The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-07-14
A LETTER FROM The DEAD

They had been married in the spring,
aad gone to the country for the sum-
mer, and now that the autumn was
coming on they were looking Tor
house. In the evening when the nus
band returned from business his wife
told him that she had found coy
cottage situated exactly TO her taste.
Can you not come and look at II
with me tomorrow" she asked.
Tomorrow is my busy day. l shan
be engaged all this week.
But there is another person ready
to take it and I must give an answer
at once or lose it.
from September to May, and you are
satisfied. close the matter"
When Raymond Berthold found time
to visit the house for which he had
signed a lease, he stood before the dooA
with an expression of establishment
and pain.
You don't like itr' exclaimed the
wife in a disappointed tone.
Like it. dear heart" he stammered.
Its charming. But"
But what
Nothing. Come. let us go inside"
Berthold walked through the rooms
as one in a dream. Ten years had pas
sed since he had lived in that verF
house. There he had loved his cousin
Jeanette. His mother had died there.
and jeanette had died there. and Ber>
thold had gone out broken hearted
Ildll-DlOk5n hearted until ne uiG me-
Maura Doane, the girl he had married
He had never told Maura Of this love
He had intended doing so, put mao
dreaded to reopen the wound. When
he became engaged he MADE an eIL0rl
to unburden himself. but failed The
evening before his marriage ne made
4 mother attempt still without success
After his marriage he still kept put
ting off his confession till at last ne
began to doubt whether it was neces~
Ears.
And now Maura was taking him
over the house, pointing out pretty
view from a window, coy corner be
side a fireplace, a room that would be
cheerful because it would receive the
sunshine She did not know that this
room had been his dear mothers, that
in winter he had sat with his former
love beside the fireplace and in summer
had looked down with her from the
window which commanded the view.
Again and again he stroye to tel:
Maura that this had been his home,
but hesitating when he remembered
that the telling would involve a confess
sion-a confession that might destroy
him. He could not bring himself TO
do it.
AS may be supposed from all this,
Berthold was a sensitive man. man
of deep feeling. Perhaps he was weak.
He went to live in the house he had
rented without a word of his FORMER
life there to his wife but the matter
ing to his bed. but going about feebly
under a loss of vitality. One evening
he and his wife were sitting in their
boudoir a room that had been occupied
by jeanette. A mirror over a mantel-
it was a fixture and had been there
for years-slipped from it's place. A
letter fell from behind it and slid down
to Raymond's feet He glanced at it
and turned pale.
Maura picked it up and was brush
ing the dust from it. when suddenly
she started The superscription, in a
woman's hand, read, For Raymond"
saw that he was powerfully, painfully
moved.
What does it mean?" she asked I'M
der her breath.
He reached for the letter Maura
ave it to him. He held it in his hand
~ a moment, then, realizing that his
secret was out. handed 1t back TO her.
Il have no wish to pry into some
thing you don't wish me to know" she
said.
''Read it."
1t had been written by Jeanette short
~ before her death, a plaintive note,
telling her lover that she knew she
could not live I sincerely trust. Raw
mond, dear she concluded, that you
who are on the very threshold of man.
hood, will find some good girl to supply
my place, OF al least make a place OF
her own in your heart" Jeanette must
have placed it behind the mirror til
such time as she should decide to lei
Raymond have it.
Raymond watched his wife while she
read, anxious for the first glance shs
should give him after its perusaL Would
It be one of blame for him or Jealousy
of the dead He believed that if she
deemed him guilty she would put dowr
the letter and walk away from him II
silence. Then he would be days, weeks
years in reestablishing that sweet con.