Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1905-08-29
"HER ELOPEMENT.
BY BARRY PAIN.

]
hall. II was addressed to him In his
wifes handwriting He took 1t into
the library with him, selected a com
Portable chair in a good light and adj
justed his reading spectacles. Here
followeth the letter:
my dear George, | have eloped. II
say it in this plain and direct way
without periphrasls and without break
ing it to you gently it is because you
must for some time past have been ex-
pecting something of the kind. / credit
your intelligence with that
1--WE have been married ten years,
and, as you pointed out the other day,
we have never exchanged one angry
word with each other. Somehow that
seems to me to speak for itself. The
dead level of decency has never been
disturbed. You, as a correct and ortho-
dox solicitor regard this with intense
satisfaction. / confess that l do not.
TO me the dead level has become-well,
pretty deadly, It sounds perhaps an
exaggeration, but / almost wish that
you had on some occasion completely
lost your temper with me and used me
violently. Perhaps it would have been
better still If you had permitted me
to lose my temper with you. You new
err did. Your discretion and tact are
beyond all praise. At the same time
they have proved fatal to the woman
who is your wife. have been through
ten years of it. The time is up
. There is really a good deal of bro
ken contract about it on both sides.
Ten years ago l was pretty and you
we're romantic. 1t was understood be-
tween us--tacitly, l admit-that this
kind Of thing would continue. 1t has
continued. At the present moment ]
am quite well preserved and you are
solicitor and we never exchange an
angry word. Nor do we ever exchange
a word of affection which could be
called hysterical or idiotic.
THE fact that for the better part
of ten years l have been acting part
magnifcently. have acted the part
OF housekeeper so splendidly that at
times | have deceived myself and be-
lieved that | really did take an interest
in the tradesmen's books. Perhaps
the self-deceit went further than that.
deceived myself into believing that
really enjoyed the portentous and eS
tremely dull dinners that we give every
month. l deceived myself into beliey-
ing that our well regulated and rather
somnolent affection was the placid hap
piness of married lovers. But all the
time romance has been alive in me and
the flame on the altar is not yet burned
out. (My poor George, what on earth
will you make of that sentence? Meta
phor always did 'muddle you) The
fame will not burn forever. One gets
older and older. The cold night is
coming. / have an hour still to enjoy.
"All this came to me after you had
left for the office this morning. You
will never know how very nearly
dashed your silk hat from your hand,
kicked il across the hall and went into
Mysteries. That hat had somehow be-
come the symbol of my ugly, we'll
groomed. respectable life / went into
the kitchen and gave the orders Il was
able to get the red nlullet after alb
and then l went upstairs and packed.
| have told the servants a plausible
story and you may be able to save
scandal If you back it. Really, there
is nothing to be surprised about Civ
en- gray monotony and romantic
woman and another man. what else
can he expected?
And now you ask who the man is.
Your eye flashes back over your visit
inc list. Which Of the men that have
eaten your bread and sour salt at your
portentous dinners can have done this
treacherous thing? You may make
your mind easy. George. There is no
man in the question. l have lately
come to the conclusion that men are
good deal overrated. / nm clipping all
by myself and ! think it win be per-
fectly beautiful I need not worry
about money. My own e200 a year
will not give me the carriage with two
fat horses and the big house and the
portentous dinners bat / have grown
TO value these things very little. Two
hundred pounds viii be quite enough
for me BY the time that you get this
lette~ l shall be in Paris. l shall not
write another letter, but you shall
know my address from time to time.
This will facilitate the work Of the
private detectives if you are idiot
enough to waste any money on them.
"And, seeing that I go all alone, per-
haps it should not be called an elope-
ment, but simply a holiday And if it
is just a holiday it may one day be
over and then / may return to work
again. / promise nothing"
The letter was signed with her chris
tian name. The man who had read it
meditated for some time and then rang
the bell.
Look here" he said to the man who
answered it, "there is some red mullet
for dinner tonight l wish you'd just
find out from the cook how she means
to do IL. There should be wine in the
sauce-some port. Tell her so. She
probably knows. but | want to make