The Detroit times., 1916-06-08

Leila Austin. daughter Of a wealth.
Inther. marries Tom Carter, a POO
snfns. q s s;oS nys'ts hsT
Y xon mine and she goes out with hin
y 20 . life Of hardship while he seek
x pay ore. Leila's parents visit then
a of drudgery her daughter has beer
"A living Leila IL secretly glad to hear
her mothers proposal that she return
!. cast After Leila leaves, Tom strikes
sold and writes TO Leila. telling hel
the glorious good news.
He wrote n dozen lines more
trying to put into words his rapture
at the discovery and his loverly
q eagerness to see Leila again.
Then. folding the letter. he looked
about for an envelope. He could
find none. His search brought him
/. at last 10 the dresser. This had been
Ieila's. and he had not had the heart
TO open IL since she left him. But
now he began ransacking the sew
ernl drawers.
He did not find the envelope he
sought. but he found simething else.
IN the top drawer, among some cloth
ing. Leila had left behind In her hur-
ricd packing. he happened upon a
crumpled half sheet OF paper-the
silly postscript OF Nellie Collins let
ter-the postscript that told Of Hal
sey Brent's good fortune.
Toms eye was caught by the
words:
"your old sweetheart, Hslsey
Brent
He read and re-read the whole
scrawl. Long he stood there, move
less. the scrap OF paper in his hand;
while the gladness and hope died out
Of his tronzed. unshaven face to be
replaced by q scowl Of doubt and OF
jealousy.
He was reused from his gloomy
reverfe by the joiting Of the rural
free delivery buggy as 1t drew up at
The eate.
y Leila's thrice-a-week letters had
been the only bright spots in Toms
lcueiinsss Eagerly he seized the
one letter the postman left for him
today. A he looked at its super
scription his expectancy turned to
chagrin. For the letter was not
from Leila. but from her mother.
Ne opened II and read.
NY Dear Tom; am writing this
q " own resIon6s,eiiissSS *. an is slowly
Tscovering from that horrible life out
there In the wilderness. But the
doctor agrees with US that she must
never, never go back to IT, That Is
assume that you are not alto
nekher selfish and that you have Lei
ya'e welfare at heart. Her experience
~ the west proves how iil-htted she
~ Z poor mans wife. And. now that
3sss1y poor and are likely to remain
.Are you going to force my fra
Gile. deficateiy nurtured daughter TO
90 On sharing your poverty and hard
6hlpo? II you do. she will die: or at
the very least. she viii become an
Sor are you man. enough to give
nay nometime be able TO marry
lqan Who. can give her the care and
IL you truly love her-if her best
~ellafe means anything az all 10 you
t1ore can be but one reply to these
Gu0O(3Qns- You will give her up and
sSis sssh: e. ~ msrry ass 1 a. her In
serest and Il Think her heart die
Think this over. very carefully.
end let your better nature guide
The letters contents seemed to
bnrn themselves into poor Tom Car
ter's brain in words OF FIRE. He tore
he paper into q score OF fragments
= his FIRST outburst Of indignation.
Then his eye fell once more upon
the postscript Nellie Collins had
written.
And at once he saw the impulse
tehind Mrs. Austin's cruel letter
Among them these SNUG relatives of
keiia's were trying to make her for
1T him and TO marry her TO rich
u man.
"A richer man." snaried Tom. half
aloud. "Halsey Brent IL no richer
than the Leila A. will make me. Nor
one-third rs rich. The Austins will
truckle 10 me fast enough when they
md I'VE struck wealth IN the mine,
But It's no time for writing or even
for telegraphing. II I'm to save Leila
from divorcing me for Brent. I've
/. rot to be on the ground to fight my
own battle!"
y He fiung a few clothes into bat
tered suitcase. ran TO the mine to
live nnal instructions and swung
aboard an eastbound train three
hours later.
lie had counted so often on this
rlrlumphal return to New York! Yet,
now that the miracle had come 10
1oss, he felt no citation. He felt
a IIothing save burningly murderous
1Hge against the people who were
etyIng 10 rob him of his adored wife.
Tom Carter's guess as to the state
~ affairs was amazingly near TO the
topth.
'NI,eila's homecoming had been as
4 - return OF a loved one who has
uorruvly escaped a tortnring death
o. some accident. Her parents and
III friends had showered her with
G|nention and had sought In a thou
nd ways to make no to her for
<Aat xhe had undergone,
lin. Austin bought her q bewilder-
r1y beautiful quantity Of clothes.