The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-04-28

as far as possible. And 1 have learned
since that she permitted Fritz to send
small sums of money to her to be spent
for comforts for me. for Pfeiffer as he
grew older grew more and more stingy
and would do nothing at all for his
daughter-ip-law But Fritz never
came here. He was too honorable for
that
after Gustav had served about a
year of his term in prison he escaped
with some other prisoners. They were
chased into the mountains, and those
chasing them saw them while crossing
a glacier suddenly go down into a Gre
vase which was covered over with a
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
the point in the glacier where they
were killed reaches the valley and
melts, they will appear again.
tAs soon as l heard Of the death Of
these men. sent word to Fritz that if /
he chose to marry Lena he would have
my consent. He came to see us, but
1cul WIS llOI SURE lIldl lieI HuSDdDd
had been among the men who went
down into the crevasse. She would
wait a year anyway. and within that
time if Gustav were alive she would
surely hear from him. Fritz agreed to
this and, though we did not speak of
it, 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 l 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 few months
after Lena became widow or was
. supposed to have become 4 widow. for
/ Gustav's father, Notwithstanding the
assurances of his sons death, refused
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 to tell you
secret that is not known to any one
about here. One day l was out on
path leading toward this house, a
path which did not come from Cha
mounix, but from another direction
While following the trail, suddenly. un-
der a cliff 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.
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? l carried the body
to chasm, the bottom which no man
has ever seen, and dropped it IN.
There it lies buried and will lie till
llllS NOliu II DIOhtli 10y SOllle SItdl
% 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 son-in-law knows
: that for some time after they began
: to live together they We're not married
: Nor was it necessary that they should
: why was Gustav where l found
1 him? About that we can only sur
mise. There are many theories The
r one I most count on is that he had con
t trived when pursued to separate him
- self from the others and hide till tn,
1 pursuers had passed. His only safetl
/ would be in going as far as possibl,
e from his former home. Perhaps h,
+ went to America or Australia. But a
! last, tired of remaining away. he hat
I concluded to pay a visit to his home
T He had stolen into Switzerland an,
;. taken a path familiar to him tina
4 would lead him down to this house
q How he came to fall over the cliff is
+ greater mystery. / can only accoun
n for it in this way: He was not ten
r perate man, and when sent to prisol
the habit of drink had already fas
n tened itself upon him. Probably, afte
o he escaped, during his wanderings h
= became more of a slave than ever
And possibly while on his way to hi
= former home he was drunk.
= IA few years after his death his ia
! Their died, and, having no one else t
q leave his money to, he left it to Lena
= She had always been a favorite wit
i him, and, although he had opposed he
y second marriage on the ground that hi
r. son would turn up, as the years weT
% by without any word from him the oil
n man admitted that it was as well ths
she had married Fritz"
IN The narrator paused at this poin
o. but presently continued:
= ''You are the first person to whom