Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-11-15
WHO vou saw sacrificed hetself -to1t?"

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 lines which I showed
the captain and which have been pub
lished to the world was an inclosure
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 couldv And he again
moaned. But it was in vain; quite in
! vain"
There were no signs of subterfuge in
him now, 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 Pfeiffer was contracted to
herr A man she had secretly married
while schoolgirl and who at this
very critical instant had found his way
to the house,
"You shall read her letter. It was
meant for me, for me only-but you
shall see it. I cannot talk of him or
of her crime. 1t is enough that 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
shrank from and cried:
"She muttered, 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 I, 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 dream by the darling Of
your heart. But when, with long
drawn sigh, she murmured, Murderer
and raised her fists-tiny fists, hands
which I had kissed thousand times
and shook them in the air, an awful
terror seized me, and sought to grasp
them and hold them down, but was
hindered by some nameless inner recoil
under which could not speak or
gasp or move. OF course, it was some
dream horror she was laboring under
a nightmare of unimaginable acts and
thoughts, but it was one to hold me
back; and when she lay quiet again
and her face resumed its old sweetness
In the moonlight, found myself star
ing at her almost as if it were true
what she had said-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 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 it's
youthful locks upon the pillow, not the
objects we'll known and well 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
|
drawing line Of eternal separation
between me and my wife, was thing
which could be caught and strangled
and oh. rave! / chatter like a
madman, but did not rave that night.
Nor die ::::,;'ss ;--.acz, In the bright,
broad sunlight. her eyes slowly unclos-
ed and she started to see me bending
70 near her, but not with my usual kiss
or glad good morning. could not
question her then; I 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 1
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 I did not stop to
listen-I conld not. flew Immediately
to Miss futile with the violent demand
as to whether she knew that her sister
was already wife when she married
me, and when she cried out, Nor and
yhowed great dismay broke forth
With the dreadful tale and covered in
hnmanly anguish at 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 I
. did not believe her and began to look
upon it all as some wild dream of the
distempered fancies Of disordered
brain. This thought Gained me, and I
spoke gently to her and even tr!ea. +.c
take her hand. But she herself was
,, taving now and chung about my knees
.. murmuring words Of such anguish and
contrttion 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.
II did not go back that day. could
bot face her again till knew how
much OF her confession was fancy and
how much was fact. 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 sh,
, had declared contained so dreadful {
| secret.
II had bought cardles on my wa!
there but, forgetting to take them from
the store, I had no light with which t.
4