Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1916-11-30
CHAPTER VIII
Entr'acte.


Dawn OF Sunday found Whitaker
still awake. Alone in his uncheerful
bedchamber, his chair tilted back
against the wall, he sat smoking and
thinking reviewing again and again
every consideration growing out OF his
matrimonial ENHANCEMENT. He turned
In Mt length to the dreamless slumbers
of mental exhaustion.
The morning introduced him to n
world of newspapers gone mad and
garrulous with accounts Of the sensa-
ton of the preceding night. What they
told him only confirmed the history Of
his wife's career as detailed by the
gratuItous Mr. Ember. There was,
however, no suggestion in any report
that Drummond had not in fact com
mitted suicide. There had been, APP
parently, but a single witness OF the
felo de Sc, who in the subsequent con
fusion had vanished. No one dreamed
of questioning the authenticity Of the
report. Several sensational sheets ran
exhaustive resumes, deliberately Illus
trated Of the public life Of "rhe De
stroying Angel" II seemed to be an
unanimous assumption that the news
OF Drummond's suicide had in some
manner been conveyed TO the woman
while ON the stage
In the course OF the forenoon a note
for Whitaker was delivered ut the ho-
tel.
The heavy sheet of white paper,
stamped with the address In Fifty sew
enth street, bore the message In Il
strong but nervous hand:
RELY upon the generosity you promise
me. This marriage OF ours, tnat Is no
marriage, must be dissolved Please let
my attorneys Laudcrs. Crinshaw a.
Clark. l4g BrOadWay-kupw when and
where you viii accept service. Forgive
mo II ] seem uneratCful and unfeelug. l
am hardly myself And please do not try
90 see me NOW. Some day hope 10 See
ana thank YOU; tuday-its impossible. J.
am going away 10 FORGET, " ! can.
Mary LadIslas Whitaker.
Before nightfall Whitaker had sat
isdcd himself that his wife had in
truth, left her town house. The serv-
ants there informed all who inquired
that they had been told to report and
10 forward all letters To Messrs. Ian
ders, Grimshaw s Clark.
Whitaker promptly notified those at
torneys that he was ready TO be
served mt their convenience. But be-
yond their brief aud husiuesslille ac-
acknowledgement, he heard nothing more
OF the action for divorce.
He sought Max several times with
out success. When Mt length run ia
ground ia The roulette room Of "a Forty
fourth street gambling house. the man
aGer was Erimly retjeent Warned ly
the managers truculeut aud suspicious
tone that his secret was after all,
buried no more than skin deep, Whita-
ker disscmblcd artfully his anxiety,
and abandoned Max 70 his pet vices.
The newspapers reported Sara Law
as being IN retirement In several wide
ly separated sections II the country.
She was also snld 20 have gone abroad,
sailing incogniso by sceoud-Class
Steamship from Philadelphia.
Thr nlue-d0ys wonder disintegrated
naturally The sohriQuet Of THE De
stroying Angel" disappeared from the
newspaper seare-heads. So also the
mime of Drummoud. Hugh Morton
Whitaker, the dead man come 10 life,
occupied public interest for a brief
halliday Hy the time That the eNecu-
tors 81 Cyr,er pruwmond and the AZ.
torneyS representing his clients began
70 make sense Of hs estate and in
tcrcst their discoveries tiled 10 com
mand newspaper space
nrummoud had appropriated TO his
own uses every dollar Of the small
fortune leftln his care BY hts erswhlle