Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1906-03-22

had overwhelmed him.
Poor little Katie, He felt remorse-
full for every time he had shown her
grave face. She was such child
of sunshine, and she was so very fond
of him.
Almost reverently he opened ner
letter, but for a moment his heart
beat so fast that he was unable to
read it. 1t seemed almost like a
voice from the grave. AT length he
forced himself to read.
Dear Ernest:
Il scarcely know how to begin to
tell YOU all | have to say in this let
ter
In the first place | must beg your
forgiveness for all the wrong | have
done to you that you know of, and
for all that you do not know of, which
is the worst and greatest. Dear
Ernest, it is very hard TO confess this
to you, but l know you will console
yourself, for you do not love me. you
love Lora. Don't shake your head.
Ernest, | know it as well as you do
You have never forgotten Lora, any
more than she has forgotten you
really fancied at one time that loved
you, and so did not give you Loras
messages. | tore up the letter she
entrusted to me for you, and | made
you think i'll of her, and when she
absolutely refused to marry Becher, |
urged her to do it, and told her that
her duty to her family ought to come
before her own inclinations. And
when she had sacrificed herself she
wanted me to ask you to forgive her,
and would not do it. | don't know
why | write this, l did not mean to,
but | cannot help tit seems as if
some one were standing behind me
and saying, Confess, confess, before it
is too late'
Forgive me, too, for breaking my
engagement with you now. have
known since yesterday that whan
felt for you was not love but caprice,
jealousy, perverseness. wanted
you to belong to me, and l succeeded
stedt; and yesterday, at the riding les
son, | gave him my promise, which
had no right to give. So now | take
it back from you, dear Ernest, and
beg you to forgive me if / have given
you pain. do not love you, really
not at ALL only love you as a girl is
fond of her teacher. confess frank
ly that l can only be happy in such
position in life as Hans has to offer
me, and | should be perfectly mis-
cradle as poor mans wife.
Il know / am very wicked and
should like to be better When l am
Hans Wegstedt's wife, l viii be kind
to the poor and do all the good l can.
Only forgive me, Ernest, and do not
despise me. If you scorn me l shall
never be happy again, not even as
Hans wife. cannot help loving
Hans If only Lora might be happy
again, Ernest, Ask your mother to
forgive me, and do you forgive me,
too, Ernest, and keep one kind
thought for your
hdCle Won lOllen.
He dropped the letter and hid his
face in his hands.
And this child, this light, frivolous,
foolish girl, without one serious
thought, had been the cause of all
this frightful misery He threw the
letter on the table and clenched his
fist in his wrath and his grief He
sat thus for long time until the
twilight gradually stole over the
quiet room. 1t seemed to him all at
once as if she were sitting beside him
in all her sweet freshness and lowell
ness. The breath OF violets, which
came to him from her letter, made
the illusion perfect. He could hear
the rustling of her dress beside him,
he seemed to see her magnificent eyes,
which had smilingly betrayed him,
and to hear the sweet. caressing
voice saying: You do not love me,
Ernest, you love Lora; you could not
forget her any more than she could
forget you"
What a riddle is mans heart! The
wrath that had seized upon him
against the dead, when he had read
her letter, melted at these words A
great tear rolled down his cheek, be-
meath the hand that covered his eyes,
and fell on his beard.
You shall be forgiven for the sake
of these words" he murmured to
himself. And he took up the letter
and read it again and again.
This explained Wegstedt's anger.
Poor fellow. Who had ever looked
into those eyes without suffering for
it?
Wegstedt did not come back to
Westenberg again-only once, when
Katie was buried, and at that time he
had been here at the Schonbergs, and
had demanded TO see the doctor. But
the mother had refused this in her
grief, and, moreover, the doctor was
very i'll then, and could not have I'M
derstood anything. Then Wegstedt
had spent some time at bis fathers
estate; then he dotctor had seen in
the paper that he had exchanged into