Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-12-16
A MISSING
LETTER
By DONALD CHAMBERLAIN

| Il By DONALD CHAMBERLAIN
My wife, who IL predisposed to auc
tons, was perambulating the stree
one day when she came to dwelling
with a red flag at the door. She wen
in and bought small library of books
1t was brought home and added to on
family collection. My wife took tn
books one by one and busted them all
giving each cursory examination. Be
tween the leaves of one Of them was ,
letter, sealed and stamped, addressed
to James Overaker, in neighborinl
city, which had not been mailed.
was appealed to for On opinion q
| to what should be done with it. ad
vised that it be taken to the hous,
from which It had come This wa,
done. but the place was deserted
then advised sending 1t on its way
through the mail. but since it might
be lost / wrote our address on the
upper left hand corner. In a week II
was returned My wife then insisted
on making q dead letter Office of our
selves, opening the letter, learning the
address Of the sender and returning
it to her say her, for the address
had been written in feminine hand.
Before could stop my wife she had
opened and read the letter.
1.-The bruter' she exclaimed, handing
the letter to me.
The writer was evidently a young
girl who had had spat with her
lover and either had sent him of or he
had left her of his own accord She
wrote that she was heartbroken over
their separation and had decided to
ask him to come back to her and
make 1t up" though Sue-whoever
that might be-had said she would be
fool to do so.
1T looks to me-" ! said. that this
Sue Is the mischief maker in this case
I wonder II she didn't cause the trou-
BILE in the first place.
"What makes you think that?" asked
my wife.
my most cogent reason is your 6nd-
ing the letter In the book. Evidently
the writer was bent on posting it, but
was unable to Withstand Sues influ.
ence. It was laid away for considera-
ton Us to whether 1t should be mailed
or not-and never mailed.
II am going to send it back to the
poor girl and advise her to send It No
man could resist such an appeal"
"Send It to her without the advice"
The letter was Enclosed In an envel.
ope addressed to the location given.
which was the house where the books
had been bought, with statement Of
its finding. inferred that the post.
master had been advised Of the new
address and would deliver the letter &C
cordingly. was right In due time
letter came from the writer Of the one
returned. thanking me for sending it.
Her name was Winifred, and this time
she signed her full name, Winifred
Marbury. She said that she had sup.
posed the letter had been posted. Her
cousin. Susan Fountain, had agreed to
post 1t for her, but had delayed doing
so. thinking she (Winifredl might re
greet having sent it. and the letter had
been forgotten.
smiled cynically.
DO you doubt the poor girls storyr'
asked my wife. l. d..
,. ~ do not doubt that she Is more con
6ding than bright This Sue. insteadhof
posting the letter, hid It in the book.
Her explanation Is faisehood."
Il wonder If that Is SOP Ill write
back and tell this Winifred Marbury
that she has been duped."
She'll not believe you. If you wish
to do some altruistic work find the
man and tell him to find the woman"
'What woman
Sue"
Explain"
Tell him to get his girl from under
Sues influence. No; It's no business
Of yours. Send him the correspondence
II he Is too stupid to perceive where
the trouble lies be Is no loss to any
girl"
This got me into trouble. My wife
started me on hunt for the lover.
finally secured his address. and my
wife mailed him the correspondence.
including copy Of the original letter
The very next day the gentleman call
ness to thank her for having interest
ed herself in the matter. He told her
that he had been wavering between
the two cousins. though he really
wished Winifred. He was convinced
that Sue had acted dishonorably in the
matter, and he was sure be could con.
vince Winifred Of the truth.
Doubtless II he had seen me instead
Of my sympathetic wife he would have
himself to thanks.
you men," she. said to me. ARE
unsympathetic. II it had not |
been for me these lovers would have
never been reunited"
IF it had not been for my discre.
tion." replied. "they would have
been further apart than. ever. Sue
would have got the fellow. and you
would have been hopelessly mixed up
In it."
mot at ALL II had had my way |
the matter would have been Bettled |
ong ago.
l am not in the habit Of holding a
prolonged argument with my wife. for
consider myself incapable Of break.
ng down her logic. l therefore made
10 reply to her last statement When
ards came to the wedding she said
o me:
THAT couple whom l reunited are
'oing to be married. We're invited to
he wedding"
Indeed" ! replied. when does It
ONE offT'
''Next week."
Round Of Pleasure.
"Well," unused six-year-old Harry a.
le was being buttoned into a clean