The Prescott daily news., 1907-11-20

I pictures spread out on a table in front of him. The features were , hers, indubitably, but for the rest He broke into discordant laughter Alonzo Ditrich was a connoisseur-a beauty worshiper--a finished amar etto--a voluptuary. His consternation upon beholding the photographs of his present inamorata, stripped of her apparently ravishing charms, and almost pitiable in their poverty of them, was easily imaginable.
 That night ,Merriwether came home from the ofice earlier than usual. He found Fedora seated on the front yer anda, a vision of radiant loveliness that almost hurt his eyes with its matchless grandeur. Her throat, un- der its snare of laces and chiffon, ap- peared sots and creamy and delicious ly palpitanA The sentient lines of her long, fall figure went to his head for an instant of illusionment. Then he swiftly smothered smile as he ! recalled the unsparing delineation of those snapshots. They ought to be in Ditrichs possession by now; he. had been very careful to have them | delivered safely and anonymously from friend And Alonzo was the very sort to regard person in this humane" capacity as one-and ask no further questions.
 You have quite made up your mind, my dear to leave for the sea shore tomorrow night?" he asked of his wife abruptly.
 Quite. My nerves have gone to every point of the compass, and l feel as though l shall never regain my strength in town" The pretty red lips quivered wistfully, and the crimson blood splurged darkly to her cheeks. drowning completely the fainter touches of rose, so artistically applied.
 Do you wish me to go with you, Fedora?" Bobby turned and faced her suddenly; the question went down | into her heart like leaden plummet For an instant she quivered all over; then the muscles of her body settled into stone-like rigidity.
 "It-it really isn't necessary, Bob by. Besides, your business"
 "Of course, if you think you can manage without me"
 Yes, yes," she interposed, trifle too hastily.
 The next morning he went down town without seeing his wife. At luncheon time he came home prompt. ly, to learn from the maid that her mistress was quite i'll.
 Bobby Merriwether repressed a smile-with a breaking heart. After all. he had loved her as he should never care for another woman, and the death of his love was far harder than the cessation of her life could have been. When he had sufficient ly controlled himself, he went to his wife's apartments to make inquiries He found her in a darkened room with her head and eyes bandaged. The nauseating odor of valerian drift ed out to his nostrils even before he had pushed open the door, He should never forget it to his dying day.
 Fedora" He called her name quietly. expressionlessly.
 "Oh Bobby, Bobby!" she walled I've gone all to pieces. I can't leave you-I cant bear to let you out of my sight" She clung to him with the desperation of a lost creature her fingers were like ice, her face ashy An involuntary twinge of pity stirred Merriwether's heart but he smothered 1t in its incipiency And as he sat looking down upon her miserable. agonizing features-the woman he had worshiped and lost utterly-a shrieking joy took posses sion of his soul, and he revelled in his revenge
 He stald with her till she slept and he was at liberty to steal into 1 the adjoining room and search the i contents of her desk and waste-bas ket. The tell-tale pieces were there just as the others had been, and he | gathered them up cautiously anC slipped downstairs to his study lock ing the door behind him. He fitted them together at last, after many te dious attempts, and was rewarded with this result:
 My Dear Little Girl: l am sorr, for you, of course, and I hate like tho fevil to cause you pain. but have discovered Gin time to save you) tha my love Is not of a nature to endure