Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-02-29
YELLOW LETTER
A Faseipatfpq Mystery Story
ByWlLLlAM JOHNSTON
COPYRIGHT s,l-rne eoess-rneRRILL co.
PTER Continual ror From hc throat

CHAPTER I. (Continued.)
"I'm sure" Louise explained, "that
Katherine cared for him very much.
She and father had bitter quarrel
about him, though why, never could
understand, for father had always
seemed to like him. There was some
thing strange about the way his visits
ended. Father came home one day at
noon looking worried. He called Kath-
crime into the library and shut the
door. could hear Katherine pleading
with him and once or twice l heard
both their voices raised as If IN anger.
When my sister came out her eyes
were red as If she had been weeping.
She went at once to her room and did
not come down to dinner. When Mr..
Crandall called that night she came
down to see him, but he stayed only
about ten minutes. He demanded an
interview with father, and father re-
fused to see him. He left the house IN
heat and never has been here since.
For several days Kathrine seemed
much depressed but she volunteered no
condolences and I hesitated to ask ner
any questions. She seemed after a
while wholly to have recovered her
spirits. and I was convinced that she
had made up her mind to let Mr..
Crandall 60 out of her life."
What effect did this have on the
relations between your father ana
sister, l asked, seeking In vain for
a motive that would have caused
Katherine to attempt her life.
sNone whatever that I could see.
Through it all, except for that one
afternoon, Katherine's attitude toward
father has been most lovable. If any
thing it seemed to me that she was
tenderer toward him afterward than
before" ,
do you suppose she has been meet
ing Crandall surreptitiously?'
Louise quickly and Indignantly drew
herself away from me. a.. fsF.. -
"You don't know Katherine as do, F."
she said reprovingly, cor you never
would have said that. She is the soul
of honor. If she was going to see Hugh
she would have done so openly"
"But he telephoned her today
persisted.
That's so,' admitted Louise. "And
I think he must have done so day be-
fore yesterday, too. Some one called
her. and she went out just as she did
today. Generally we tell each other
where we are going, and ] thought it
peculiar at the time that she said
nothing to me-" ~ -
In deep perplexity we both sat.
silently bordering the mystery or
Katherine's action. What could have
made her do it? Was it, l wondered,
because her father had learned some.
thing discreditable about her sutton
and had forbidden him the house
Had Crandall been trying to persuade
her to continue to see him despite her
fathers wishes? Was the conflict in
her heart between love and duty too
much for her? Louise turned to me
and laid her hand gently on my arm.
Harding she said, there is some
deep mystery behind all this that mas
been creeping like black shadow
across the lives of both Katherine and
nv father. In some way Hugh Gran
dali is concerned in it. know it. feel
it. It is something more than merely
the refusal of my father to permit
her to marry Crandall. have watched
them both and I know. I have seen
this mysterious specter lowering over
nv father, gradually crushing the very
soul out of him. have seen Rather
ines life, too, blighted by it's constant
presence. Whether Katherine lives or
whether she dies, must find out what
1t Is. must, before It kills my father,
too. You'll help me, won't you?"
There have been strange Wooings
and strange betrothals in loves his
tory, but never before has any man
been brought to fuller realization of
the depth of woman's affection for
him or her confidence and trust in
him than I was at this moment when
Louise put this question to me. MY
arms went about her and my lips met
hers in one long kiss that, was a
pledge-a pledge that henceforth my
life, my heart, my mind, my powers,
my everything were hers. All my
abilities would be devoted to clearing
this mystery that was stealing the JOY
from her years, when they should be
the pleasantest. But this was no time
for love dalliance The mystery must
be solved. Suicides generally left let
ters Perhaps l'
Hand in hand, Louise and I went
into Katherine's apartments, where
the rooms disorder still told of the
tragedy so recently enacted there. In
one corner stood little open desk.
It's contents bore evidence of a recent
careful sorting that limited very
plainly of generalization, but there
was no note or letter there. looked
next on the mantelpiece, hoping to
find among the photographs and
cotillion favors that Uttered it some
clue which might solve the mystery,
but there was nothing there, either.
My eye fell to the crate below,
where a fire burned cheerily. Here
again was evidence Of generalization
in the ashes of burned letters and the
charred corner of photograph. A
blackened bit of paper that had fallen
through the CRATE before it burned
caught my eye and stopped to pick
it up. 1t was just a scrap of yellow,
torn from a folded letter, with it's
edges burned to fragileness. Care
fully Louise and unfolded it, for it
seemed the only thing in all the room
that might yield some explanation. AS
- O.