Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1908-08-21

train slackened speed, and he was to
drop off the train covertly when 1t
should pass take the horse she should
bring for him, and ride with her 30
miles through the night and the woods
to the Oregon coast. Then they were
to make Seattle by steamer and train,
and go east. Once east they should
plan further. For one thing, Miss Van
Wyck would thereafter have an es-
cort when she went riding, and she
would not have to endure the depress-
ing rain clouds hanging over the Mes
qualmie hills. When Mrs. Kellen
should see fit to give Kellen divorce,
they would be married. Kellen gave
his wife no hints, but left the blow to
fall upon her without warning. He
wanted his scheme to succeed and to
avoid hindrances, and was therefore
very cautious.
They selected Friday evening for
their departure, notwithstanding the
evil devil that presides over that day,
because Miss Van Wyck would not be
inquired for till Monday morning,
when the children should return to
school, and that would give them
big start. She told the horse owner
of the village from whom she hired the
horses that she was going riding down
the river to Ballerton with a friend
who would call for her at the house
where she dwelt-that she had time
to make the proper arrangements,
while he had not-and accordingly
tie horses were left at her door.
The owls were hooting in the shad-
ows wnen she reached the rendezvous
at the grade-foot, and the river was
growing among the willows. Her
nerves were on razor edge when Kel-
lens train went by and back among
the trees, she jerked her restless
horses bobbing head with aimless and
unreasoning viciousness.
But Kellen did not get off as the
train skurried along putting and flash
ing its lights. Miss Van Wyck sat
waiting on her horse long time, star
ing after the train and biting her lips,
while her heart variously 1uttered and
sank and stood still. The gloom of
the woods increased and was impaired
to her soul. She waited stoically for
an hour, hopelessly and wonderingly,
and then turned toward Nesqualmie.
A quarter of mile above the tryst-
ing spot the Rogue runs between mar
row shores like a mad river, and a
railroad bridge crosses it there. At
the train drew near the bridge, Kellen
was seen to go out on the platform and
look ahead, according to custom of
his. Later the forward brakeman
missed him, and he was found no more
upon the train.
Down the river a mile from where
he should have dropped off to join
Miss Van Wyck with an eager smile
on his face, the river spreads out sud-
denly over fiat in shadows, and here
there was a ford leading back to Nes-
qualmie. Miss Van Wyck rode through
| the fir trees under the moonlight to
this spot, and there she saw something
in the river close to the bank, half in
and half out of the willow shadows.
It was going round and round slowly
in an eddy, and its white face was
| turned up to the moon. No doubt it
| looked CHASTITY, for when she galloped
into Nesqualmie half an hour later, she
was raving and wringing her hands in
a state of hysteria. Her nerves had
been seriously shocked, and as she
swayed and shook in the saddle it was
gathered out of her incoherent moan
ings and self-reproaches that some
thing was wrong at the ford.
Some men went out there, and there
they recovered Kellen's body from the
river; and they picked up the horse
| that had been led for him, browsing
along the road. Afterward, it was
found that a signboard on a post that
stood close to the railroad track at the
bridge where he disappeared had been
twisted half around 1t was thought
that he leaned too far out and struck
that, which was criminally close to the
track; and it is probable that at the
time when Miss Van Wyck was wait
ing for him in the grisly timber with
parted lips and heaving breast, he was
washing heedlessly by, his ears deaf
and his eyes blind, in the current of
the Rogue.
The horse owner and the nurse who
attended Miss Van Wyck through the
fever that followed the hysteria, and
listened to her delirious babble, fur
nished information that patched out
her story. Kellen was buried at Mo-
kuhlteno, where his wife lived, and no
one whispered anything to his wife
about Miss Van Wyck; so the fading
little woman, with the pathos-
charged eyes Of blue, grieved over him
sincerely. The funeral took place
while Miss Van Wyck was delirious,
and Kellen was some time in his grave
when she recovered. This saved her
pain, because she could not have gone
to the funeral had she been we'll, being
unknown to his wife, and having no
recognized ground of acquaintance
with him that would have justified it.
AS soon as she was we'll she resigned
her school and hurried away from