Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-10-09
Love Letters of
Divorced Couple
By William Farquhar PaysoH
CcOntinued from Yesterday

SVerv well then, | will. For once /
will he as real as the warm summer
woman looking in at the window.
Now that everything is irrevocable
and there is no going backward or
forward, but only sort of fixed fu-
urea long quiescence ahead of me
at least may l not rise in spirit for
one swift moment toward that air.
castle which we never built?
If this is disloyal to Laurence,
heaven forgive me, as he would, be-
cause he would not let himself un-
derstand.
If it brings needless pain 10 you,
Kenneth, l am doubly penitent. No
doubt you will say it caps the climax
Of my coduetry-and yet | am going
To write it. Men nor angels shall
not stop me in this last hour of my
freedom. And though year ago [
used this freedom to turn away from
you, now by a curious twist and
freak of fate-so banal and mocking
that l feel as if devils Were dancing
on my heart--I use that freedom to
tgo back to you and give You my
heart, my eyes, my lips in kind OF
astral and ghostly farewell.
No not a farewell!
Come to me, KENNETH Come to me
in the heshi Come and take me away
back home to America-crude, COM
mercial, restless, idealistic, vision-see-
ing America-where they build mon'
uments to the future instead of the
past! Take me back to the country
that has no ruins--the country that
l has not yet collapsed into content
ment. Come to me aud take oaro OF
me, Kenneth, and ] will take care
of you. Come, and together Wen
study the higher architecture. What
a building to build determinations of
character laid in love--toll columns Of
aspiration and strength-~truth and
beauty Towering in stone capitals and
cornices-flres for the heart-windows
for the soul-what a temple we could
build, my Kenneth!
But noW-already II has crGmbledl
The mirage has dissolved. Our one
moment has PASSED
So be IT.
When YOU read this you will at
least admit that You and | have Lad
one glimpse of the light that never
was on sea or land. Through all
i. eternity no man or god can rob us
of that single. shimmering conception
l have said goodby TO you a thousand
times, ] cannot say it again. There's
now no need. l have Silled something
by letting 1t live for an instant The
fiasie has leapt high and gone out.
= and so | can tell you now quite calm
ly, even contentedly, that on Wednes-
day-the day after tomorrow-Lau-
renee and | are to be married.
We've decided on quiet wedding
at the rectory here. It seems wiser
fer many reasons, not the least of
which is the unpleasant opposition If
his family Don't thinlf hn-
cause I have opened my heart to you
the course OF events can by the slight
est possibility be changed. If 1t could
be changed | would not have done so.
That's another of the twisted mocker-
les in our case. But it is woven per-
manently into the pattern. If there
is the slightest shade of disloyalty to
Z Laurence, how much greater he
disloyalty to break my word to him
my sacred promise!
DO you call this tangled ethics :?
: Well, then, let the knot stand If
something in my life did not stand, if
something was not completed, fin
ished, tied-up--if there were not to be
one ultimate something-one finality-
even a final tangle in the skein-I
could not play the game much longer.
So It's fairer to him and 70 me-
yes, and to you-more expedlent,
more rational, more essential to the
peace of mind of all of us--to let the
knot stand tied, instead of under
taking the wretched, heart breaking
task of unraveling it.
For this reason, Kenneth--lest there
be one last, lingering doubt or hope
in your mind, l here set down in
black and white a vow before heaven
that / Will marry Laurence when he
comes for me.
/ am exporting him tomorrow.
This letter goes by hand tn ondon
and will be mailed 70 you there 10
avoid the betrayal of a local post
mark. Yours, SYBIL.
July 25. l9--.
Dear Kenneth:
A curious thing has happened. I
wrote you a letter yesterday which
has been lost. l left it in the office
of this inn where / am staying. 1t
was to be poosted in London by the
landlord who was going there in the
afternoon.
The letter vanished. When he
looked for it, It was gine. How It got
lost / can't imagine. On the whole I
am relieved. / wrote things in it
which should not have written. If
you had received the letter it might
'faye W JIlnds1 i: GU, and / do not HaEt
to do that.
But there is one piece of news in
it which 1 have to repeat. That is
why 1 am writing again.
Laurence and ! are to be married
tomorrow very quietly at the rectory
here. 1t seems best to have quiet
wedding because of the frantic op-
position of his family. He arrived
this morning and is staying with
friends not far from the inn. We are
happy
II you love me enough to be glad
for my sake then I am glad, too.
1t is all for the best If in the let
ter which luckily disappeared wrote
otherwise, 1t must have been because
N felt SO alone. You see he had not
come then. But now he is here and
his mere personality protects me
from all of that sort of timidity and
misgiving.
Speaking Of timidity and the need
Of protection, had serious scare
night before last from a burglar. NV
:. room is over tht front door, and one
Of my windows opens on the roof of
the porch.
1t must have been after midnight.
! was in bed, but not asleep. / heard
A step on the porch roof and SAVIOR
rather felt-the shadow of a man
cross my window. There was no
moon, but the night was bright with
stars and though the shadow had
no definite outline, It was as if a
darkness deeper than the nights
darkness was pressing for moment
against the pane.
Then / heard q hand raise the
window slightly and I summoned all
my courage AS I lay trembling in
the dark said quietly: