New-York tribune., 1910-06-12
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR JUNE II. 1910
The Garden of Fate
Continued from page 9

married, anu my disappointment III" CIIo'C
YOU amt going to be; but no one but God
can rule hearts, and sometimes | think He's
too busy to look after all of them.
"Dick, she told me these things lying
there in my arms after she'd sObbed herself
quiet and the little gates that have been built
up between all her WOmanhOOd and me had
been opened SOS she could talk the way she
did fifteen years ago. She told me because
she wanted my advice just as she did in them
other wears. Charlie loves you more than
any other living thing; but in one way, and
that's like great big brother that used to
tote her around on his shoulders, used to he p
her up onto her pony, used to punch any
other kids head that was rude to her, and
used to cuddle her when she was tired. She
wants to keep you that way, and she loves
YOU so much that she would never tell you
for fear it would break your heart.
I'm trying to spare her trouble, boy, even
if it's almost as hard for me to say these
things as it would be for her. I'm doing it
because neither you nor L want to ever
see her cry from sorrow or loneliness, and
that's what life would be if you married her
when she didn't love you the way husbands
and wives must love each other. One must
be sure. It's unsurety that makes divorce
courts, the only businesses in the world that
never f1uCtuate and always have a little
more to do than they can attend to. It's
being sure that makes one man worth more
than the whole world to one woman, or one
woman worth more than life itself to one
man. I've learned this lesson better than
most men. It's the thing which has made
my birthdays blazes on a trail, the passing
of each being just a lap farther toward
the place the woman | love IS waiting.
There's another thing I've learned, that
sOmeway or another haven't made entire
good. l can't understand how; but it's so,
because | think Charlie has met somebody
that has taught her the inside of her own
heart, and yet she didn't tell me that it was
so, or, II so, who it was. Maybe she will
some day, and then you and | must find out
II he's good enough for her. | asked her if
she had met such a man, and she didn't an
swer; but L knew by the way she held her
face against mine it was so. | asked her who
1t was, and she shook her head. | asked her
II he d ever said anything to her and she said
no, and she wasn't sure even that he loved
her enough to have ever said anything.
L thought at first | wouldn't write to
you, but would wait and tell YOU when YOU
came back. Then when | thought it all
over couldn't bear to see you coming home
with your eyes glad to take our Charlie into
your arms without knowing that old con-
dltlons were upset and can't be mended
IN making 1t PLAIN so you can do as you
think best, either write and tell her YOU
know all about 1t and that she's free, or wait
till you can talk to her.
his IS the longest letter l ever wrote,
Dick, and I've done it because think so
much OF you and of her and because it's a
miXup that's got to be Strengthened out.
now 1t Il end, the Lord only knows!
Been hearing whispers around Fez that
Gne pretender army is coming this way
Hope you and the kaid don't get into trot-
BILE with them, because we want YOU both to
come back. Reckon by this time you've
learned to think heap of him. Took me
long time to scratch through his shell and
ma out that inside of his stiff English ways
he $ all man. Give him my best.
1O ours SorrOwfullv,
ROBERT MARSHALL"