Yellowstone monitor., 1914-12-31
CHAPTER Llv.
The wife.

The Wife.
Again three days elapsed; and il
olth, returning from the double II
neral Of her father and sister, doffet
ner mourning for gown less sombe
and more suited to the atmosphere o
Q sfckroom. then relieved the nurs,
In charge Of Alan.
He remained as he had been evel
since the falling q the thunderbolt-
In absolute coma.
| But he lived. and-or the physicians
hed-must soon regain consciousness
Kneeling beside his bedside judith
prayed long and earnestly.
When she arose it was to answer
q tap upon the door She admitted
Tom Barcus and suffered him to lead
her into the recess of the window
where they conversed in guarded
tones In spite of the fact that the
subject Of their communications could
not possibly have heard them
I've come to tell you something,
Barcus announced with characteristic
awkwardness, 1--WE known 1t for
| three days-ever since the wedding.
In fact-and kept it to myself, not
knowing whether l ought to tell you
yet or not"
He paused, cycling her uncertainty
unhappily.
Il am prepared" Judith assured
him calmly.
You're nothing of the Sort" he
countered. argumentative. "You
couldn't be. It's the most amazing
thing imaginable. See here
"Well?"
"You understand, don't you, that
Alan must never know that Rose wal
killed by that lightning stroke?"
What do you mean"
I mean," the man foundered mis-
erably, you see, he loved her sol
thought-Pm sure it would be best
If you can bring yourself to ito let
him 90 on believing it wasn't Rose
who was killed, but Judith And that's
skating SO close to the truth that il
makes no difference: the Judith Alan
knew and the Judith | knew in the
beginning Is gone as completely as J,
though she and not Rose had been
killed"
After a long pause, the girl asked
him quietly: Il understand But il
It possible you don't understand that
II were to consent to this propost
tion, lend myself to deception which
| must maintain through all my life
to come-Alan would consider me his
wife!"
We'll. but-you see-you are HE
wife. -. Oh. don't think I'm OF my
bat I'm telling you the plain, unvar
nished truth You are Ala1s wife
!. .. No, listen to me. You remem
Der that day In New York when You
substituted for Rose, when Alan tried
to elope with her, and you went with
him to Jersey City, and stood up to be
married by a preacher-guy named
Wright-and Marrophat broke in just
at the critical moment and busted IN
the party?"
'Well?" she demanded breathlessly.
Barcus produced a folded yellow pa.
per from his coat pocket and prof.
fered it.
Read that. It was handed to mo
as best man, just before the cere-
mony. Seeing 1t. was addressed to
Alan and knowing he was in no frame
Of mind to be bothered by kilograms,
slipped it into my pocket and forgot
all about it temporarily, When
came to find it, took the liberty Of
reading it. But read it for yourself. !.
The typewritten lines of the long
message blurred and ran together al.
most indecipherably in Judith's vision.
None the less, she contrived to grasp
he substance Of its meaning.
WHY DIDN'T You WIRE ME-
SOONER" it ran: MARRIAGE TO
ROSE IMPOSSIBLE. REV. Mr..
WRIGHT INFORMED ME- YOUR
MARRIAGE TO JUDITH LAST
WEEK HAD GONE TOO FAR WHEN
INTERRUPTED. JU.
9TH LEGALLY YOUR WIFE
WOULD HAVE ADVISED You
'OONER HAD YOU LET Me KNOW
WHERE TO ADDRESS YoU. HOPE
20 HEAVEN THIS GETS TO You
3EFORE TOO LATE" !.
The message was signed with the
anne Of Alan's confidential man Of
usiness In New York.
When Judith looked up she waa
lone In the room. but for the silent
atient on his couch.
Slowly. almost fearfully, shs cren
, his bedside and stood looking down
ito the face Of her husband.
And while she looked Alan's lashea
uttered. his respiration Quickened, Z
lint color crept into his pallid cheeke
and his eyes opened wide and
'0ked into hers.
His lips moved and breathed q word
I recognition:
judith!