The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-03-06
The Letter


! It's the fashion with many people to
/ talk Of the 'night-haye-beens" as
| though they were ali golden and glorious.
| One hears little about the things which
might have been and were-and are
| 50 much better not. And yet-some-
I times
! Helen Agnew was a dear little woman,
and one Of the best Of wives, according
to her lights and her conscience. She
loved her husband and her children so
| tenderly ana deEotedly that IL never
| dawned upon her that perhaps her hus-
| band and children might not return this
| love in kind and proportion. The chill
| dren did love her deVotedly, and so did
! her husband until he met the Other
Woman Then Immediately, rnan-like, he
/ accepted this Other Woman's mute, word
less insinuation that she herself was the
only woman in ali the world who really
understood him, just because her mood
fitted his for the moment. Dear little
Helen really did have her limitations,
but then-so did he although he wouldn't
have acknowledged It
The Other Woman talked art, poetry.
social philosophy, religion, altruism. al
manner of the things which Helen could
only find time to live and exemplfy in
stead Of talking about, 50 busy did her
housewifely and motherIy duties keep
her, to say nothing of looking after
Charles Agnew's bodily comfort in per-
feet way. And the Other Woman was
beautiful. whereas Helen was only low
able and charming. The dreary old story
seemed about to be told over again, for
the thousand millionth time, perhaps.
when Helen fell I'll of typhoid fever
Her illness didn't seem TO loosen the
hold theOther Woman had on Helen's
nd ~, a GINA ffrr,-qr all in
the beginning There was nothing TO
stir or touch his imagination in a stupid
three weeks siege of fever, you see,
while the Other Woman was especially
beguling just then. Besides, the doctors
agreed that Helen would certainly re-
cover, should nothing unforeseen happen.
But the unforeseen happened at the end
of the second week One of the Other
Woman's letters fell out of the careless
husbands coat as he bent over the little
sick woman to kiss her. When he had
gone-gone off to keep an appointment
to take the Other Woman to a flower
show-Helen's weak fingers closed an the
letter, half mechanically, and she signed
to the nurse to open and read 1t for her.
She had no more idea that 1t was not in
tended for her than the nurse had of
the disastrous consequences which were
to follow. A few phrases and tho mis-
chief had been done. The recreant hus-
band and the doctor were sent for in a
hurry. It was three long, long weeks
before the little invalids spirit futtered
weakly back to the edge Of LIES bound
aries again.
1.-The letter. she gasped. as she partly
remembered ''Whose?"
Her husband. crying over her, looked
helpIessly, miserably. at the cool-headed
nurse who knew all and who despised
him as strongly and deeply as he leather
both himself and the Other Woman now
Then seeing that he was nerveless, she
took matters into her own hands
The letter I was reading when your
relapse Gamer" she asked. with a bright
naturalness which would have decided q.
seer or a prophet. why, that was mine,
of course It dropped out of my apron
pocket as I bent over you, and I read It
to you to humor you. But you didn't
find hearing another woman's love let
ter much fun, did you, you poor little
thlng?"
No suspicion Of the real state Of af-
fairs ever came to the sick woman, and
she recovered speedily. She was ashamed
ever after to think of having doubted
her husband, her dear husband even In
the delirium Of fever. And the dear hus.
band, knowing how near she came to
learning the truth. which wour1 surely
have meant death to her, was thoroughly
repentant, and has remained So
There will be no more "might-have-
been" episodes of that character in his
present life for him.-EtheI NJ. Colsou,
in Chicago Tribune