The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-04-14


|ielapsed. He came up painting from
ithe violence Of hts exertlons.
Y have sent the cutter back for the
Surgeon i told the men to row for;
Their lives j gave the midshipman
I'm charge an account OF what we had
found and begged the captain to send
parties ashore to search the island.
What OF the. man q d. u ! 4! :; y /.
HE breathes STILL said the chap
lain. Il should think he was IN some
kind otsyncope. His heart evidently
was affected. He has had no prepa.
~ ton for such violent strains. The
things which are usual and ordinary
with US and which, 1 take 1t, fndurate
JUS to the greater things Of life have
been conspicuous By their absence In.
his case and he has not been able
70 bear up under the sudden shock
Those clothes, have you examined
them?" .fiils1 s. !,si.. 5'5l 4; q
~ no. said the chaplain. Ut has been
TOO dark In the FIRST place, and"
y Will look at them, & said Mr.. Whit:
taker. Perhaps. We may fad some
new clew in Them &, = X X
The Observation-Disclosures 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 Ito 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 on the clothes. 4 Mr.
Whitaker lifted It up reyerently. 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 ties.
taments something was written. No
mention Of, any writing had been
made In the affidavit Of the night be.
Tore. He lifted IT, turned bis back
toward the east where the sun was
lust on the verge OF rising. and sthd.
led It out. ~ V 7f'iI55f
b, DO you find anythIns," asked the
chaplain.
There Is writing on this page, 'ssaid
the younger man. Il can Just make It
OUT z. 6 4 ~. -
Man." he read slowly, .studying
each word In the dim light, Il 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, . tfrightful mistake for
which ! should not be blamed, but for.
which ! must suffer. ] tried you with
the world by your side. j The world
was kind, but; you were not. You
broke my soul and killed something
within me. which, / had thought dead,
butwhich you had revived. No power
could revive It again. u cannot marry
ll.angford, for l do not love hin. 4 VIII,
not marry you. for you do notioye rmeS
y VIII not go back to, the world now.
haye'no desire to as 50 ;and I ccanhot
I've alone with you upon the island,
sP9g VIII not? go without me. !. and, SO 1
wilf go first by myself alone Yo gu viii. \
think. Of me, I know, ii the great, great
world Perhaps you, viii Judge Your.
self ,harshly, but do not Judge. 3 Vol
at iaH, You did not, know, you did mot
understand. It came istoo 4 suddenly,
upon you, You cannot, forget me, but
do3not repine over me and remember,
70 the very last that Illloyedi u,you.9
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"
y So characteristic was the letter TINT
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 1t there was no solution Of It for,
him. because-how pitiful.s 1t sounded
there In the gray Of that morning in
that lone island to those two men!-
because he did not love her. And she
had gone out Of It with excuses for |
him on her lips and love for him IN |
her heart. No wonder that, divinlng
this which he had not seen, realizing
only that she was gone, he had been |
stricken as he was. 81 l75.9Sl
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 reyiy.
Ing him and pulling him through this
great and terrible crisis that had come
upon him. The chaplain went with
him, concelving his duty to be in at.
tendance upon the living rather than
searching for the dead.
fEThe captain. with the other officers, 1
brought 100 men to the shore. The
island was systematically searched. Ii
was all open. There was no place Of
concealment, but not a foot Of It was
left unyisited. Again and again tho
men traversed the island. They found |
nothing, absolutely nothing. The
woman had vanished and left no trace
except the grass tunlc 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