The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-07-11
AETIR R0M nK
sy sUs&N : cL4GETT.

see zer and a. - srso6 = kzr sf-1zg
r1cu se wa eZy alive % ~ housIy
camssr< MzrEkz- Ne I'D rGe zcEics
III E1xzesss1n q ahah61ess-
He lad seer n the engzrT = Ezsk
zzd had, "A Fet- s1Ezd 10 opportunity
fsr Ehe question ke hzz enus to ask
A he wzxzsf fsr her he Es1zered
Way
B1< - was zsxeruEzed 70 know 10
a1gHx where Ne sEced vas Z possf-
DE she had ehzzx=dE He Squared hss
shoulders and threw hack hts had
Va Tzzx was oax of the Question
Ther correspondence lad fzlrsEed oc-
ezsiszzlIy. b1G lad slEzTs been -
EEnzt- sTen zets< the TRIO or three
AMAZING letters h.e lad received from
her seTsrzl years before
He rux kts hand n bis pocket and
drew CUT = EeEBwnra letter and was
rsa1zg & a. shs cane into the roo1
That was The first he said I
rsczfved 4 n AthenA TIE others
reached ne vile / vas N Cairo
There were f1r Il al. and tk~y about
spoiled ny trip They were rsrzIk-
: abe letters. Eleanor. FenzrkzbEs from
the fact that they were written By 50
eoEd a woman az you ! have read
them every day ard every day have
wondered a THE tzbscfIe reply I sent
ySz from Roze-
Whatever the reason, I have long
regretted that letter. and hope yOu
VIII h@Efsve me when I say It is my
dearest hope that yoa viii consent to
Be my Wife
She did HoG answer at once and her
rspgY vas mt direct when il came.
7 would Ike 20 tel you a story.
Judge Norton abe said
1T commenced a good many years
ago. this story Of a man and a woman
ran It's way through friendship and
ended. as - usual In such cases. with
enc Of them becoming somewhat more
than = friend The man. II was. When
he was serious, she laughed. Not in
ridicule. but because. although she
cared IN q way. II was not enough to
make marriage Desirable The man
went away. but their correspondence
did not take the place OF bis COM
partnership and each time he returned
she felt she had grown little nearer
to him, but could not bring herself to
let him see what she knew he wished
to know, although he said little.
The odd part Of the story, your
ID kn
thought the man might change At
first she was sorry this was 20. but
as her home life. always difficult, now
became intoIerable, she turned to him,
never doubling an immediate re-
Spouse. Made desperate by condL
tons she could not bear, she asked
him to come to her. !
1T was heart letter, but It brought
no reply. Many weeks later. she re-
ceiyed two or three lines. They told
her he was on his way east.
She watched for him. but the days
passed without further word. Then a |
line came to her from his old home. /
He had passed her by, the first time in /
all the years OF their friendship, and /
she was in trouble. Yet so dulIed was I
she by wretchedness that even then
she did not doubt him.
Their last evening together was /
nightmare for her to remember. Her !
coldness had chilled him, else he |
would have spoken. OF this she was !,
sure. She must tell him plainly she /
cared. Then she committed the folly |
Of her life. She wrote to him. Not
one letter. but several. They were i
all love letters. That much she knows.
What she said, she has mercifully for
gotten. Then one day came letter
from Rome,
"She laughed when she read It i
What has come over the man. she
asked herself When realization came
to her she was numbed, frozen by
what she had done The thought that
she had told him she cared bit so
deeply into her pride there had to be
q reaction.
AS Judge. you. yourself, have
been called upon to decide nice ques-
lions, questions where the distinctions
are subtle. Was the woman in the
wrong? She thinks not. But she
can glimpse the mans amazement as
he read those letters; his feelings,
that even II his actions were confirma-
tory until those last days, she had no
right to attach importance to them
until he had said the words that
would support them.
He has come back and now asks
in plain words what he asked many
years ago when they were young to-
gether-what he asked by implication
year after year. She is no longer
young. She is alone. Her support
comes from her own efforts and some
times she grows very tired. His Of
fer means wealth, leisure. Her love
for him is dead. But she feels warm
friendliness. Will friendliness and
companionship take the place Of that
other feeling now that she is past
youth? Does he really care. or is his
desire for her merely a pang of con-
science that he should have so hurt
herr"
Long before she had finished Judge
Norton had left his place before the
lire and was walking slowly back and
forth the length of the room As her