Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-09-28
lonco and were glad when Tie major

why her honor was dearer to you than
your own, and why you could risk the
reputation if not the life Of the woman
who you say sacrificed herself to it?"
Eyes, it was unprecedented. She
hardly realized her act. If you must
know her heart through all this dread
full business we have her words to
show you-words which she spent the
last miserable day OF her life in writ
ing. The few limos which showed
the captain and which have been pub
lished to the world was an Enclosure
meant for the public eye. The real let
ter, telling the whole terrible truth,
kept for myself and for the sister who
already knew her sin. Oh, we did ev-
erything we couldn And he again
moaned But it was in vain; quite in
vain"
There were no signs of subterfuge in
himnow, and we all, unless except Dur
bin, began to yield him credence. Dur
bin never gives credence to anybody
whose name he has once heard asso-
ciated with crime.
"And this Pfeilfer was contracted to
her? A man she had secretly married
while a schoolgirl and who ut this
very critical instant had found his way
to the house,
"You shull read her letter. 1t was
meant for me, for me only-but you
shall see it. cannot talk of him or
of her crime. 1t is enough that l have
been unable to think of anything else
since first those dreadful words fell
from her lips in sleep, thirty-six hours
/ before she died" Then with the in
consistency Of great anguish he sud
denly broke forth into the details he
shranl from and cried:
"She muttercd, lying there, that she
was no bigamist. That she had killed
one husband before she married the
other. Killed him in the old house
and by the method her ancestors had
taught her. And /, risen on my elbow,
listened, with the sweat ooZing from
my forehead, but not believing her, oh,
not believing her, any more than any
one Of you would believe such words
uttered in a dream by the darling Of
your heart But when, with n long
drawn sigh, she murmured, Murderer
and raised her fists-tiny fists, hands
which l had kissed thousand times
and shook them in the air, an awful
terror seized me, and l sought to grasp
them and hold them down, but was
hindercd by some nameless inner rccoil
under which / could not speak or
gasp or move. OF course, it was some
dream horror she was laboring under,
nightmare Of unimaginablc acts and
thoughts, but it was one to hold me
back; and when she lay quiet again
and her face resumed its old sweetness
III the moonlight, l found myself star
Ing at her almost us il it were true
what she had snid-that word-that
awful word which no woman could
use with regard to herself, even in
dreams, Understanding, an echo
from the discordant chord In our two
weeks married life, rose like the con-
firmation OF n doubt in my shocked and
rebellious breast.
From that hour till dawn nothing in
that slowly Frightening room seemed
real, not her face lying buried in its
youthful locks upon the pillow, not the
objects We'll known and well priced by
which we Were surrounded-not my
self-most of ell, not myself, unless the
icy dew oozing from the roots of my
lee sl;c.
fearscme, vague, but persistent, which
hnvnrn6 In cf, oh
drawing line of eternal separation
between me and my wife, was a thing
which could be caught and strangled
and Oh. l rave! chatter like q
mailman, but did not rave that night.
Nor did rave when, In the bright,
broad sunlight, her eyes slowly unclos-
ed and she started to see me bending
so near her, but not with my usual kiss
or glad good morning. I 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
n horrible drcamY She shrickcd and
turned. saw her face and knew that
what she had uttered in her sleep was
true.
Il have no remembrance of what
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 bent down to kiss her lips as
her husband. But l did not stop to
listen-I could not. flew Immediately
to Miss futile with the violent demand
rs to whether she knew that her sister
was already wife when she married
me, and when she cried out, Nor and
showed great dismGy broke forth
with the dreadful tale and covered in
unmanly anguish ut her feet and went
mad and lost myself for little while.
Then went back to my wretched wife
and asked her how the awful deed had
been done. She told me, and again l
did not believe her ana began to look
upon 1t all as some wild dream of the
aistcmpered fancies of n disordcred
brain. This thought Gained me, and I
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,
left the house and wandered madly-
know not where.
Il did not go back that day. 1 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 ut night
I used 1t to open the house which she
had declared contained SO dreadful
secret.
Il 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. realized
this when once in, but would not 80
back. All l have told about using
matches to light me to the southwest
chamber is true, also my coming upon
the old CanIoin hrIlm thorp with n cop1In