The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-14
A CLANDEST|NE CORRESPONDENCE,

to rise to his standard ofrhetorical excel lence, to his splendid imagery, to his vague but winsome messages of love. She no longer permitted her friend, An nie Cuthbert, to dictate even an occa- sional sentence, and at last she even failed to share with her friend one of the letters which, as usual, she had re- ceived at the general delivery window.
 Then MT. Bleecker, almost unconscious ly, began to compare Curtis, her hus- band, with the unknown Fortescue. Why had the master of her destiny never wrote such letters to herr Why was he not eloquent like Roger-therei She had be- gun to call him Roger" She became a bit scared then, for she was a true and dutiful wife She and lBeecker had exchanged very few letters in their court ing days Perhaps he would have written just as well as Fortescue, if he'd had the opportunity, she thought. And then, in a sudden realization of her folly and perhaps of some subtle and hateful sense of disloyalty, she went to Annie's house and wrote long letter to Fortescue in which she begged his pardon for Turing him into e correspondence that must ap- pear decitful, fruitess and even humil- iating when she, Beatrice Landon, ad- mitted as she now must, that she was a
 
 best man on earth" She expected that this long and self-deprecating letter would put final stop to his letters. but after a week, during which she did not inquire for any letters at the window, she asked Annie to "see if there was any thing" There were five!
 "I, too,' wrote Roger Fortescue, "am married. My wife is the embodiment of all virtue. beauty and intelligence, but" And then he launched into a subtle and gracefully worded discourse to the effect that Mrs. Fortescue was not who'll ly satisfied with him. That she didn' { understand him, that .e could not blame her, but that in seeking correspondence with Mrs. Landon." he had only tried after that impersonal, and, he thought, unselfsh, qualification which comes of the spiritual and mental commerce of two kindred souls. It was very fine, said An nie and Chloe, and the latter almost shed tears as she declared, positively, that she would make no answer. And so the affair stopped.
 It was about two weeks later that Mrs Bleeckcr began to perceive a mighty change in the behavior of her husband He had become so considerate, so conf dential, so tender, so assiduous in his attentions to her that she felt like girl again In the wooing days. But after tea, one night. he said, with sudden embar- rassment:
 "Chlo, know you'll laugh, but did a very queer thing this summer. I answered an 'ad' of some woman who wanted to correspond with a moral and intelligent man of sympathy.
 What was her name2' gasped Mrs. Bleecker, getting white and ready to faint.
 Don't get angry, Chlos" he said quickly, mistakng her fright for rage, T never signed my name, but honest now, for while I thought my corre- spondent must be-YOU. l."
 Yes. yes, Curtisl You thought" she was almost choked with terror.
 T thought it might be you, ana I was almost sure when she-her name was Blanche Landon admitted that she was a married woman. I told her that I, too, was married, and-well. Chloe, I thought that would put end to 1t, but what do you think?"
 What Curtis?"
 Why, she came right back, said she didn't believe me! Insisted that no mar ried man ever praised his wife as I had done and-lnclosed her pioturem