The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-12-13

Etlt the major was QUICK on MS Tcet
and was already between him and that
lady. This act forced from Mr. JEFF
frey's lips the following broken sen
tence:
II should - like you to feline. f"
Great gasDs came with each heavily
spoken word.
Perhaps this morsel of lace will do
il in a gentler manner than | could"
responded the district attorney. open
ing his hand, in which lay the scrap
of lace that an hour or so before | had
plucked away from the boarding of
that fatal closet.
Mr. Jeffrey eyed it and understood.
His hands went up to his face. and he
swayed TO the point of falling. Miss
futile came quickly forward.
"Ohr' she moaned as her eyes fell
on the little white shred. THE prov
idence of God has found us out. We
have suffered, labored and denied in
yain.''
Eyes" came in dreary echo from the
man none of US had understood till
now; 80 great a crime could not be
hid. God will have vengeance. What
are we that we should hope to avert
it by any act or at any cost?"
The major. with his eyes fixed pierre
ingly on this miserable man, replied
with one pregnant sentence:
'Then you forced your wife TO sui
cide?"
NO., he began. But before another
word could follow Miss futile. re-
splendent in beauty and beaming with
new life, broke in with the fervid cry:
You wrong him and you wrong her
by such a suggestion. 1t was not her
husband, but her conscience, that
forced her to this retributive act
What Mr.. Jeffrey might have done had
she proved obdurate and blind to the
enormity of her own guilt / do not
know. but that he is innocent of so in
fiuencing her is proved by the shock
he suffered at finding she had taken
her punishment into her own hands,
'Mr. Jeffrey will please answer the
question: insisted the major. where
upon the latter with great effort, but
with the first appearance of real can.
dor yet seen in him. said earnestly:
II did nothing to influence her.
was in no condition to do SO. / was
benumbed-dead. When first she told
melt was in some words muttered in
her sleep-I thought she was laboring
under some fearful nightmare. but
when she persisted and l questioned
her and found the horror true / was
like a man turned instantly into stone
save for one intolerable throb within.
/ am still so. Everything passes by me
like dream. She was so young seem
ingly so innocent and light hearted. 1
loved her, Gentlemen, you have
thought me guilty of my wife's death,
this young fairylike creature to whom
l ascribed all the virtues. and l was
willing. willing that you should think
so. willing even to face the distrust and
opprobrium of the whole world, and SO
was her sister, the noble woman whom
you see before you. rather than that
the full horro- of her crime should be
known and "A name so dear be given up
to execration. We thought we could
keep the secret-we felt that we must
keep the secret. We took an oath-in
French-in the carriage, with the detec
tives opposite us. She kept it-God
bless her. l kept It, But it was all
useless-a tiny bit of lace is found
hanging to lifeless splinter. and all
our efforts. all the hopes and agony of
weeks. are gone for naught. The world
will soon know of her awful deed-and
r.
He still loved her. That was appar-
ent in every look, in every word he ut
tered. We marveled in awkward ST
lence and were glad when the major
said:
.sThn dead I
premeditated one on her part. Is that
why her honor was dearer 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 it,"
Yes, ii was unprecedented. She
hardly realized her act. If you must
know her heart through all this dread |
full business we have her words to
show you-words which she spent the
last miserable day of her life in writ /
ing. The few lines which 1 showed
the captain and which have been pub /
lished to the world was an Enclosure
meant for the public eye. The real let I
ter telling the whole terrible truth. /
kept for myself and for the sister who /
knew her sin. oh, we did ev-
erything we could.'' And he again I
moaned. But it was in vain; quite in 1
vain"
There were no signs OF subterfuce in /
him now. and we all, unless l except Dur /
bin, began TO yield him credence. Dur T
bin never gives credence to anybody 4
whose name he has once heard asso- /
ciated with crime.
And this Pfeitfer was contracted 10 4
her? A man she had secretly married 4
while a schoolgirl and who ut this +
very critical instant had found his way
TO the house.
You shall read her letter. 1t was
meant for me. for me only-but you
shall see ii. l cannot talk Of him or
Of her crime. III is enough that l have
been unable TO think of anything else
since first those dreadful words fell +
from her lips in sleep. thirty-si hours
before she died" Then with the in
of great anguish he sud
denly broke forth into the details he
shrank from and cried:
"She muttered. lying there. that she
was no bigamist. That she had killed .