Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-05-25

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real, not her face lying buried in its
youthful locks upon the pillow, not the
! objects well known and we'll priced by
which we were surrounded-not my
self-most Of all, not myself, unless the
icy dew oozing from the roots of my
| lifted hair was real, unless that shape,
| fearsome. vague, but persistent, which
lowered In the shadows above us,
drawing line of eternal separation
| between me and my wife, was thing
which could be caught and strangled
and Oh. | rave! / chatter like q
mailman, but did not rave that night.
Nor did l rave when, in the bright.
broad sunlight, her eyes slowly unclos-
i ed and she started to see me bending
so near her, but not with my usual kiss
or glad good morning. | could not
question her then; dared not. The
smile which slowly rose to her lips
was too piteous-it showed confidence.
/ waited till. after breakfast. Then.
while she was seated where she could
not see my face, whispered the ques-
ton, DO you know that you have had
horrible dream?' She shrieked and
turned saw her face and knew that
what she had uttered In her sleep was
true.
II have no remembrance OF what l
said to her. She tried to tell me how
she had been tempted and how she had
not realized her own act till the mo-
ment I bent down to kiss her lips as
her husband. But did not stop to
listen-I could not. few Immediately
1 to Miss futile with the violent demand
as to whether she knew that her sister
was already a wife when she married
me, and when she cried out, No! and
showed great dismay i broke forth
with the dreadful tale and covered in
unmanly anguish at her feet and went
mad and lost myself for little while.
j Then went back to my wretched wife
/ and asked her how the awful deed had
been done. She told me, and again /
did not believe her and began to look
upon 1t all as some wild dream of the
distempered fancies OF disordered
BRAIN This thought Gained me. and l
spoke gently to her and even tried to
take her hand But she herself was
raving now and chung about my knees
murmuring words of such anguish and
contrition that my worst fears return
ed and, only stopping to take the key
of the Moore house from my bureau, I
left the house and wandered madly-
know not where.
81 did not so back that day. I could
not face her again till l knew how
much OF her confession was fancy and
how much was fact. l roamed the
streets. carrying that key from one end
OF the city to the other and at night
I used it to open the house which she
had declared contained SO dreadful q
secret.
II had bought candles on my way
there but, forgetting to take them from
the store, had no light with which to
penetrate the horrible place that even
the moon refused to illumine. l realized
this when once in, but would not go
back. All have told about using
matches to light me to the southwest
hChamber is true, also my coming upon
the old candelabrumt there, with candle
In one Of it's sockets. This candle I
lit, my sole reason for seeking this
room being my desire to examine the
antique sketch for the words which she
| d, 4 I,
II had failed to bring magnifying
glass with me, but my eyes are
phenomenally sharp. Knowing where
to look, was able to pick out enough
words here and there in the lines COM
posing the hair to feel quite sure that
my wife had neither deceived me nor
been deceived as to certain directions
being embodied there in writing. Shak-
en- in my last lingering hope, but not
yet quite convinced that these words
pointed to outrageous crime, few
next to the closet and drew out the
fatal drawer.
/ "You have been there and know what
the place is, but no one but myself can
Fever realize what it was for me, still
loving, still clinging to wild inconse-
/ quent belief in my wife, to grope in
that mouth Of hell for the spring she
had chartered about in her sleep, to
find it, press it, and then to hear. down
in the dark Of the fearsome recess, the
sound Of something deadly strike
against what took to be the cushions
of the old settle standing at the edge
of the library hearthstone.
II think l must have tainted, for
when l found myself possessed Of suf-
flcient consciousness to withdraw from
/ that hole of death the candle In the
candelabrum was shorter by an inch
| than when first thrust my head into
I the gap made by the removed draw
/ ers. In putting back the drawers
| hit the candelabrum with my foot. up
setting 1t and throwing out the burn
| ing candle. AS the flames began to
! lick the worm eaten boarding Of the
| floor momentary impulse seized me-
/ to rush away and leave the whole
place to burn, but did not. With a
sudden frenzy stamped out the flame
and then, finding myself In darkness,
CROPPED my way downstairs and out.
| If l entered the library do not rernem-
J Der it. Some lapses must be pardoned
| q man involved as was"
"But the fact which you dismiss SO