The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-08

thing from me; therefore, there was some
thing to conceal. And yet she dared TO
hang around my neck and nestle close 10
me. It made me sick TO feel the raise crea-
ture so near. / don't know what came
over me. The room swan before my eyes
and, starting to my feet, flung her from
me. She fell in a heap by the window anu
lay quite STILL staring at me with speech
less terror. / had had no intention OF hurt-
ing her and was Mortified at my brutality
/ went to her and tried to raise her up, but
at my approach she shrieked aloud ana
shrank away from me. l was Thoroughly
ashamed now and begged her to forgive my
behavior. But for some time she only
shook her head till at last. overcome by
her emotions, she burst into hysterical sobs.
This was too much for me. l forgot every
thing except that l loved her, and, kneel-
ing down, gathered her into my arms She
no longer resisted me, but like tired child
let me do with her what i would. / car
ried her upstairs and soon had the satisfac-
ton of seeing her fall asleep. From that
day to this neither of us has ever referred
to this occurrence. / didn't because-well,
my motives were very mixed. In the first
place l couldn't apologize for my behavior
without telling her the reason first. and
that 1 was unwilling to do unasked. was
ashamed of my suspicious, and wanted the
explanation to be offered by her and not
solicited by me. And then, underlying eV-
erything was an unacknowle0ged dread OF
what / might discover and terror that
might again forget myself. But what were
her reasons for never asking for the mean
| ing of my conduct? Why did she not make
me sue on my knees for pardon? She has
| always made a great fuss whenever have
| this outrage I'm silence? Did she fear what
| questions / might ask? Did she suspect
| the cause of my anger? That night, before
| going to bed, / took that accused hat and
| flung it out of the dining-room window.
1t fell the court below, and there Argot
must have picked ii up"
when did you first become convinced
! that that hat had belonged to the murdered
MANI"
"Not for several days In fact. l have
| never been perfectly sure till this evening :"
YES you see it did not occur to me for
some time that there was any connection
| between my wife's visitor and the-the VIC
| tim Here the poor fellow shuddered.
| Her manner was slightly constrained, and
I saw she was depressed. but / thought
| that a natural result of the GOODNESS that
had arisen between us. i soon found out
| however, that although our strained rela-
| tions might weigh on her somewhat, the
| chief cause of her trouble was the murder.
| She hardly ever spoke OF IL, but could
| see that it was never out of her mind She
used to send out for all the papers and
pore over them by the hour, and was so
| nervous that il was positively painful TO be
| in the room with her. She would start and
scream with without provocation. An
other popularity she developed was an eX-
| IRENE Discrimination TO leave the house.
She went out on Thursday afternoon. / be-
| lieve. but from that day to the time of Ar
| COTS arrest l don't think she ever left the
building unless i insisted on II. And an
| other queer thing she did was TO stand be-
hind the curtains and peer at your house.
| / would catch her doing this at all hours
| of the day and night Then | began to
| wonder more and more why this murder
| had such an effect on her. i read and re-
| read all that was printed about IL, and sud-
| denly ii came to me that no hat had been
| found with the body, | searched the pa
! pers again feverishly- / had not been mis-
| taken. Every article of clothing was care
| fully enumerated, but no hat was men,
| toned. II was then l first suspected that
/ the dead man and my wife's visitor were
one and the same person. 1t was an awful
| moment, doctor"
| He paused a while TO control his emo
| tons. after that i kept continually puz-
| zling as TO how the fellow could have come
| by his death. Thank God. l was quite sure
| my little wife had no hand in that You
| say Argot killed him; perhaps he did.
/ though / can't imagine why or how. AS
| soon as Mrs. Atkins heard thu: the French
| man had been arrested her whole manner
| changed Her nervousness disappeared as
| IL by magic and to-day she resumed her
usual mode OF life She has even talked
| about the murder occasionally But the
barrier between US has not diminished. L
| cannot forget that she concealed that mans
| visit from me- have longed, yet dreaded.
| fearing that If they did his connection with
my wife would also come out; and yet so
| anxious am 1 to know the exact nature
/ of that connection TO be willing TO run
| almost any risk 10 discover the truth But
things have come TO "A crisis tonight We
can no longer go on living side by side with