The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1909-04-22

who wrote 1t far away at

)
burned all those fantastic, extravagant
letters the Boy had written her. 1t
was rather peculiar that she found the
red-stained letter which had been the
Boys death-warrant and his last let
ter to her from Honolulu lying to-
gether in her bureau drawer, apart
from all the others, heaped carelessiy
in a compartment of her escritoire.
She did not remember putting them
away among her laces and her bon
bonnieres, but there they were, so she
took them over to the fire little
gingerly and tossed them after their
fellows into the dancing flames.
Then she sat down and watched
them curl and crinkle in the eager,
tapping flame, till the draught caught
the feathery black asnes and carried
them up the sooty chimney flue. Spec
ulation on Miss SHELLS thoughts at
this time is, think, entirely problem
atical.
Popular fancy has it that just be-
fore death and just before marriage
ones thoughts grow rapt-abstracted,
and the faces of old loves and the
faces of old friends come to look in on
one as they knew one in bygone days.
So it is reasonable to suppose that as
Miss Smell languidly reposed in the
glow Of her bedroom hearth, among
the faces that chased one another
across her mental vision was the hag-
gard, appealing face of the Boy; this,
however, is not given us to know.
ho fo1I
was an event of social Importance
and it came off with great eclat. But
the crowds, and the music, and the
flowers. and even the six charming
Vatican shepherdesses with ribboned
crooks, who were the bridesmaids, do
not concern us here. In fact, my
friend, Mrs. Starr's physician, tells
me that all | have written SO far is
rather incidental and almost super
huous. He quite refuses to acknoWl-
edge the connection between the past
events IF Mrs. STAIRS life and what
happened later. Our premises are so
radically divergent that with him it
could not be otherwise. But let it be
plain there is no question at all about
what is to follow
Hardly had the couple returned from
their wedding journey, when Starr
called on the doctor and told him ''he
was worried about the health of his
wife. Mrs. Starr" he said, was in an
unaccountably nervous and hysterical
condition, and was growing more wan
and holloweyed as each day went
by The man of medicine went and
'ncF"d at hc.', found that this was
true, prescribed the usual remedies
and continued to visit her occasional
ly; but he did not learn the cause OF
her trouble till some time had ex-
pired; and, when he did learn, it was
from Mrs. STAIRS own lips that part
of it came, Starr himself not only
corroborating in general all she said
but adding a great deal more.
The first evening Of their honey.
moon, when unpacking her things,
Mrs. Starr was rather unnerved to
find, all covered up among the dainty
feminine belongings in the tray OF
her trunk, the two identical love let.
ters that she had watched burn to a
crisp and fly up the black chimney
was, she could only put it down to a
mistaken impression on her part, and
she made certain to destroy them this
time beyond question or doubt Into
a gas jet she hastily thrust them, anG
a second time she watched the flame
creep over the unwelcome letters
turning them into two charred blacl
curls which fell in broken flakes or
the floor, and there were ground into
impalpable dust by two angry little
heels. That this was not witnessed
by her husband is almost unnecessar,
to add.
When Mrs Starr found the very
same letters in the very same place
a day or so after, a thrill of alarm
chilled her through and through. Will
sickening dread she tore them into
hundred fragments, and threw then
fearfully out of her window into the
hurly-burly Of a winter storm
Although she became positively il
from her scare at the supernatural re
appearance of the letters, she did no
, tell her husband about the matter
but, womanlike, tried to pray hersel
into belief that it was only a mis-
take, after ala mere common, OF
binary, everyday mistake. And thi
was wrong.
In short time the couple returne,
to the city, and Mrs. STAIRS condition
so alarmed her husband that he calle
on her physician. She kept the caus
of her trouble entirely secret, but hoy
often she found and destroyed thos
two mysterious letters during this tim
is not known. Physically she rapid
grew worse, though her husban
showered on her wealth of lovin
care and attention. Her peace of min
and her happiness were fast becomin
utterly destroyed.
One night Starr awoke, and in th
half light he saw the white-robet
figure of his wife on her knees befor
: the open drawer of her bureau Sh
:. seemed to be holding something in he
hands, which she was regarding wit
a look of terror.
What is wrong, sweetheart? Doe
, ANYTHING trouble you?" asked Star
O soothingly.
+ At the sound of her husbands voic
a the woman carried her hands to he
! face and rose. Then she tottered owe
towards him repeating mechanical
- in a low whisper of despair:
..OL 49,, Codi NV