Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-03-27
A Story Of
A Mystery
By MARTHA v. MONROE

it was absolutely necessary that l
get married. l lived in a suburban
town not far from a city, and the
boys as soon as they had received an
education left 1t for parts that fur
nished better opportunities for max
ing a living. Consequently there was
no one for me to marry. Ned Freeman
remained on the place. but he had no
means and was not engaged in any
business. | wished he would do ONE
thing to get ahead. for | liked him
very much. and | fancied that If he
could support a wife he would ask me
TO marry him.
The Idea Of advertising for a hus-
band occurred to me. | was young
and unsophisticated and did not real
ize that matrimonial advertisements
are not likely to bring satisfactory re-
suits. I wrote out what | wished to
to do some shopping. intending to
mail my letter addressed to a news
paper In the city at the same time.
l did not take a bag with me, and
having no pocket | carried the letter
in my hand. l was so undetermined
about posting it that l carried 1t about
with me while l made my purchases.
Then | missed 1t. Whether | had laid
it on a counter or dropped 1t l couldn't
tell. But my losing it decided the
question as to what | should do about
it, for, being addressed and stamped.
the finder would drop it In the mail.
The next day | looked in the news
paper for my advertisement. and. sure
enough. there it was. | thanked heav-
en- that whoever had found it could
not know from anything on the envel-
ope that | had advertised for a hus-
band. In a few days l went to the
city and called for any replies there
might be for me. | was handed sew
eral. all of which, except one, / tore
into bits as soon as ! had read them.
The exception was apparently genu-
Inc. 1t was couched in respectful Ian
guage, seemed to indicate that the
writer really wished a wife and was
quite practical. He proposed that we
correspond till we should get some
knowledge of each other by that means.
then meet.
All this led me TO place confidence
in him, and replied to his letter Civ
ing him a fictitious name and the
number of a box | had rented for the
purpose at the postoffice.
We correspondent for several months.
That he was an educated man there
was no doubt. | asked for his occu-
patton, but he declined to give 1t. This
aroused a slight suspicion, which | in
dicated in my mex letter. Then he con-
fessed that he was trying to do some
thing in a literary way. He had writ
ten some short stories which had been
published in obscure periodicals. He
was now finishing a novel and would
soon have 1t ready to offer to pub
fishers.
This announcement cast a damper
on the affair. ! had had several girl
friends who had tried to make money
by writing, and they had all failed. l
felt that since | had fallen into the
hands Of n who was down with the
literary fever nothing would ever
come Of 1t all. ] did not reply to his
letter making the announcement for
some time: then | received a letter
from him which was a trihe ~reproach-
full, w%hereupon ! wrote him that
feared he was impractical.
I received 40 reply to this for some
time; then he wrote that he had Sc
cured q publisher for his novel and
1t would be issued the mex spring.
He added that II 1t were a success he
would take steps to make my further
acquaintance: If not. the matter be-
tween us would better be dropped.
Since no reply seemed to be required
l sent none.
: One morning while looking wei a
newspaper | saw an advertisement of
a forthcoming novel by Edward Free
man How singular that the only two
men / had ever thought of marrying
should both be novelists. | was sur
prised. for l did not know that Ned
had any ambition to be a scribbler.
The advertisement described his novel
as a detective story of marvellous in
genuity. 1t seemed to me that II any
story would be profitable 1t would be
one of the detective kind. wrote to
my correspondent to ask what kind
OF a novel he was about to publish
and he replied that his motif in the
story was a mystery. This did not
enlighten me
Several months passed and l heard
nothing from my correspondent. Then
one day he wrote that he would call
upon me the next evening. This quite
took away my breath. At the appoint
ed hour Ned Freeman came in rs l
was expecting my unknown friend. !
must have shown my embarrassment.
for he said at once:
"I'm not going to interfere with any
body or anybody with me-. know all
about your correspondent, for I'm the
man himself"