Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-04-27
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
TOf OF O1 y z . - D-T Y NO.S o. y
The One
Letter
By
CLAIMING POLLOCK
Copyright, 1904, by Claiming Pollock


derstandings, put an end to their en-
! gagement and they chose to hold the
wake over their dead love at the tiny
restaurant where it had been born.
! Neither talked much during the meal
! and when either spoke, for some rea-
son not easily explained, it was in a
very low tone The man said, Il sup
pose | had better return your lettersT
There must be a great many of
them" responded the girl, the corners
! of her mouth trembling into a faint
smile.
Yes. In-in three years.
Il shall send yours tomorrOw-that
! is, | shall send all but one l should like
! to keep one-in memoriam. May II"
IF l may"
Certainly. a fair exchange you
! know"
| ClaXton left her at the door of her
! apartment something less than an hour
| later. On the way to his own home he
marveled that he should regret what
/ had happened so little. The petty quar-
rels of the past few months had worn
| dered him Indifferent to their culmina-
! ton. He wondered how she felt about
| it, At all events, the separation would
| leave him with more time-more time
| to work, more time to devote to the
| friends he had neglected since he had
! begun caring for her
In the matter of the quarrels he did
Il.
| realized this, and admired hims If a bit
for the inherent generosity which pre-
vented his holding her solely to ac-
count.
ClaXton reached his place" in.rather
q relieved frame of mind. He opened
the door with a key fastened to,a silver
ring that she had given him on his
birthday and walked straight across
the library to his typewriter Beside
the machine was a tiny cushion she
had made for him to rest his elbow
upon when he was reading copy" He
recalled that it had come wrapped in
numberleSS pieces of paper, each one
| inclOSed inside the other. like the eggs
in Chinese puzzle. That was about
the time that the interest aroused by
his tale of Central American life had
opened the hearts of editors toward
him
Somehow the detective story he had
/ intended 10 begin did not fly from his
finger tips as speedily as he had ex-
pectcd. The first paragraph, after
writing which, he told himself, things
would 90 better, stood alone on the
page a succession of stiIted and unin-
viting sentences.
Not in the mood" he confessed at
last and strolled down Broadway to his
club. The boy mt the door didn't know
him. and when, after satisfying the stu
pid fellow of his membership, he saun-
tered into the lounginS room he was
in an exceedingly unpleasant humor
Parsons been here this EVENING"" he
inquired brusquely of an attendant
NO, sir" replied the man. He does
not come very often now. sir. Married,
believe
Claxton cursed Parsons from the bot
tom of his soul.
"GrahamF' he asked.
"Mr. Graham was in about week
ago. We don't see him more than once
a fortnight"
Funny" mused ClaXtOn. "By!George,
l wonder if there's any one in the
place.
There was. in the writing room
Frederick Ford Ferguson, yOuth just
coaxing a timorous mustache into ex-
isteuce and t~,erated only for'the sake
of his father, Major Ferguson, former
" of the Ninth infantry. ClaXton
would gladly have passed the young
ster by, but he was hailed before he
could regain the hall.
'Stop a bit. old chap. | want to read
you line I'm sending TO a friend Of
mine at Days. Rather clever letter
you know
Claxton tore himself away and went
back home What was Miss Carter do
ing? He would have wagered a hun
dred that Phelps had called and taken
her out Confound Phelps,
The story went more smoothly, slim
ulated by the resentful energy of its
auUuor. rruu 10 UCT0oN urn mcs'r1y
daylight the typewriter clicked inceS-
sanity. When it stopped clicking, seven
pages of manuscript, much marred by
pencil marks, lay on the table near at
hand 1t was a good story, he felt sure,
although there were two or three de
tails concerning which he would have
liked a conservative opinion. I'll take
Virginia out for luncheon and read it
to her" he thought. Then he remeIn-
bered that they had agreed never to
see each other again-v voluntarily, that
is
The day, which began with his rising
at noon, dragged along monotonously.
1t was hard 10 realize that he might
not speak to her over the telephone that
stood on his desk and harder still to be
convinced that she would not call him
up. Toward midaftemOon ClaXton un-
locked drawer and took out the nine
packages of her letters that represent
ed a correspondence Of three years. He
must choose the one letter and return
the rest TO her.
To do this he must read every epis-
tie in the nine bundles. Claxton, in
common with most men who write or
act. was a santimcntalist. and he want
cd that the one letter should be the
dearest of ali. The first that met his
eve he laid aside In the belief that 1t
would prove the dearest Miss Carter
had penncd it when he lay III Of fever
at San lose de Guatemala. your ca
bic was repeated to me at Chicago"
was the m, sSage. "OtherWiSe | should
have been with YOU now l know that
if your illness continued You would
need nurse, and | felt that | could
not delegate To- strangers the privilege
of Attending yol." It was womanly
letter tie In',cr of a woman mature in
Lonrt ana M---m and CMNton nondcred