The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-05-27


seemed to them to be a Mecca, a Jeru-
salem, Bethlehem, place holier
than other places. None of them had
ever been there and knew nothing
about what wicked city New York
is. l did not enlighten them for fear of
touching some tender spot, some grief
with which the place was connected.
noticed that only Mr.. Colburn and
the younger Miss Colburn ever re-
ferred to New York, and when they did
so the elder sister, Mary, maintained
perfect silence. as if they were speak
ing of the tomb of some one we'll be-
loved.
One day l noticed on table in the
living room a vase filed with dozen
American Beauty roses. l also noticed
that the members of the family spoke
low and trod softly.
That evening the sisters went up
stairs early, the brother remaining be-
low with me.
Il WONDER" he said. eff you know in
New York Mr.. Theodore Carroll?
Il do not" | replied.
He looked surprised.
You must remember" | added, "that
New York is Il very large city,
Then he Srew confidential and gave
me an explanation of what to me had
been Il mystery. \ quarter of Il cen
fury before Il man had appeared in the
village to make it his headquarters for
the time that he would remain in the
vicinity while making surveys on the
Il Jni, cd
He was thirty-tive years old, college
graduate, and had charge of the en-
cheering work Of that division of the
road. Like myself, he had been lodged
at the Colburns', the father and mother
of the family being at that time living
He fell in love with Mary COlburn,
then eighteen, and his love was return
ed Notwithstanding that he was city
born and bred and she country girl,
he asked her to marry him, and she
consented.
Preparations were made for the we'd
ding, which was to take place as soon
as Carroll concluded his engineering
work on that division of the railroad.
Mary was supremacy happy. Carroll
was at times buOyant, at other times
depressed. He was all that a lover
could be to his fiancee. Indeed he
seemed to lave morbid dread that he
should lose her.
The very morning of the wedding
misfortune fell upon the lovers, the
family, indeed the whole village, since
everybody was interested in the affair.
When Mary's brother went to Carroll S
he found him in a sWOOn. Beside him
on the floor was a letter from wo-
man who caimed to be his wife.
When Carroll came to himself he adj
mittcd that the woman had really been
married to him, but he had left her,
| and he had evidence to indicate that
She Was dead. She had heard of his
| approaching marriage and had written
| him to say that she was living and SO
| long as she lived he should never wed
| legally.
That was the most melancholy day
| the village had ever known. The girl
| who had expected to become a bride
bore up bravely, but it was plain that
| she suffered ineXpressble agony. Car
roll pleaded his cause with her, eXcuS
| ing himself for not having told of his
former marital complication on the
| ground that it was a thing of the past
| which was a horror to him and which
| he believed ended forever by death
| Mary did not blame him. She sat list
| lessly while he talked of it, and Wher
he had finished and he pressed his lips
to hers in an adieu she went to bel
| nd n i'm lin ~
roll went to New York to take steps t.
secure divorce, though Mary tOl(
| him that she would not marry a di
vorced man. Hoping to win her con
sent in time, he commenced proceed
ings, which so far as the Colburn fam
lily heard had never ended. On ever.
anniversary of the wedding day Their
came a box of flowers. Carroll hat
continued to write for two years, the1
his letters had ceased. But the flower
! kept on coming.
Such was the statement given me b,
Mary Colburn's brother. l was pro
foundry interested in it and determines
when | reached New York to lool
Carroll up and solve the mystery of
divorce case that had lasted a quartz
of a century. On returning to the cit
I sought my client, reported my actio
in the case upon which l had been en-
ployed, then asked him if he knew o
the romance that hung over the Co
burn family.
!. eyes, he said, changing his ton
from business to Il sympathetic one
81 ought to know something about i
since | send flowers to Mary Colour
Vnce year"
. "But CarroIl?"
Carroll has been dead for twenty
two years. He died just before b
would have surely obtained his d
vorce. WAS with him when he diet
and he charged me to keep the secrt