The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-06-26

she ISQ CTlcO TO aTIaIlSS 1T sIleTSG1A cnu sild0
forgottenr what she was doing while her
fingers we're but half thru their work.
There was acloak lying on a chair near
which she was standing, and she held a
hat In her hand: but Loretta saw no |
Gloves AS the maids glance and that
OF her mistress crossed; Mrs. JEFFREY spoke |
and the effort she made in doing so natur-I
ally frightened ~the girl still more,
am going OUT We're her words. II may
not be home till late. What are you
looking at?' 5:.s556$ti t
Loretta declared that the words took her
by surprise and that she did not know
what to say, but managed to cover up
her embarrassment by intinating that II
her mistress would let her touch up her
hair bit she would make her look more
natural.
At this suggestion, Mrs. Jeffrey cast
glance in the glass and impetuousiy de-
clared, TT doesn't matter" But she seemed
to think better of it the next minute; for,
throwing herself ON a chair, she babe the
girl to bring comb, and sat quiet enough.
tho evidently in great trenor OF haste
and impatience, while Loretta combed her
hair and put it up in the old way.
But the old way was not as becoming
as usual, and Loretta was wonder
ing II they ought to call IN Miss
futile, when Mrs. Jeffrey jumped to her
feet and went over to the table and be-
gan to eat with the feverlsh haste OF one
who forces nlmSelI 10 Ldko AVou AL SPA.e
Of hurry and distaste.
This was the moment for Loretta to
leave the room; but she did not know how
to do so. She felt herself fixed to the
spot, and stood watching Mrs. jeffrey TILL
that lady, suddenly becoming conscious OF
the girls presence. turned, and IN the
midst of the means which broke un-
consciously from her lips, said with
pitiable effort at her old manner:
go away. Loretta; I am i'll; I have
been Ill for two days. I don't like
people to look at me like that! Then, as
the girl sank back. added in breaking
voice: when Mr.. Jeffrey comes home
and said no more for several minutes,
during which she clutched her throat
with both hands and struggled with her
self till she got her voice back and found
herself able to repeat: when Mr.. jeffrey
comes,-if he does come,-tell him I was
| right about the way the novel ended.
| Remember that you are to say to him
| the moment you see him that was right
about the novel,, and that he is to look
| and see if it did not end as I said 1t
would And Loretta" here she rose
and approached the speaker with a sweet,
appealing look, which brought tears to
| the impressionable girls eyes,, don't go
| gossiping about me own-stairs. sha n
! be sick long. I am going to be better
| soon, very soon. By the time you see
me here again shall be quite like my
T. old self. Forget how-hoW''-an Lo-
| retta said she seemed to have difficulty
| in finding the right word here-"how
! childish have BEEN.
OF course Loretta promised, but she is
| not sure that she would have had the
| courage to keep all this to herself If she
| had not heard Mrs. Jeffrey stop In Miss
| Tuttle's room on the way out. That re-
| lieved her, and enabled her to go down.
/ stairs to her own supper with more APP
| ,too Ic1 1,<I,{ fr,t VIC
/ again. az Alas! it was the last good meal
she was able to eat for days. In three
l hours afterWard a man came from the
station-house with the news Of Mrs.
| Jeffrey's suicide in the horrible old house
| in which she had been married only two
! weeks before.
AS this had been a continuous; narrative
and concisely told, the coroner had not
Interrupted her. When at this point a
little gasp escaped Miss futile and a
groan broke from Francis Jeffrey s
hitherto sealed lips, the feelings Of the
whole assemblage seemed to find utter
ance. A young wife's misery culmina ting
|. in death on the very spot where she had
been so lately married! What could be
more thrilling. or appeal more closely tC
the general heart Of humanity? But the
? cause of that misery! This was what
every one present was eager to have ex-
planned. This is what we now expected
! the coroner to bring out But instead OF
, | continuing on the line he had opened up
+ he proceeded to ask: a,ssst
Where were you when this Officer
brought the news you mention?''
, I'm the hall, sir. I opened the door FOL
, him."
"And to whom did he first mention hi!
errand?"
: ITO Miss Tuttle. She had come in JUS
2 before him and was standing at the foo
81 ha Stojr Z
"What! Was Miss futile out tina
v Eevening?"
n YES; she went out very soon after Mrs
= Jeffrey left. When she came in she sale
e that she had been around the block, bu
:. she must have gone around it more thai
:, once, for she was absent two hours"
a did you let her in?''
r Yes, SIR" #
e And she said she had been around tn
: block?"
It Eyes, sir"
: Did she say anything else?''
y ''She asked II Mr.. Jeffrey had come In.
q Anything else?'
ITO both of which questions yo
q answered. Il
q "a plain No. so;
''Now tell us about the. officer"
: HE rang the bell almost immediately
II after she did. Thinking she would wan
= to slip upstairs before i admitted an
= one, waited a minute for her to go, bu
- she did not do SO, and when the office
- stepped in She
- 'Well!"
a "She shrieked."
~ What! before he spoken"
- Eyes, SIR"
10 "Just at. sight of him?'
Nv Eyes, sir"
h did he wear his badge in plain view?
10 Yes, on his breast"
r. $50 that you knew him to be polio
ID officer?''
n Eyes"
"And Miss futile shrieked at seeing
police officer?'' f1.H s
Eyes, and sprang forward ~ ST
did she say anything?"
mot then"
what did she do?"
Waited for him to speak
(which he did?''
eat once, and very brutally. He aske
If she was Mrs. Jeffrey's sister, and whe
she nodded and gasped Yes he blurte
out that Mrs. Jeffrey was dead; that
had just come from the old house in W.
lyerley avenue, where she had just bee
found"
E.i.And Miss Tuttle?'
Didn't know what to say: just hid h.
face. She was leaning against, the newe
lpost, so 1t was easy for her to do so.
remember that the man stared at her f,
. taking it SO quietly and asking no que
|tions.'' b. ,l
land did she speak at all?"
30, yes. afterwards. Her face w;
i oy,od IN fnlds of her r1oaL hit