The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-04
EVENING sTORY
A Forgotten Letter.
By Susan Z. CIaggett.)

was no different from the other
mornings that mad preceded it for six
weeks; but day after day of ril
weather had at last had its effect
upon Patience Winthrop, and she VS.
undeniably depressed. This was
strange because, as girl ard woman,
she had spent her life in village that
was more or less enVeloped by 1og.
But today she hated he fog, the sea,
everything pertaining to tire place she
had called home fol thirty Id years.
| If she had tried she could not have
analysed her feelings. She would
merely have told you she was urea
That would have been as good a ply
as any, altho t would only ave been
in part true. She had beer Watching
night after night with an old friend
who for long had promised herseI,
and her acquaintance. that her me
would go out when the Sd crossed
the line"
! Mrs. Wainwright took to her bed
twice year about ten days before the
first equinoXial storm, and tnere snc
would stay until the day following the
| twenty-first when she would get up
| feeling as Spry as the city sparro"s
that nested in the rose bush waving
| against her window.
| But the old lady made heavy oe-
mands upon her friends. She did not
want to cross 1.-The line alone, ana
from the time she took to her bed de-
manded the attention of whoever was
willing to humor her For humorlHS
her it was. Her neighbors had heard
her demands for so long Il ey had no
other thought than that ST. would be
about as usual after her ten Gays
rest And then the unusual nap.
pened Her life went quietly out
as Patience Winthrop watched WIN
her alone. -
This was two days before, ana Is
only pertinent to the story in so far as
! it shows one of the causes OF the ue-
preston that was pressing ner uoMu'
like a great hand choking the pI ga
out of her. The other was Tic Aiiio-0
of the letter.
In the grey dawn of the September
morning as she was turning the leaves
of the Bible lying upon Mrs. VAIN
wrieht's bedside table, she came upon
if. her own name staring up at ner
| from the following envelope Inc
! writing was unfamiliar, which was not
surprising, as she had received rev iet-
ters in her life, but as she lifted II
/ from it's place she felt milo cu il ~
as to why it should be lying in TINS
old family Bible. Mrs. Wainwright
saw il in her hand and gave little
gasp.
Il forgot it. Patience. When L re-
membered 1 did not see you and then
7 forgot it. John gave it to me long
ago, but I forgot. He hadn't ought 70
have given it to me. He knew old
peoples mem'ry. amt good; But ne
did an 1 jes' plain forgot it she Jay
quiet for a little while. then asked
the time Patience told her.
-Four O'Clock an the tides runn1n
ont an it's most time for the sun to
cross the line" Her breath came halt
ingly. g-out-this-tim
an'-Fm-sorry- out-the-letter-
for-you've-been = real-good-to-
me- She ended with a sigh. That
was ALL She had gone out with the
| tide.
All thru that day and the next Pa
thence had felt that life was not
| worth the living. She had not read
the letter. For some reason she was
afraid, but as she stood by the window
peering out INTO the grayness of the
fog and listening to the ceaseless
rush of waters against the headland
whereon stood her home, she held 1t
tightly clasped within her hand.
1t was ten years since she had heard
John Wainwright's name. That eve
ming he had left her at her gate and
she had watched him as he swung
down the street, a tall. broad-shoul-
dered man with steady eyes and a
stubborn chin. He had left her with
a shy tender smile and a lingering
touch that her l-1nds still could feel
after the lapse of years. She never
saw him again.
His mother never spoke of him to
her. If there was gossip it did not
reach her in her home on the out
skirts of the village. She hoped for
a time then buried her little romance
so deep she scarcely acknowledged to
herself there had been romance. Yet
life took on a different look and she
found her daily duties almost beyond
the bearing.
She could not have explained this
as she stood facing the open sea with
l unseeing eyes. She was apparently
oblivious to outside things. yet her
| ears were sensitive to every sound.
She heard the bell booming its warm
ing from the lighthouse across the
harbor and family, afar off, the whistle
of a siren. A steamer was in distress
off the shoals.
The rubbing of her cat against her
brought her back to the warmth of the
tidy room as a knock sounded upon
her door. ~ was late. too late for
visitors, and she paused an instant be-
fore opening it. She was not afraid.
She had never been afraid in her life
except of the letter. and that was now
forgotten in this sudden recall to the
present.
The knock was not repeated. She
heard a fumbling against the panel
as if a hand was searching for the
latch, and she reached the door as it
fell open. A man staggered in. He
made an effort to stand upright, then
lurched forward and spraw1ed upon
the floor. Even then he endeavored
to rise, but fell back with groan and
lay supine.
| He had fallen face downward and
it took all of Patience's strength to
turn the heavy figure and draw it
toward the stove. Then. she went sys-
tematically to work to restore con-
sciousness.
1t took long. Not until he opened
his eyes and looked full into her face
did she know him and then al "a
said was, WHY, Johni'' But she
: dropped on the floor beside him. lift
ed the heavy head onto her lap and
began grooming over him with unac-
customed words that sounded strange
coming from lips that had never be-
fore used them
He was i'll for weeks The neirhbors
ca me in u helm care for hin, aaxl