Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-09-30

| her back in unavailing tears. was
/ telephoned for. but was helpless Tor the
/ one suggestion did make about inter-
cepting the postal cards promised re-
| turn of the frenzy, and she was not III
q state to be reasoned with.
How brave is the man who writes
1 a humorous letter to friend, Tor ne
cannot know in what grim circuln-
1 stances it may arrive! The careless
| Joking tone of many of these misslves
I strikes me even now, in editing tne1ll'
as gruesomely incongruous; like the
| fixed grin of the skeleton standing IN
the corner of my room.
At last they ceased to come. and the
4 eternal silence began. For week OF
more there was an unexpressed fear IN
! the household that belated card would
| fall in but it never came. Marjory her
self seemed to expect it, for when her
letters arrived she tossed them over
unheeding, and would look up saying
anxiously, us there nothing else!'
FINELY she became silently melancholy
and from this state could be aroused
She gave no trouble to her friends, and
was perfectly amenable to their sugges-
II Vi,
/ the event that had blighted her life, the
tragedy being indelibly printed on hel
mind as an image is tatooed on the
body innumerable singing pin prlcks.
When, some three months after the
death Of Wallis Dent, she expressed
a desire to go to Europe. the intima.
ton was eagerly agreed to by hef
4 father, who thought the sea voyage
and the following change OF scene
/ would do her good. But l mad grave
doubts of this, for she wished TO WISH
4 the arena Of the tragedy, ana tns
thought of her suicide from the Gilt
/ where the professor had fallen, oc-
CURED to me.
The worst came, but not exactly as
I anticipated it. She never saw the
Island of Capri. AT Gibraltar, she alone
of all the passengers, refused to land
but stood leaning on the rail, gazing
at the tall rock. During the voyage
she had kept entirely to herself, never
speaking even to her companion, eX-
cept when directly addressed. 1t was
4 night when the steamer left Gibraltar
for Naples. The lady, who was with mel
found her writing in their state room,
and did not disturb her. That was the
i last ever seen of Marjory Sedgwick
There seems no reason to doubt that
she slippf quietly overheard, While
4 the other passengers were at dinner.
The fateful pack of cards left IN my
care were fifty-two in number. On
l some DAYS the writer had sent as many
as ten. None of them We're dated ex-
cept in so far as the post mark was
lconcerned, but they We're numbered
consecutively from one to fifty-one.
The fifty-second card had evidently
Ibeen prepared by Miss Sedgwick her
self. 1t was of the same size as the
others, and on it was pasted the news
paper extract announcing Professor
Dents death.
| I begin the narrative with that ex-
/ tract / have eliminated from the pro-
4 fessor's writing nearly all that is hui
morous or not bearing on the story
1 he has to tell. 1t is curious to note
that in his very arst message he gives
a hint of the traffic that was the di-
rect cause of his death, althO no sus-
picion Of this seems ever to have oc-
CURED to him. AT the end shall add
la note giving the result of my own
Investigations in Capri, which think
will afford an explanation of what was
a mystery to him.
Naples. December IA dispatch
from the Associated Press confirms the
report that Professor Dent, of Cam
ibridge. England, was killed yesterday
in Capri. 1t is supposed that Professor
Dent was aking geological exam
|ination Of the southern cliffs of this
island. The rope by which ne.let him
self down the face of the precipice was
severed by sharp mock, and the I'M
fortunate man fell distance of near
lily thousand feet. Death was instan-
taneous.
II have arrived once more in lovely
Capri, truly the isle Of the siren for
remember shall rhapsodise on that
in later letter This is postcard
and must be considered as such.
expected to come here by way Of Malta
but the tramp steamer, erratic in its
movements, sailed into Naples, and will
go to Malta later. This was disastrous
in so far as my calculations were con-
/ cerned, for Malta IS the cheapest and
{ best island in the world where one
may buy tobacco, while Crapi is the
dearest and worst Thus my yearn
ings towards amateur smuggling were
{ frustrated.
II bought a few packets of theiI
detestable thirty centissima cigarettes
in that low little shop, under the arch
just out of the piazza, and as left
the place and dived into the tunnel OF
the Castiglione road, a ragged brigand
followed me, touched me on the arm
and exhibited a packet Of my favorite
brand when we were deep in the gloom
of the arch way The well remem-
bered colour gladdened by heart. wa.
willing to pay any price for it, and
TASK no questions. He seemed to have
but one sample two ounce packet, but
quickly guessing that he had happened
on an unlimited market, he gave low
whistle which conjured out of the dark.
ness swarthy beauty of girl, who
gazed lowering at me; and produced
packet after packet from the Capri
cliffs.
These people are evidently not ma.
tives of this island. The sullen sylpt
seemed deeply suspicious Of me thru
out the transaction, and appeared tt
realize its danger more thoroughly thar
the man, who was too eager for the
money to trouble his head about the
risk we We're all taking.
You will think I am reckless to sci
down evidence Of my own complicity
on three post cards, but they are un-
!; signed, and the story is in sections
Besides no one here can read En-
Iglish. Post-c have been invented