Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-04-03
The Daily Story
A SECRET OF THE ALPS-BY WILLARD MALTBIE.
CopyrIghted. 1913. by Associated

thin coating OF snow and ice. Since
the crevaSSe was very deep and they
must all have been killed by the fall
no effort was made to secure their
bodies. In forty or fifty years, when
were killed reaches the valley and
melts, they will appear again.
LAS soon as l heard Of the death of
these men sent word to Fritz that il
he chose TO marry Lena he would have
my consent. He came TO see us, but
Lena WAS not sure that her husband
had been among the men who went
down into the crevasse. She would
wait year anyway. and within that
time II Gustav were alive she would
surely hear from him. Fritz agreed to
this. and, though we did not speak OF
1t, we all hoped that Gustav would not
be heard from.
But the prison authorities assured
me that Gustav was one OF the es.
capped prisoners who had been killed.
and l, anxious TO undo the harm had
done, persuaded Lena not TO wait till
the year was out, but TO be married.
and we would all three be 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 to
procure food
80 they were married a few months
after Lena became a widow or was
supposed to have become widow. for
Gustav's father. notwithstanding the
oP
TO 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. TO be in her natural element
while climbing.
And now l am going 70 tell you a
secret that is not known TO any one
about here. One day | was out on a
path leading toward this house, q
! path which did not come from Cha
mounix. but from another direction.
While following the trail, suddenly, I'M
der cliff some fifty feet high. came
upon the body Of a man.
He was my daughters husband.
He had evidently been on the path
when. after winding around an incline.
it had led along the edge of the cliff
above and had fallen. He had died
within not more than a few days be-
fore, and Lena had not been really
married to Fritz. Their first child.
which was expected. would not be
born IN wedlock. according to the civil
law or that of the church.
What did do? | carried the body
to a chasm, the bottom which no man
has ever seen, and dropped 1t in.
There 1t lies buried and will lie till
this world is broken by some great
CONFUSION. such as that from which
the mountains were formed.
But l kept my secret That hap
pened fifteen years ago. and neither
my daughter nor my sonin-law knows
that for some time after they began
TO live together they were not married.
Nor was it necessary that they should.
why was Gustav where l 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 till the
pursuers had passed. His only safety
would be in going as far as possible
from his former home. Perhaps he
went TO America or Australia. But at
last tired of remaining away. he had
concluded to pay visit TO his home.
He had stolen into Switzerland and
taken a path familiar to him that
would lead him down TO this house.
How he came TO fall over the cliff Is n
greater mystery. | can only account
for 1t in this way: He was not tenn
perate man. and when sent to prison
the habit OF drink had already fas-
tened itself upon him. Probably. after
he escaped. during his wanderings he
became more of a slave than ever.
And possibly while on his way To his
former home he was drunk.
"A few years after his death his IA
Their died. and. having 30 one else to
leave his money 10. he left it to Lena.
, She had always been n favori,e with
him. ana. although he had opposed her
second marriage on the ground that bis
/ son would turn up. as the years went
: by without any word from him the old
, man admitted that it was as well that
she had married Fritz
| The narrator paused ut this point
. but presently continued:
You are the first person to whom
have impaired this secret, and ! have
% impaired it to you with an object.
D have at times been disturbed with ar
2 uneasy conscience as 10 whether
r should have acted az | did upon the
4 discovery Of Gustav's body have
( told you the story that l might ask you
. whether 1 did right or whether / die
8 wrong"
a That" | replied. lis a matter OF
opinion. | can only assure you that had
n | been in your place | would have
n done exactly as you did"
5 Should | not have told Pheffer M
I. secret"
Y "YOu would have settled his mind a
I 10 his son being dead But through
d him you might have revealed the tiuti
4 10 those who would better not know IT,
o The speaker grasped my hand an
drew long sigh of relief.