The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-09-30
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46S
"Oo unopened" That was what he read on the
little packet done up plain white paper
each end. which lie had just found drawer in his
wfes writing table ITO be burnt unopened"
He looked at 1t in wondering
what contained He had that the little
existed in which had found touched spring
by chance and the drawer had flown held only this lit
tie sealed packet with those four words his dead wife hand
writing There had been such complete love and confidence
between them Casss
ecepaclethat Felicity of
she had hidden away in it.
40 be burnt unopened" casis staring the paper
reading the words mechanically and again Why?
Felicity had him. Why should
such point Of nobody seeing what in himself?
Stirred by sudden impulse he took the little packet and
pressed yielded touch There moth
solid nsidet felt like packet letters Realizing
what he doing he put sharply What right had he
to into what not intended for hmmore into what she
had wished to keep from him?
There the sting.
That she should not have felt and known that everything
had his hands! should
him completely hurt He tried to put the thought from him.
but easily dsnissed pain and intensity
lie sat there with idle hands, arrested suddenly in his
less than month since he had stood by her
knowing his life with
great handful Of loose roseshe favore howerdown the
white coffin had shuddered heard the thud of hard
brown earth that followed What had such horrors do with
her? She fair and young who had
found long who had loved the the
had with silence darkness that her
breast:
days passed nightmare pain and
suppicacn and rebellion was ntolerable; mind and BODY
a respite a breathing
in which he might gather his strengths the
him down to the too heavy to be
Slowly 1t lifted until reluctantly. up his life again.
Knowing that maimed and broken though it must still
lived
Tonight himself through her letters and
1t odd little jumble-the collection Of
hardly our Of her M ewes smared and no c,ncha III.
teeth he took fe after another and laid
he had it, There good in keeping themthe sight Of
them would be like knife in his heart time
stroy all her little gsh than risk falling
hands less tender than his So letters ball photo
graphs smart little diaries begun with much pomp
and ending in few weeks consigned the
after the other until the desk stood empty
pulling the drawers that
thing that Cass had touched secret spring and
1t stood by ITSELF mysterious almost sinister in Its
1t had nothing in with the girlsh de-
stroyed 1t labeled aud sealed though held por
Why Felicity mentioned never have
her of she so frank and careless
troubled She friends with all the world remembered
he had tried to lecture her twice
the she left things lying about but had had
eject And yet she had been careful In
all events She had hidden this packet where
been found in her fe-where only
that 1t found after her death.
spite Of himself wife, Cas-
stills grew Felicity young tender
hearedhad anybody dared goodness?
drawn into something against her something that
did like disclose to him. of which, in innocence
she had probably That was the
only feasible explanation That she had anything him
absurdy improbable
h candid naure spoken every thought
He took the packet and put in the crate with the rest
But the fire was burning low things
consumed tightly tied lay smoldeng
slowly angd fame round it. burning the and
disclosing They letters Cassls had
They slowly the
Casss took the poker to the packet
among He wanted done with and Of
the way. 1t Jared on him.
touched the letters they fell apart and in his attitude Of
stopping could seeing the that faced
realized what he doing he had read line
nachd the sheet from the flames and fell
chair white trembling the crushed in his
hand His beating tumultuously there sound
like rushing could hardly When he had
recovered little thought the Of the let
tes by they were beyond saving Only few
charred fragments which crumbed he touched
eagerly to the sheet he held smoothing out
carefully He had reading 1t His blood
was on fire: he could Everything In
mad confusion. .
When he had he let it drop from his hand to
the ground though had him. He sat quite still
minute staring shadows with empty eyes, caught In
pain his head dropped his hands and he
hid his face.
It was love letter the door, The first words that
had caught his words of 1t was
packet of love wife he had adored had hidden
away 20 carefully her suddenly or no doubt
would have destroyed herself In they should ever
be found she had words ITO be burnt unopened
Felciy-youw he murmured brokeny All the world might
have been false but that she was true
Everything cumbng his He did not know
think believe. He wthed In net full OF I'M
speaabs All bad suffered when she left him came