The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-10-05

nsKvo.
You seem to think this is q senti-
mental affair" said be. '1f you saw
woman drowning and pulled her out Of
tho water would you expect 20 spend
the remainder Of your life In her 50.
cistyT
THAT depends upon the woman"
said I. And be replied that they were
all alike TO him.
Then he told me that he had made
arrangements for her 10 have q. room
ut the Central Depot hotel for the
night and that she would leave for
Buffalo IN the morning.
II was going 10 take her to dinner"
be said. "but things have suddenly
come around In such a way that can
get out OF town at once. I'm likely TO
sail for Europe tomorrow. aud In that
case may not see her again
In fact, he wrote note TO her later
telling her 10 20 10 the Central Depot
hotel and take the room engaged In
fictitious name. She would either see
him or bear from him in the course Of
the evening.
10 poor Kitty. in her new dress that
she had expected TO be married In.
went TO the hotel 10 wait for the man
whom she worshiped with an all alb
sorbing. dumb animal intensity. ! can
fancy her sitting In that room alone.
trembling with fear and hope.
And Allen. that student Of humanity.
thought Of her only a. q poor girl who
was running away from q brutal "a
ther 10 q kind old aunt In Buffalo.
About 0 o'clock In ti,s evening be
wrote hsr note telling her Of his sud-
den change Of mind and pleading bis
hurry a. an excuse for not seeing her.
He told her all about trains and time
tables with great particularly and In
closed q nfty dollar bili for her ex-
psnses. The note was colder than the
inscription on tombstone and Kitty's
heart died In her bosom. She had given
up everything. even her little sisters,
for this man. and he was going away
without saying goodby.
How complete was her desolation
may be Judged by the fact that she did
not leave single written word. even
for him. They found her the next
morning dead upon the bed. She had
taken OF the gray dress and It was
claspcd In her arms as II IL had been
doll and she child asleep.
Allen changed his mind about going
10 Europe during tho night and he re-
ported for duty as usual at 10 o'clock.
The city editor sent him over to the
Central Depot hotel In the matter Of
the suicide OF an unknown girl by pol.
son. I met him on the way.
We found the coroner In charge.
while a couple Of detectives were con-
sldering the question Of the girls iden-
tity. The clerk had said that q man Of
very respectable appearance had en-
gagged the room for the girl. but he
could not give good description of
him or furnish any other information.
This showed the clerks discretion. for
be had known Alien about nine years.
We went up into the room Of death.
Ny heart burned within me and my
knees trcmbled with nervous excite
msnt Allen was perfectly calm. He
looked az the siri and then at the little
pile Of her belongings On the dresser,
from which he secretly abstrscted HE
own note. that was signed simply "a"
The coroner some days afterward &C
cused him ct the tbeft though without
any Suspicion that the letter was bis
own. Allen squeiched him with the
question. 'Tf I'd got the thing 80 you
suppose wouldn't have printed III"
The case was hushed up. and fancy
II cost Allen a few hundsed dollars to
manage II.
the queer thing about this AFFAIR"
said Allen 10 me, is that I shouldn't
have known that she was deceiving me
about her aunt. blame myself for
that II was stupid Of me-"