St. Tammany farmer., 1903-05-02

| ary successes have continued and be-
come greater and more numerous
with the years that have gone by,
but my reputation of GOODNESS and
Indifference to love has kept pace
with my fame. Men have loved me,
yet I have never been able to find
one who could equal that lover of
! an hour.
And to-day we have met again.
Years have scattered silver in his
dark hair. There was a haunted look
in the eyes which had not been there
before. He returned to me freed
from the bonds which had once sep
arated us; his wife is dead; has
been dead year, and he has come
to ask me to take her place. But l
refused; my pride has always been
such that I could never accept the
love of man who had lcved another
enough to make her his wife.
| My heart was virgin of any affec-
ton. 1 would not give it in exchange
for one from which the memory of
another love had taken the fresh
ness. I told him this as gently as
could, for I saw that he was in ear
nest, and pitied his disappointment,
| but nothing can express the look of
terror, despair, agony which swept
, over his face at my words.
"You refuse, you will not mary
me; you can't accept my offer. Oh,
it can't be SO! 1 misunderstood you!
To1J oil 4
is mistake!"
Moved by the agony of his voice,
| was some time without answering,
but my resolution was taken. Moth
ing could change it. So I at last an
swered:
Il am deeply grieved that you take
my refusal so much to heart, but l
can't change it. 1 may not be like
other women, but the thought that
you had loved another, that she had
your first kisses, that to her you gave
the best of your heart and life, would
take from my own existence all the
bliss your love could bring it. 1
would be jealous Of the dead.
do you suppose that the man you
would marry would not have had
other loves? Where is the man who
in his life has had but one love?" he
objected, his face white and working.
eyes, know that. But those loves
would not make me jealous, for man
does not attach much Importance to
them. But the love for wife is diff
ferent; it is the companionship of
years, the devotion of every day that
could not think of without fearing
that of the two he preferred her!"
He rose at these words and seized
my arm. His eyes were wild and
glaring like those of mad man,
and when he spoke his tones, though
low, sounded with shrill accents to
my ears:
"You should not think that, for it
was because I loved you so much, so
passionately, that killed her!"
I started back with the cry: 81
"Killed her!"
"Yes," he laughed, not needing the
sudden horror which must have swept
over my face. "Yes, I killed her to
have you. After that meeting in your
home, I could think Of nothing else;
possess you, 1 must, at any cost.
There was an obstacle in the way
my wife-but that was of small con-
sideration with passion like mine.
l set to work to remove that OBJ
stacle. She began to pine. The slow
poison did it's work, and in two years |
time I was free. But waited year
before l came to you. didn't want
to be suspected, you know. But now
there is no danger; they think she |
died natural death, and we are free
to love one another. Free! Free at |
last!"
I started back terrified, spell-bound
by horror. And this was the man
had loved! This, murderer! Just |
then we were interrupted. Two mer
rushed into the room. The next min
ute my visitor was overpowered and
handcuffed. Too startled to cry out.
I remained transfxed to the spot.
But one of the men drew near to me
and said:
"You must pardon the abrupt way
we invaded your home, but we feared
for your safety. That unfortunate
man is mad, has been mad for the
last eight years. In his madness he
says he loves you, and that that love
has caused him to murder his wife,"
"Then his wife is not dead?" I man.
aged to say.
mo, but his madness took such a
turn that her life was in danger, and
she was compelled to have him shut
up in madhouse. Last week he es-
capped, after robbing the guard of all
the money he had. We thought that
he must have come to you, SO we fol-
lowed him here"
They took him away and I was
alone. Had he been what he had pre-
tended to be-a murderer could
have forgotten him, but as it is I
must always remember that one man
loved me to madness.