The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-05-10
A Secret of the Alps
Was Ii Better Kept or Divulged?
Bv WILLARD MAITBIE

Il glacier suddenly "a down into a ere
vase which WAS covered over with d
thin coating or snow and Ice Since
the creNasse was very deep and they
must all have been killed by the fall
no effort was made To secure their
bodies la forty az tltty years. when
the point In the glacier where they
We're Killed reaches the valley and
melts, they viii appear again
As soon as | heard of the death Of
these men sent word Ia Fritz that II
hr chose tn marry Lena he would have
| my consent lie came Ia see us. hut
Lena was not sure that her husband
had been amnng the men who went
l down into the IieyasSe she would
wait year anyway. and within that
! time II Gustav We're alive she would
/ surely hear from him Fritz agreed To
/ this. and. though We did not speak or
> II. we all hoped that Gustav would not
| he heard from
But the prison authorities assured
! ne that Gustav was one ot the eS
capped prisoners who had been Killed
I aud |, anxious Ia undo the harm | had
done, persuaded Lena not Ia wait till
the year was out, hut To br married.
and we would all three he now com
Portable Fritz resuming his work as
guide at Chamounix The truth is we
needed what Fritz could earn for We
had little or nothing with which 10
procure food
80 they We're married few months
after Lena became Il widow OF was
SUPPOSED 10 have become widow. for
GustaV's father. notwithstanding the
assurances of his sons death. refused
10 believe him dead. Lena very soon
changed from her depressed condition
and once more became light hearted
She made several trips with Fritz To
the top OF the mountain and seemed.
like him. Ia he in her natural element
while climbing.
And n"w | am going L. tell yon n
secret that is not known To any one
about here. one day | WAS out Oh "A
path leading toward this house.
path which did not come from Cha
mouniN. but from another direction
While following the trail. Suddenly. I'M
der q clitf some fifty feet high, came
upon the body OF man
He was my daughters husband
He had evidently been on the path
when, after winding around an incline.
IL had led along the edge of the cliff
above and had fallen lie had died
within not more than n few days be
fore. and Lena had not been really
married To- Fritz Their first child,
which WAS expected. would not he
born in wedlock. according to the civil
law or that or the church
what did ! do? | carried the body
To a chasm, the bottom which no man
has ever seen. and dropped IL ill.,
There it lies buried and will lie till
this world is broken 10y some great
CONFUSION. such rs that from which
the mountains were formed.
But kept my secret That hap
pened tifteen years ago. and neither
my daughter nor my son-in-law knows
that for some time after they began
Ia i've together they were not married
Nor was ii necessary that they should.
why was Gustav where found
him? About that we can only sur
mise There are many theories The
one most count on Is that he had con
trived when pursued to separate him
self from the others and hide ill the
pursuers had passed His only safety
would be in going as far as possible
from his former home. Perhaps he
went 10 America or Australia. Bnt at
last. tired of remaining away. he had
concluded 10 pay visit 10 his home
lie had stolen into Switzerland ani
taken Il path familiar To- him that
would lead him down Ia this house
How he came To fail over the Clif Is n
greater mystery | can only account
Tor il Ia thu. way. He was not II ten
perate man. aud when sent Ia prison
the habit Or drink had already iaS
tened Itself upOu him Probably after
he escaped. during his wunderings he
became more ~ Il slave than ever
And possibly while un hi; way Ia his
former home he WAS drunk
"A few years after his denth his IT.
Their died ami. having no one else Ia
leave his money Ia. he left II To Lena
She had always been Il Iavurjtc with
him. aud. although he had uli,p~pd hei
second marriage on he ground Tia, his
son would turn M nS the wears went
by without any word from him the o'd
m1n admitted that il was aS we'll thai
she had married Fritz
The narrator paused ~ this point
but presently continued:
You are the first person To whom
have impaired this secret. ana | hay,
impaired it To yOu with au object
have at times been Disturbed with an
uneasy conscience as Ia whether |
should have acted aS | did upon the
discovery of Gustav's body lave
told you the story that might ask you
whether ! did right or whether did
wrong"
That" replied lis II matter of
| opinion can only assure you that had
been IN your place | would have
done exactly rs You did e
SHOULD ! not have told pficffcr IA,
secret :"
You would have settled his MUD MS
To his sou being dead Bat through
him you might have revealed the truth
~ those who would better not know /; "