The Penn's Grove record., 1916-06-30
A LETTER FROM ROME
BY SUSAN {. cLRGETT.

no a come across the continent 10
see her and as he stood in her sitting
room he was fully alive to it's homely
comfort Manlike, he did not notice
It's suggestion of shabbiness.
He had been in the country a week
and had, as yet, found no opportunity
for the question he had come to ask.
AS he waited for her he wondered
why.
But he was determined to know to-
night where he stood. Was it posi-
BILE she had changed? He squared his
shoulders and threw back his head.
No. That vas out of the question.
Their correspondence had faltered oc-
~casionally, but had always been re-
sumed. even after the two or three
amazing letters he had received from
her several a before.
He put his hand in his pocket and
drew out a well-worn letter and was
reading it as she came into the room.
THAT was the first" he said. II
received it in Athens. The others
reached me while was In Cairo.
There were four in all, and they about
spoiled my trip. They were remark
able letters, Eleanor, remarkable from
the fact that they were written by so
cold a woman as you. ! have read
them every day and every day have
wondered at the imbecile reply / Sent
you from Rome.
Whatever the reason, ! have long
regretted that letter, and / hope you
will believe me when l Jay it is my
dearest hope that you will consent to
be my wife"
She did not answer at once and her
reply was not direct when it came.
Il would like to tell you a story,
Judge Norton" she said.
at commenced a good many years
ago, this story Of a nan and a woman
ran it's way through friendship and
ended, as is usual in such cases, with
one of them becoming somewhat more
than a friend. The man, it was. When
he was serious, she laughed. Not in
ridicule, but because, although she
cared in a way, it was not enough to
make marriage desirable. The man
went away, but their correspondence
did not take the place of his COM
partnership and each time he returned
she felt she had grown a 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
honor. is, the young woman never
thought the man might change. At
first she was sorry this was so, but
as her home life, always difficult, now
became intolerable, she turned t. him,
never doubling an immediate re-
spouse. Made desperate by condi-
tons she could not bear, she asked
him to come to her.
ut was a 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 dulled was
she by wretchedness that even then
she did not doubt him.
Their last evening together was a
nightmare for her to remember. Her
GOODNESS 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
all love letters. That much she knows.
What she said, she has mercifully for
gotten. Then one day came a letter
from Rome.
she laughed when she read it.
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
deeply into her pride there had to be
a reaction.
"As a 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 if his actions were conflrma-
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 al wealth, leisure. Her love
for him is dead. But she feels warm
friendliness. Will friendliness and
Oraroniarchin @olxa tha nlooo aq that