prised perhaps to find that have changed
so quickly, and reallysI have changed COM
| pletely. The scales have fallen from my
| sight. feel like man who has been hyp-
| Noticed and wakes to find he has murdered
| his best friend. / despise myself as no
mortal ever despised himself before
| now know that my passion for you was
| the blindest, most insane infatuation that
ever dragged the soul Of man from an
! atmosphere Of hope down into the rnire OF
| hellish dependency. now know that my
| love for my ward was the only pure love
1 have ever experienced. Yes, loved her
when met you, and ] love her now with
| all the tortured soul within me- I bave
| Wronged her as no man ever wronged a
/ pure, unsuspecting woman, but as her life
Will be OF such short duration, II can
prevent IL she shall never know OF the
4 stain have put upon her fair name. Will,
she lives shall lavish all the tenderness
OF my soul on her, praying to Coo that ]
may u halfway atone a ttls-=a ysrY Iitfis