Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-10-10

Newbold had been compelled to kill
his wife, of whom he was beginning to
grow a little weary under such circum-
stances, had added immensely to his
remorse and quickened his determin-
alton to expiate his guilt and cherish
her memory. She could understand
why he would do just as he had done,
go into the wilderness to be alone in
horror Of himself and in horror Of his
fellow men to think only, mistakenly,
of her.
Now he was paying the penalty OF
that isolation. Men we're made to
live with one another, and no one
could violate the law natural, OF by
SO long an inheritance as to have Sc
become, without paying that penalty
His ideas Of loyalty and fidelity were
warped, his conceptions Of his duty
were narrow. There was something
noble in his determination, 1t Is
true, but there was something also
very foolish. The dividing line be
tween wisdom and folly is some
times as indefinite as that between
comedy and tragedy, between laughter
and tears. If the woman he hat
married and killed had only hated
him and he had known 1t would have
been different, but since he believed
so in her love he could do nothing
else,
At that period in her reflections
Enid Maitland saw a great light
The woman had not loved her hus
band after all, she had loved anoth
er. That passion of which he hat
dreamed had not been for him. By
strange chain of circumstances Enit
Maitland held in her hand the solu
ton Of the problem, She had Blu
to give him these letters to show
him that his golden image had stood
upon feet of clay, that the love up
on which he had dwelt was not his
Once convinced of that he would
come quick to her arms. She cried
a prayer of blessing on old KirkbJ
and started to her feet, the letters
In hand, to call Newbold back to hel
and tell him, and then she stopped
Woman as she was she had re
spect for the binding conditions ant
laws Of honor as we'll as he. Chance
nay Providence, had put the homo,
of this woman, her rival, in hel
hands. The world had long since
forgotten this poor unfortunate; IL
NO heart was her memory cherished
save in that Of her husband. Hi
idea of her was a false one to b.
sure, but not even to procure he
own happiness could Enid MAITLAND
~ove44hrow that ideal, shatter tina
memory.
She sat down again with the let
tiers in her hand. 1t had been yer!
simple a moment since, but 1t wal
not so now. She had but to show
him those letters to remove the grea'
barrier between them. She could no
do 1t. 1t was clearly impossible. The
reputation Of her dead sister whc
had struggled SO bravely to the enc
was IN her hands, she could not sac
riflce her even for her own happi
ness.
"Quixotic," you say? do not thinl
so. She had blundered unwittingly
unwillingly, upon the heart secret o
the other woman; she could not be
tray 1t. Even If the other woman
had been really unfaithful in deed al
we'll as in thought to her husband
Enid could hardly have destroyed hi
recollection Of her. How much NOR
impossible it was since the other wo
man had fought 81 heroically and 81
successfully for her honor. Woman
hood demanded her silence. Loyal
ty, honor, compelled her silence.
A dead hand grasped his heart ant
the same dead hand grasped hers
She could see no way out Of the dill
fculty. So far as she knew no hu
man soul except old Kirkby and her
self knew this woman's story. Sh
could not tell Newbold and sh
would have to impose upon Kirkb,
the same silence as she hersel
exercised. There was absolutel,
no way in which the man coul
find out. He must cherish his dream
as he would. She would not enlight
en- him, she would not disabuse hi
mind, she could not shatter his idea
she could not betray his wife. The
might love as the angels Of heave
and yet be kept forever apart-b
a scruple. an idea. a principle. an al
straction, honor, a name.
Her mind told her these thing
were idle and foolish, but her sol
would not hear Of It. And In spite {
her resolutions she felt that evel
tually there would be some way. Sh
would not have been a human WI
man II she had not hoped and praye
that. Che believed that God had CT,
ated them for each other, that b
had thrown them together. She wa
enough of a fatalist in this instanc
at least to accept their intimacy q
the result Of His ordination. Their
must be some way out of the dilen
ma.
Yet she knew that he would h
true to his belief and she felt tbs
she would not be false to her obi
cation. What of that7 There woul
be some way. Perhaps somebod
else knew, and thsa there fiashe
into her mind the writer Of the Ia