The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-11
THE EVENING STORY
Their Anonymous Letters.
by c. b. Lewis.l

Ineir Anonymous Letters.
: by c. B. Lewis.l
Everybody. including themselves,
SAID II was a love match between Kitty
Rayne and Harry Smedley, and that
SUCH love, trust and confidence were
seidom TO be found. 1t did not all end
with the honeymoon, as a certain
crusty Old bachelor predicted. but when
they had been married q whole year
the doves were still cooling.
Then one evening Mrs. Smedley had
q lawn party. and as half a dozen peo-
PIE PIE sat together. 1t was announced that
the writer OF an anonymous letter had
succeeded in separating a certain man
and his wife. All expressed their sor-
row and Indignation, but host and
hostess felt called upon to go farther
The husband who will pay the
letter should be tabooed from associa-
tion with all sensible people, was the
observation Of the husband, as he
placed his arm around his wife's waist.
NO one but q coward writes those let
tiers, and no one but a coward would
act upon Them
If I should get a hundred anony-
nous letters concerning Harry / should
only laugh at Them" added the wife,
as she kissed him before them all.
Three mornings later. at his office,
Mr.. Smedley received a letter. AS it
woman. he felt quite bit of curiosity
about 1t. He opened the envelope to
find 1t. contained an anonymous letter.
No date-no signature, just the words:
Watch your wife and you will dis
The young husband laughed and
started to tear up the missive. Then
he restrained his hand and his laugh
faded to a grin. 1t was good joke to
send him such missive. He would
carry 1t home at noon and laugh over
1t with his little wife.
When the coward picked him out to
receive such a warning he took the
wrong man. He whistled and put the
letter in his pocket and began his
work. 1t was funny. 1t would raise a
laugh. They would show it to their
circle. ana others would laugh with
them. Five minutes later he was say
ing to himself:
Watch your wife and you will dis
cover
Discover what? He mentally kicked
himself for asking. and yet the query
kept bobbing up. A contemplate cow
ard of a woman wrote that unfinished
sentence. and wrote 1t to make trouble.
II he could find her out she should suf-
fer for it. Discover anything wrong
on the part Of his pure-hearted little
wife! The idea was villainous.
He put 1t aside again and again. and
felt himself almost as mean as the
writer when it bobbed up again. The
forenoon was so long that he left the
office half an hour before IL and start
ed for home. He wanted to show the
letter to his wife and have a
laugh over it, but something occurred
to change his plan
He was within a block OF the house
when a man came out, gave a look up
and down the street and hurried away.
Then, too. as he entered the door his
wife exclaimed in surprise and almost
demanded to know why he was half an
hour ahead of his time. He kissed her.
but 1t was a perfunctory kiss. She
nestled up to him, but he thought he
could feel her trembling
At o'clock that same morning the
carrier had left a letter for her in 4
mans handwriting. She opened 1t,
thinking that 1t might be a bill from
the grocer, and the next moment her
merry laugh rang out.
Watch your husband and you VIII
discover" were its sole contents.
Watch Harry For what? Suspect
him of what? 1t was an anonymous
letter, but 1t was too funny. She felt
like running out and showing it to the
girl in the kitchen. She would go and
show 1t to a couple of her friends and
let them enjoy the laugh with her.
She put on her hat, then she halted
The laugh had died away. Could there
be anything in it? Was 1t possible that
Harry was deceiving her? No, never
She would tear up the letter and never
refer to it. No. she would not. She
would keep it, and they would have
great laugh over it at noon.
She held to this last resolve for halt
an hour, and then the missive was hid
den away and she was going about the
house with pale cheeks and compress
ed lips. At IL o'clock the doorbell
rang, and a travelling clock tinker ask
ed if she had anything in his line to
do. He set an obstinate clock going,
and collected a quarter for his skill.
He was the man whom the husband
saw glide furtively away. You will
always read furtiveness in clock
tinker's movements If the sun happens
to shine on him just right.
So 1t happened that neither letter
was produced to be laughed over.
There was constraint, and both nus
band and wife felt II. They were no
longer natural in their behavior, and
that very fact aroused suspicious.
"She is deceiving me-" and He is
deceiving me-" were what they were
saying to themselves, and the seed
planted by the anonymous letter writ
err had taken fair root. At any mo-
ment during the next month had both
letters been produced all would have
been made plain and the situation
would have been cleared up in ten
minutes. But they were not produced.
They were treasured
The strained relations became pain
full, but what could either do? They
could not accuse each other on an an
onymous letter. They did great deal
of thinking, however.
1t so happened that both had been
engaged previous to their own engage
ment. What did watch your wife and
you will discover mean except
that Kitty's old lover was writing to
her-seeing her secretlX-persuading
her that he could never. never love
another, and suggesting an elopement
to a faraway isle?
The letter carrier was questioned as
to what letters he delivered at the
house A private detective was paid
S6 a day to search the town for the