The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1911-12-20

Us to lie greater things Of life have
been conspicuous by their absence ia
his case and he has not been able
to bear up under the sudden shock"
Those clothes. have you examined
themg~
NO said the chaplain. III has been
too dark in the first place. and"
II win look at them" said Mr.. Whit
taker. Perhaps We may ind some
new clew in them"
The lieutenant-commander stopped
over the pathetic little heap OF worn
garments. There were the blouse, the
skirt, the stockings. and the worn and
torn white shoes. The Bible lay upon
them as if 10 weigh them down. and
they had been placed well above the
reach OF the highest tide. The tide
was then just coming in to the island.
The Bible had been opened and laid
face downward OF the clothes. Mr..
Whitaker lifted Il Up reverentiy. He
observed as he did so that his own
pencil. which he had left. he now re-
membered. with the woman, lay be
meath the open book. On the blank
leaves between the Old and New tes-
taments something was written. No
mention of any writing had been
made in the affidavit Of the night be-
fore. He lifted it, turned his back
toward the east where the sun was
just on the verge OF rising, and stud
led it out
DO you find anything?" asked the
chaplain.
There is writing on this page, said
the younger man. Il can just make it
out"
Man" he read slowly, studying
each word in the dim light. 4 loved
you. In one sense. in your sense, l
was unworthy Of you, perhaps. but
not in mine. You alone had my heart
The past was a frightful mistake for
which I should not be blamed. but for
which ! must suffer. I tried you with
the world by your side. The world
was kind, but you were not. You
broke my soul and killed something
within me which had thought dead,
but which you had revived. No power
could revive il again. I cannot marry
LangfOrd, for do not love him. / will
not marry you, for you do not love me
/ viii not go back TO the world now.
I have no desire to do so and l cannot
live alone with you upon the island.
You will not 90 without me. and so /
will 90 first by myself alone. You will
think of me, l know, in the great
world Perhaps you will judge your
self harshly, but I do not Judge you
at all. You did not know, you did not
understand. II came too suddenly
upon you. You cannot forget me. but
do not repine over me and remember
to the very last that loved you.
GoOd-by. May God bless you, and
may he pity me-"
Underneath she had written the i'm
personal name which he had loved to
call her, Woman"
So characteristic was the letter that
that superscriptiOn was supererogatory
thought Mr.. Whitaker. Only a won-
an could have written it. She had
gone out of his life, because with her
in it there was no solution of it for
him, because-how pitiful it sounded
there in the gray of that morning in
that lone island to those two meni-
because he did not love her. And she
had gone out Of il with excuses for
him on her lips and love for him in
her heart. No wonder that, divining
this which he had not seen, realizing
only that she was gone, he had been
stricken as he was.
The doctor arrived presently. He
ordered the man, still unconscious, to
be taken back to the ship where he
would do what he could toward reviv-
ing him and pulling him through this
great and terrible crisis that had come
upon him. The chaplain went with
him, conceiVing his duty to be in at
tendance upon the living rather than
searching for the dead.
The captain, with the other officers,
brought 100 men to the shore. The
island was systematically searched. 1t
was all open. There was no place of
concealment, but not foot of il was
left unvisited. Again and again the
men traversed the island They found
nothing, absolutely nothing. The
woman had vanished and left no trace
except the grass tunic in her cave, the
remains of her toilet articles. her scis-
scors, knife, watch and Bible and the
little heap of clothing on the sand.
All these they carefully gathered up
and took back to the cruiser for the
man.
In the search, and made quite fran
tic by the necessity of it, Langford
joined. Indeed, he would not be per-
suaded that the woman he had treated
so badly, whom he had hunted so de-
terminedly, whom he had loved so
truly, who had rejected him finally,
was dead, but even he gave up at last.
Taking with them the evidence to
substantiate the woman's affidavit and
TO establish, if so be it were possible,
the mans claim, and taking with them
also the bones Of his mother, not for
getting what remained of the faith
full dog. which the captain caused to
be exhumed from the ruined boat. as
night fell the Cheyenne steamed away
to the northeast. followed not long
after by the Southern Cross. The two
vessels went slowly, as if the SOUS
that animated them were reluctant to
leave the gemlike island where they
had CHANGED upon so much that was
idyllic, so much that was romantic;
and where they had seen so great a
tragedy Of misfortune and despair.
Below in the cabin. under the care
Of the surgeon and chaplain, lay the
islander in the frightful throes of a
racking fever of the brain. He bah
bled of the woman and knew not
where he was or whittier he was being
borne.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Resurrection.
The little island lay quiet and still
n