Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-08-02

hIl--tilI lttit You were 'Il, NY Udi-
ling. what can il nlcan' Tell me quickly.
or shall 60 mad with anxiety. as l near
l. did on the spot this afternoon. Come
here. as you love me. and tell me all.
Darling. what can It be that has kept
you here and So silent all this time. or
did you r. uut a:i come straight back?
No: th,r.' has not h.,n time. The Jumna
SAILED On tie las, day of September. and
have prayed for her safety all these
months. / Vas s. sure my love was on
board,
Oh. II only dare have stopped to speak
to you "A few more seconds The groom
was 80 close behind. But, Tom, you
Seemed not to want to give me your ad-
dress / would not have left you without
It. And now shall come TO you there
unless you come to me. You looked Sd
sad and III, my sweetheart! I can See
his poor face still.
Come and tell me all and let me help
you or my heart will break. You are in
trouble. l know It and must help you
1t is my right. We are In the new Ave
nue. road; you will easily find II. The
house is far the largest on the right hand
side as you come from town There are
fields behind. and our garden goes tho
farthest back-that Is. we have q field OF
our own walled IN with It, and there 10
a green gate In the wall. 1t Is kept
locked. but / VIII be there at o'clock
tomorrow Thursday night. and SO must
you. BE there for my sake and tell ME
all.
i have written the moment got in. /
will post It myself. Dear Tom do not
be hard on this girl II you think her over
bold. for she loves you. she loves you and
would give her life to make yours happy!
Your own true CLAIRE
Twenty eight mortal hours to wait
shall hear my heart beatng-as hear II
now. as / have heard IL ever since / saw
that sad. sad face-until l see 1t again.
When Thomas Erickson came to the
end Of this passionate, pure love letter
he buried his face In the sweet spring
grass and lay immovablc with grief
too great for tears The sounds Of
London louder then than now BOOM
ed and ratified In his ears. To those
Of his soul a brave soft voice was
whispering the last godspeed. while
his own, the more broken Of the two,
was vowing not only eternal con-
stancy, but eternal goodness and an
honest life for her sake.
He could see the steady gray eyes
filed with tears that never fell and
shining into his with the love that
knew no shame. He must never look
| In them again nor ever more defile
with his the brave lips that had trem-
bled. truly. but yet spoken comfortable
words up to the end
| And here Tom lay In culpable pow
erty and dishonorable rags, fallen al
ready to an ultimate deep. So now,
too late. as through the gates Of hell,
must come this message Of angelic
love!
He read 1t again. tore Of the clean
half sheet and, sitting cross legged.
wrote as follows in pencil upon his
knee:
1t means that / am BLACKBOARD and
no longer worthy to be even your friend.
| The Jumna was ten days behind her
advertised time of sailing. and was
miserable. You might have pitled mo
then; i neither ask nor deserve any pity
now. l had vile thoughts Even II
made my fortune. your father would hate
| my fathers son forever-and l him so
| 1t could never be. You would marry I'm
due course. How could you help your
sell? Those were my thoughts. And
| then ! met a friend!
lie showed me the town. He helped
| me to forget. He Won most of my money
| and took the rest by fraud. l never even
| booked my passage. And now l only live
| 10 spill the fellows blood.
| But that's all he did. He didn't dis
grace me. disgraced myself and broke
| all my promises to the noble girl of whom
I never was worthy and must therefore
| see her no more. 1t would be no good
| Why should I insult you too? I have
| Zone so enough in coming to this. Simply
| forget me. for am not worth your scorn.
| Forget ME utterly. l am too ashamed to
| sign my name.
This he folded up. addressed with
his pencil and sealed Gin a fashion,
with the waters which had been used
already. Her lips had touched them
before his. Then he sat where he was
and noted the other moral corpses
stretched upon that daily battlefield
and wondered II any OF them had
wrecked their lives Us wIllfully a. lie
bis. And then he thought OF his f.
theirs white hairs and thanked Coo
they had won to the grave without TIL.
20 bring them there
Then he lay down again and wres
tied with hunger and anguish alter
nately and both together. 1t was even
ing when he left the park heavily
laden with n fact remembered on the
way. He lacked the price Of q two
penny stamp. Not farthlng had h.
left nor n thing to pawn save his lons
silk purse SO ignobly emptled, and tina
had bees his fathers before him. 1
should not go even for this, yet thu
letter must. Then how?
He sat down again OH n bench, To-
he was weak for want Of food, aud II
bis weakness came a temptation tina
was indeed more like an Inspiration, 81
luminous was Its fash. He might taxi
his letter and leave 1t himself In the
keyhole Of the garden gate. Why not
Then she would get it at once-tha
evening
Why not? lie had already given tn,
reasons In the letter itself. And sc,
her he wouldHhc must-if once he 20
as far as that garden gate So the rea
sons in the letter held very good in
deed. And how weak to be himself thu
first to fly In their face! But, then
weakness was his present portion
whereas the temptation grew stronger
and strongcr-oply to see her face ono,
more. only to hear her voice, although
1t dashed him with the rcproaches he g.
richly deserved. Yet he did not Civ,
in without kind of struggle. He had
become q gambler. and a gamblers
compromise occurred to him now.
This was when the yellow Londor
sun was setting. little after Z o'clock
About twenty minutes past several oil
the better favored pedestrians In Pal
Mall were accOsted by a timid raga
muffin with a CHASTITY face who begget
the loan Of penny and was rightly
treated to deaf ears. but at length {
dapper young man In q long bottle
green coat wheeled round with an oatl
and a twinkling eye.
Lend you one" cried he. Il like
that! What dye mean by It, ehY"
What I say. I ask the loan Of the
smallest coin you've got-and your par
don for the liberty"
Pray, when shall I see 1t agaln?"
I'm half minute"
Half a what? Well. you're 4 run