The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-11-28
Copyright. 1905. by ]. b. Lippincott
company All rights reserved

letters copied in the Augusta papers
yesterday"
As | heard her words my heart seem
ed to cease %pulsation. l had never
known that they had seen these let
tiers, for they had not spoken Of them
before, probably because they did not
want me TO see them. My face grew
scarlet, and | was thankful that the
room was gloomy and dark.
Yes. Ellen" he said. even some of
our own people laugh at us when they
get rich, s o we can't expect our enc
mics to do less. Have you got the pa
per, my dear? l had to laugh over that
last description of what we had come
to-. 1t was very, very funny"
Funny! Oh, father, to think that
you can see anything funny in such
misery as he depicted. The writer
does not see with the eyes of a gentle.
man or else he is blinded by prejudice
or prosperity. How | should loathe to
be such a man! did not want you TO
see this last letter, father, so burnt
the paper. 1t was too true. too true!''
PhN NiiCb dilh L paw utI eyes iii WIFI
tears.
She laid her book aside and went to
the window to mend a rent in the lace
curtain, but ! thought more to hide
her feelings from US. 1.-THE writer
does not see with the eyes Of a gen
tleman." With that one sentence she
had shattered to pieces every argu-
ment l had used to myself that day
In the room. She had not made use
OF any choice rhetoric, such as | had
used to describe her, nor did she study
the effect Of her phrasing, but with
n natural sentence, spoken from the
heart, she seemed to paint me as i
was or as she would always think OF
me after this. l realized how far my
ambition had carried me and how low
my literary instincts, as l had thought
them then, had sunk me. In the re-
action / saw myself as others would
see me. and in my remorse l believed
that l had sacrificed her for some EN-
pOrary advantage In my profession.
And I had fancied that she would I'M
derstand, forgetting that her scale Of
honor and truth was as far above mine
as heaven Is above earth. In the ST.
lence that followed l suffered a life
time Of ordinary humiliation. To be
unknown and yet denounced was like
being alone with truth. My identity
should be hid no longer, and / resolved
to tell her that it was I she had de-
nounced. As low as | seemed at that
moment, I was not so low as to take
her hand until l had confessed all.
The past month rose before me, and
I asked myself If I was indeed n gen
tleman measured from their stand
point. At any rate, 1 could not remain
one and be silent.
The colonel crossed the room and
passed out into the hall. I got up and
stood leaning on the back of the chair
In which l had been sitting.
Miss Ellen" l said, ~ have some
thing important to say to you. 1t is
not what you think" for a panied ex-
preston came into her face. at is a
confession I have to make"
eyes, Mr.. Palmer" she said and
turned from the window to face me.
The sun had come from behind a bank
OF clouds and crimsoned the checkered
panes OF glass. and her hair, catching
the rays that filtered through them,
framed her In n halo and to me gave
her the appearance OF a saint. Her face
was pale, and her long eyelashes were
fringed with tears.
Miss Ellen" | said softly, ut was |
who wrote those letters"
For n moment she did not speak. and
when she did her voice seemed passion
less.
Then 1t was you. after ALL" was
what she said. II had refused to en-.
terrain the thought ever until you
yourself confessed II. Even now il
seems too horrible TO believe. And |
stopped speaking to my best friend
merely because she half layfully sug-
gested that 1t might be you" She said
this more to herself than to me.
"Why did you not tell this to me be-
FORE | said, land l would have ex-
plainedf'
why did | not tell your she asked.
DeT voice DTcdhlub Will anguish Dc
cause | thought you were a gentleman
and you were our guest. 1t would have
been an insult to have mentioned 1t.
Such a suggestion would have been a
reflection on him you ridiculed and on
me, whom you would have made be-
lieve you loved had you dared to speak
the lie upon your lips"
"Love you" I cried. IL would die for
you"
"It is the only way you could ever
prove ii now" she said. "Oh." she con
tinued. IF you had only leveled your
rldlcule at me alone. But father. poor
old father. / am glad he will not see
that last letter. He would hardly think
that one funny"
She looked at me. and her eyes sud
denly seemed to blaze with scorn and
contempt.
Yes. I see Il all now. and the won
a, ~ n knenrn waa