River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-02-28

| obIOuSCE.
mo" sobbed Miss Matilda; 81 don't
want TO feel stronger. / want to talk
while feel this way. / feel chastened,
This has been providentiaI; the loss
| of this dear creature is meant to show
me what a hard woman I have been.
thought of Tom Gordon last night.
1 thought of that letter"
Miss Martha cleared her throat.
81 suppose" she said. griInly, 81 am a
rather unbending woman. But be-
lieye think once in awhile, too. I
also thought of him last night, and l
| thought of that letter."
Miss Matilda freed one eye from
her handkerchief did it make YOU
feel weak?" she asked.
Miss Martha shook her head. "Not
weaker than / now know have been
all these years." she answered. at
is preposterous thing to keep that
letter; it should have been DESTROYED
years ago"
Destroy it now," Miss Matilda said,
with avidity.
Miss Martha drew herself up. "T
will" she said, "if you think it is mine
to destroy"
Miss Matilda's eyes dried at once.
eff you doubt that" she returned, 81
will destroy it as my property"
Miss Martha fumbled at her watch
chain.
Matilda" she said, "Towser is
dead. He thought as much of me as
he did of you"
Miss Matilda rose to her feet.
''What has that got to do with it?"
she asked, sharply.
Miss Martha's chain snapped in her
fingers.
LET us destroy it together" she
said. Suppose, after we ere dead, a
stranger should open and read it and
understand"
Miss Matilda cried out; she had not
thought of that.
Burn it," she said, "burn It'll"
She was in fever. Her cousin
could not light the candle speedily
enough, for Miss Martha meant to
deal fairly-to take a lighted candle
to the hall table and burn the paper
on the neutral ground.
Miss Matilda was there before her.
Miss Martha set the candlestick on
the table. "Shall l take it out of the
drawer?" she asked.
Miss Matilda, looking into her white
face, fell to trembling; she had not
before noted how old her cousin
looked.
II never meant to be unfair" she
said. He always called me Matte -
"Shall take it out of the drawer?"
repeated Miss Martha.
But it was Matilda's hand that
caught up the yellow paper and held
it to the flame. Then she drew it
back.
watt" she said. "Sha'n't we open
it?"
Have / the right to answer that
question:" asked Miss Martha.
Suppose" answered Miss Matilda,
suppose should say yesl"
II should then" queried her cousin.
''be opening it for you?"
She dashed her hand on the table,
making the flame of the candle shake.
What foolery it all isl" she said;
land 1 never saw it like this before.
Yes, win open it for you"
But" hesitated Miss Matilda,
maybe it was intended for you.
Miss Martha looked at her. what
difference does it make now?" she
asked. "Oh, what fools we have
BEEN" she cried; what fools!" She
grasped the letter and wrenched it
open and held it under the lighted
candle.
Dear Matte" they read, you and
your cousin have been so kind to me
that feel like making confdantes of
both of you. Let this note be fare
well, as l shall be too busy till I start
west to make any calls. And the
confession? There is little girl out
there never spoke of to you. I lave
a letter from her to-day. She had re.
fused me, and was sore, when the
beautiful friendship of you two made
my life a little happier, your sympa.
thetic manner drawing me to you
But Mary Fenton's letter to-day
changes my sadness to JOY, for she
writes that she will marry me"
The paper fell to the floor.
"Matilda!" Miss Martha said in az
awful voice.
Miss Matilda threw her arms around
her.
Martha, Martial" was all she said
over and over again. Martha,
Martial"
1t was some time before Miss
Martha could quiet her, which she
did, evidently, by saying: Burn it!
| burn it,"
Then Miss Matilda took up the let
| ter and held it over the candle.
"And even now" she said, hyster.
ically, "we do not know which it was
intended for. Let me say it was for
me; l deserve it, though / never was
'Mattie;' had no right to the name
l took it because envied you every
thing"
"No, no." corrected Miss Martha
quickly; 81 was not as pretty as you;
l was older; there was n pathos aboIt
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