The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-01-30

| was seemingly happy and had been
| writing q letter-a letter to me which
| they never forwarded. There was
| no one else by but some strangers
good people whom one must believe.
| She was crossing the floor when sud
denly she threw up her hands and
! fell. A thin. narrow paper-cutter was
in her grasp; and it few into the
lobby. Some say she struck herself
with that cutter; for when they picked
! her up they found wound in her
j breast which that cutter might have
made"
| Edith? never!"
The words were chokingly said; he
was swaying, almost falling, but he
steadied himself.
! "Who says that?" he asked.
| "It was the coroner's verdict"
| "And she died that way-died?"
| Immediately"
| after writing to your"
| yes"
what was in the letter."
Nothing of threat, they say. Only
| Just cheer and expressions of hope
Just like the others. Mr. Brotherson.'
"And they accuse her Of taking hel
; own life? Their verdict is a lie. They
did not know her" Then, after some
!, moments of wild aud confused feeling
! he declared, with a desperate effort at
! eelf-control: "You said that some be-
lieve this. Then there must be 9th.
ers who do not. What do they say?"
| Nothing. They simply feel as you
| do. They see no reason for the act
| and no evidence of her having medi-
tated it. Her father and her friends
! Insist besides, that she was Incapable
| of such a horror. The mystery of i.
| n killing us all; me above others, for
| I've had to show you cheerful face,
with my brain Keeling and my heart
like lead in my bosom"
|. She held out her hands. She tried
to draw his attention to herself; not
from any sentiment Of egotism, but
to break, if she could, the strain Of
! these insupportab,e horrors where so
short time before Hope sang and
: Esfe treyeieh in re2wakened joys. Il
4 Perhaps come faint realization OF
this reached him. for presently he
caught her by the hands and bowed
his head upon her shoulder and finally
let her seat him again, before he said:
do they know of-of my interest
In this?"
I Eyes; they know about the two
o. BIS"
j "The two" He was on his feet
again, but only for moment; his
weakness was greater than his will
! power.
! Orlando and Oswald Brotherson,"
she explained, in answer to his brok-
en- appeal. your brother wrote let
tiers to her as well as you, and signed
them just as you did, with his ini-
tials only. These letters were found
in her desk, and he was supposed, for
time, to have been the author of
all that were so signed. But they
I! found out the difference after awhile.
Yours were easily recognized after
they learned there was another o. B.
who loved her."
The words were plain enough, but
the stricken listener did not take
them in. They carried no meaning
F, to him. How could they? The very
idea she sought to impress upon him
| by this seemingly careless allusion
was an incredible one. She found it
her dreadful task to tell him the hard.
bare truth.
your brother" she said. twas de-
vuteo TO MISS CnaIloner, too. He even
wanted to marry her. ! cannot keep
back this fact. 1t Is known every
where, and by everybody but you"
"Orlando?" His lips took an IRON
lcal curve, as he uttered the word.
This was young girls imaginative
fancy to him. why Orlando never
knew her, never saw her, never"
HE met her at Lenox."
| The name produced it's effect. He
stared, made an effort to think, re-
peated Lenox over to himself; then
suddenly lost his hold upon the idea
which that word suggested, struggled
again for it. seized it in an instant OF
madness and shouted out:
Eyes, yes. remember. I sent him
there" and paused, his mind blank
again.
Poor Doris, frightened to her very
soul, looked blindly about for help;
but she did not quit his side; she did
not dare to, for his lips had re-
opened; the continuity of his thoughts
had returned; he was going to speak.
| "I sent him there" The words
came in sort of shout. Il was SO
hungry to hear of her and / thought
he might mention her in his letter.
Insane! Insane! He saw her and
What's that you said about his loving
her? He couldn't have loved her;
he's not of the loving sort. They've
deceived you with strange tales
They've deceived the whole world
with fancies and mad dreams. He
may have admired her, but loved hel
& mo! or II he had. he would have re