The Lakeland evening telegram., 1916-10-17
And now not two years had passed

...sN
hushand True, that husband hau
been eliminated, but his elliliiii''',JH ~
did not replace the status between ni'
-, and \largrave where il was pe
fore her marriage.
The widow had no knowledge Oh .ne
change that had taken place ih nel
former lover. Had he not given his
hoort to the woman who had nurseu
him he might have locked for sone
flashing out of her former ieehhs ~
him Possibly he seemed much cooler
toward her. But she did not appea'
to be at all panied at the chanse,
Margrave took his cue from her anu
treated her as it was evident she pre-
ferred to be treated.
THE way she preferred to be treateu
seemed to be that they shoulu De
frionds. Despite slight tinge OF Jeal-
ousy Margrave was quite content-hl-
decd relieved-at this. HIS secohu
love was not with him, and a frlehd-
shin with his first was quite coih-
fort 70 him. He was with the WIDOW
On much that those who knew or tnclr
sad separation in times past naturally
supposed that they were undergoing
secondary courtship preparatory u
| union. Margrave was not aDsolutels
surc whether the widow SO regarded
their intimacy or not
| ,I,o Interested
In hearing from participant what
was going on at the front and listened
eagerly to his descriptions of active
service. One evening when they were
together Margrave told her the story
| of the man who had charged him with
message to his wife and had died
before he could give the lady's name
and address
What was Margraves astonishment
to hear moan coming from his COM
panion. He turned and looked at her
| inquiringly Instead of meeting his
! gaze she covered her face with her
hands, then without word of expla-
nation arose and left the room.
Margrave did not call upon his friend
again till he had received a note from
| her asking him to excuse her strange
conduct when he was last with her.
but offering no explanation. She es-
pecially requested that he should not
| let the matter interfere with their
friendship Margrave called upon her,
thinking that she might account for
her emotion verbally, but she did not
refer to 1t again His recall puzzled
him. Was her former feeling for him
returning?
A complication for Margrave arose
with the return to England of his new
love, who had at last been broken
down by overwork. Upon her arrival
his visits to the widow became fewer
and more constrained even than be-
fore He felt that confession that
his wild words Of constancy. delivered
when he had departed to the front for
the avowed purpose Of getting himself
Killed, had proved nothing so surely as
that he was a turncoat In love could
not be long delayed and it would GOV.
er him with shame and confusion, To
make matters worse, he was less sure
than ever that his first love might not
be counting on consoling herself with
him.
one mot:;'.:s when Margrave was
with Miss ErS'line he received a tele.
gram from tLn ,,.ido ,..
Where have you been this long time3
ihere has been great change with me
ana l am eager to tell you of IT, Do
come and see me.
Margrave was taken fat aback
What could the message mean but
tnat the widow had discovered that
she still loved him and that she was
panied at his absence? He was at the
ume with his fiancee making the ar
rangements for their wedding.
What an embarrassing situation,
Margrave handed the telegram TO
Erskine, told her the story of his for.
her love, assured her that his whole
heart was now hers and asked har
what he should do in the matter II
required much time to convince her
that there was not in him a linperine
ieeling for his former love, but when
ne succeeded Miss Erskine suggested
that the proper way for him TO treat
the matter was to announce his on
gagement.
MarSrave accepted the supoast;o,,
ana wrote the widow accordingly For
reply he received an invitation 70 visit
her, bringing with him his tiancee Tho
nahcee was loath to 60, but Narororo
ueciared that he would not face tho
enemy single handed, and she fnoI1u
consented.
Marsraye and his second love woro
NOT received by his first alone
paie and very much emaciated man
arose, whom the widow introduced os
my husband, Captain Fitz-Herbert
Ihere was tableau which -,
not De given except by living persons
ioiowed by an explanation that iS
nafdly necessary here. Captain E,.a
herDert had been picked up On tha
oattieheid by the Germans, resusci
,a'eu ana made prisoner of war uo
nad escaped and returned TO Fnglona
wnere he was recovering snder thn
care of his wife. Tue
Tue message he had sent TO har boa
peen ntrusted, unknowino,y H..