The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1905-04-13

save for one intolerable throb within.
| am still SO Everything passes by me
like a dream She was so young. seem.
ingly so innocent and light hearted.
loved her! Gentlemen. you have
thought me guilty Of my wife's death.
this young fairylike creature to whom
| ascribed all the virtues. and | was
willing, willing that you shonld think
So willing even to face the distrust a nd
opprobrium OF the whole world. and so
was her sister. the noble woman whom
you see before you, rather than that
the full horror of her crime should he
known and n name so dear be given M
to excavation. We thought we could
keep the secret-wc felt that we must
keep the secret We took an oath--in
| French-in the carriage. with the detec.
tlves opposite us. she kept it-God
bless her! | kept It, But II was all
useless-a tiny bit of lace Is found
hanging to a llfeess splinter and all
our efforts, all the hopes and agony OF
weeks. are gone tor nnught. The world
/ will soon know of her awful deed-and
l.
He still loved her. That was appar.
ent in every look. In every word he ut.
tered. We marvclcd in awkward 81.
lcnce and were glad when the major
said:
"The deed. as take 1t, was an un.
| prcmcditatcd one on her part. Is that
! why her honor was dcurcr to you than
| your own, and why YOU could risk the
reputation If not the life of the woman
/ who you say sacrificed herself to itI'
Yes, it was unprecedented. She
hardly realized her act. II you must
| know her heart through all this dread.
| full business we have her words to
show yOu1words which she spent the
! last miserable day of her life in writ.
| ing. The few lines which | showed
| the captain and which have been pub.
! lshed to the world was I'M Enclosure
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 cOnldw And he again
moaned. Put it was In vain: quite In
vain'
There were NJ signs of Suhterfuge in
him now, and we all. unless | except Dur.
bin. began to yield him crcdencr Dur.
bin never gives credrnce to anybody
whose name he has once heard ilsso
cinted with crime
"And this Pfeirfrr was contracted TO
her? 4 man she had secretly married
while schoolgirl and who mt this
very critical instant had found his way
to the house,.
you shall read her letter. II was
meant for me. for me only but you
shall see It, 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 lie sud
denly broke forth into the details he
shrank from ana cried:
"She muttcrcd, lying there, that she
was no bigamist. That she had killed
one husband before she married tho
other. Killed him In the old hous,
and by the method her ancestors haC
taught her. And |. risen on my elbow
/ listened, with the sweat oozinS from
my forehead, but not believing her, oh
not believing her, any more than any
one of you would believe such words
uttered in Il dream by the darling o
your heart. But when, with Ions
drawn sigh she murmured. Murderer.
and raised her flsts-tlny fists, hand!
which | had kissed thousand times
and shook them in the air an awfu
terror seized me, and sought to grnsI
them and hold them down, but wal
hindered by some nameless inner rccol
under which could not speak o
gasp or move. OF course, 1t was SOM
dream horror she was laboring under
nightmare of unimaginable acts ant
thoughts. but IL was one to hold M
back; and when she lay quiet agail
and her face resumed its old sweetness
in the moonlight, | found myself star
ing ut her almost as IL 1t were true
what she had said-that word tina
awful word which no woman coul,
use with regard to herself, even II
dreams, Understanding, an ech
from the dscordant chord in our tw
weeks married life, rose like the con
iirmation of doubt in my shocked AM
rcbellious breast.
From that hour till dawn nothing Il
that slowly Frightening room sceme
real, not her face lying buried in IT
youthful locks upon the pillow, not til
objects well known and well priced b.
, which we were surrounded-not my
! self-most OF all, not myself, unless tn
2 icy dew oozing from the roots of m
t lifted hair was real, unless that shape
t fearsOme, vague, but persistent, whic
lowered in the shadows above Us
: drawing line Of eternal separatio
l between me and my wife, was thin
which could be caught and strangle
= and Oh, | rave! | chatter like
mailman but did not rave that nigh
r Nor did | rave when, In the brigh
= broad sunlight, her eyes slowly unclo'
h ed and she started to see me bendin
so near her. but not with my usual kis
r or glad good morning. l could ne
r question her then; | dared not. tn
t smile which slowly rose to her lip