The Muskogee cimeter. [volume] (Muskogee, Indian Territory, Okla.) 1901-19??, 1909-04-09

/ in the iull thss followed she told
! him something-not all--of :he
strange reincarnations of those let
ters, just enough to startle him and
arouse his curiosity immensely; but
he was wise enough at the time not 10
! ask to see them or ask anything else
about them. Nevertheless he deter
mined to watch very carefully their
next manifestation and use caustic
remedies for their disposal
Mrs. Starr had found that attempts
to destroy those letters were utterly
4 useless, for they always came back,
and, besides. hating and loathing them
as she did they began to exert over
her mind marvellous fascination
! Though she quivercd when she saw
the muddy red blots on her letter,
she cravcd to look into IT. and she was
no more content with mere glance
at its Honolulu postmark and at the
neat blue letter head of the other. so
she commenced TO read them-lnger.
ingly. feeling all the while that with
every word sire read she was driving
another nail into the coffin of her hap
piness.
This narrowing desire TO contem
plate those letters came to her most
often at night, and then she would
rise from her husbands side, steal
over to her bureau drawer. and mum.
BILE away in the dim yellow light the
things the Boy wrote to her before
she killed him.
or course her husband sew her dc
ing this one night. and he went oysr
to her with loving words and caresses
which. strange to gay, she recoilet
from as If they had been blows.
Perhaps that was why Starr fool.
ishly asked her why she was stand
ing there muttering those nonsensical
things In answer she held her hands
mp In front of his face--just exactly
as you would hold letter for a per.
son to read. and Starr saw there was
absolutely nothing IN her hands, but
he did not say so to her. He asked
her quietly to read the letter to him,
and thereby wrought his own and her
undoing
Mrs. Starr read the letters to him
both of them. from the date to
superscrlption--in low. metallic
monotonc-ior all tho world as IL the
real writing wey'i|in her hands.
The letter fin the Boy came first,
and before TWO lines were read Starr
knew--what only few people did
know-that his wife had given her
pledge and her kisses to the Boy long
I ha hA, IA
The Boy said he went down on his
knees in his cabin at night and prayed
10 his God to do to him the worst II
that would only make the happiness
of the woman he loved!" Oh. that
was not all he said. He wrote things
that II Is better not to mention or to
print. And he told OF long, clinging
kisses given and taken. kisses that
had taught him why IL is the world IL
sometimes bartered for a woman's
kiss"
IL was too, too much for poor Starr
too much for any husband to hear
from any wife's lips; and because Il
was only phantom. a memory, that
could not be explained away. it
seemed ever so much the worse.
When Mrs. Starr finished reading
her reply TO the Boys letter her hus.
band had collapsed, and was only
semi-conscious. Then she bent down
and electrified him by pointing with
her finger to certain round brown
splashCs, unseen by him. which she
whispered were Blood. Blood"
Starr gave great cry and rushed
out Of the bedroom. A half an hour
later, white and shaking. he told tie
doctor his wife was crazy, and added
rather brokenly that he felt he could
never bear to sec her again.
Up TO the very last Mrs. Starr con.
tinued 10 find those letters every day
She found them hidden unde" dainty
fragrant lingerie in her bureau drawer
under her pillow nt nlght. and some
times even in the very bosom OF the
agess she wore. In agony she was
7 doomed to read them over and over
again, tn size could read no more.
There are people who 10 not know
: why Starr ana his wife driftcd away
from one another, ana who are n
c..nod to call Starr IA brute
My own opinion Is that Providence
stepped into ;ho lives Of Starr and his
wife and commenced buslnags a it'll,
. 5ocaor than Is his usual custom.
'uJ the saddles. Part OF it all i.
= his: For Starr's sake the woman
would have gone o. her hands and
knees through all the world-so much
! know.