The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-25


Lnn.t exquisite sympathy. Take Miss
Tuks into the middle room. James. II
Al" returns before | do. Louis. 20 right
ahead with him; you can't 20 wrong
Crnnkite did return while the young
man sat in melancholy solitude.
Her. Is the revolver. sir" began the
detective.
1T belonged To Miss Yalden.- replied
Pompton. i gave IL to her; j showed
hc- how Ia use IL. she was so much alone.
Here IL the sheet from the rai with
the writing on IL. sir"
Pompton looked at the fine. angular
hand He read the pencilled words:
Life il an enforced gift. II may bs
cowardly To keep, II may be brave to
return. what was not accepted and il not
wanted. | am going to be brave
1T il her writing" he groaned. oh.
fear il was all true
And believe it was all false sir
Hold the sheet up to the light-what do
you see?-
Faint erasures at the beginning and
had been rubbed out.
Look closer. through this glass. don't
you SEQ? All. ! thought 10. They were
quotation marks. The writing was q
other person made il q message and not
q quotation. We must find that other
person. sir.
ii.
A Pompton half an hour later passed
out Of the private Office toward the hall
Of the building a dainty and fashionAbly
dressed young woman stood on the
threshold Of the middle room. There was
something incongruous about the way
she hung back as he went on. There was
something akin to her intense expression
and vibrant form about tho way she
sprang impulsively forward.
Mr. Pompton,' she cried, In q voice
singularly rich and full. Il am a FRIEND
indeed: don't you need me?'
He caught the extended hands. He
gazed into the strained white face. There
were tears in those great black eyes that
spoke the words unsaid.
Yes. Miss Tuke.' he answered. Il
have need OF the friend who was Eleanors
friend must know ALL
AMP She shook her head mourn
fully. Did poor Eleanor know alp She
thought she did: therefore she died.
she was murdered
Yes, by disease; she did not want you
to know. II had been the terror OF her
life. the quick consumption that had
carried Of her young mother like thief
in tho Eight.
-She told me the last time saw her.
Just before went of into writing quarters
in the mountains where remained until
my story was done. I thought as left
that the shadow OF death was on her face.
1t was there. cast by her own morbid
reflections. She thought to save you:
could you not read between the lines of
her rne@sage?'
But the quotation marks?' gasped
Pompton.
They had passed out into the street
She was leading the way over the crossing
Perhaps the stout policeman who helped
her thread the moving labyrinth Of cart
cab and car noticed how the little glOved
hand trernbled But &c was firm and
caressing when for a moment on the
further side che paused to lay IL lightly
OH Pomptons arm.
You mean that one would not use
anothsr's words in such supreme crisis.
OF course not You poor fellow. how tho
apparent discrepancy must have tor
tured you.
But think for a moment. Haven't
you seen her. as | often have, even in
the midst Of n talk. step to her desk and
jOt down on the pad a passing thought
All. my friend. we poor writers live life
within our lives. the life Of the creation
of our fancies They are ever present,
dumb souls demanding 20 be vivifed.
Eleanor was continually writing: she
wRq continually thinking Of what shs
would write That sentence was her
very own. bat put by her IN the mouth
Of o ne ~ her characters. 1ts application
20 her own stress fixed and held her.
she would use ~ for her own case.
hut IL mg"' seem her own. ~ H. was her
own Therefore. n "a you say IL was n
quotation marks, she rubbed them out.