Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-10
MY MARRIED LIFE
Jacks FdreUeH Note
BY ADELE GARRISON

r STOOD motionless for several minutes
L with the special delivery letter from Jack
In my hand | dreaded inexpressbly some
calamity.
Only something OF the utmost Importance
/ knew, could have induced my brother
cousin to write TO me. He was too careful
of my welfare to excite Dtcky's unreasoning
jealousy by letter unless there was des.
perate need for It.
Finally, | sat down in an armchair by
the window and, breaking the seal drew out
the letter.
Dear Cousin Margaret" it began;
| thought involuntarily OF the last letter
Jack had sent me, the one announcing his
return from the wilds Of South America
and asking me TO dine with him and cele-
brate his return after a years absence.
That letter opened with the line, Dear
Little Girl" and closed with, Always
yours. jack
But when he had written the first letter
he had not known that ! had married
during his years absence in a land so wild
that lie could neither send nor receive
letters.
I1o haJ come back TO civilization to tell
me something OF which | had never dreamed
so like brother and sister had we been
that he loved me and wished me to be his
wife
did not like to remember the look on
his face when, after he had told me. | had
made my belated confession--that l was
married.
l turned to the letter again:
Dear Cousin Margaret have decided
suddenly 10 go across the pond and get in
the big mX.up. You perhaps remember
that | have spoken to you frequently Of
my friend. Paul Callard. who has been
with me in many a bit of tcbllsh work. lie
was with me i'm south America, and like
me. heard Of the war for the first time
when he got out of the wilderness. lie Is n
Frenchman, you know and is going back to
offer his services to the engineering corps.
And l am going with him, Margaret, !
think | can be Of service over there Paul
Callard is the best friend | have. As you
know. you are the only relative / have in
the world. and you are happily and safely
married so | feel that / am harmng no
one by my decision
"IF ANYTHING SHOULD HAPPEN"
I'VE sail tomorrow morning on the
Saturn II will be impossible for me to
come to your home before then. so this
Ia good-by. When | come back, if | come
back. / want TO meet your husband and see
you in your home.
And now | must speak of little matter
Of which you are ignorant now, but OF
which you must be told before | CO. Be-
fore your mother died | had made my VIII.
leaving her everything | possessed, for you
and she were all the family / had ever
known. After leH uCattl l CnhNSeu HCI
name to yours. If anything should happen
to me my attorney, william Faye, li3
Broadway, will attend to everything for
you. lie is also my executor.
Most of what / have would have come
to you by law, anyway Margaret, for You
are my nearest kin--snt that the way the
law puts it? But you might have some
unpleasantness from those Pennsylvania
cousins of ours. so | have protected you
against such contingency.
And now Margaret, good-by and God
bless you. Your affectionate cousin, Jack"
! finished the letter with a numb feeling
at my heart. 1t seemed to me as II one
of the foundations of my life had given
away.
When Jack had left me after that miser-
able reunion dinner where he had been hurt
so cruelty by the news of my marriage
during his years absence, he had said. ah,
how well | remembered the words II shall
not see YOU again, dear girl unless you need
me- IL you ever do. ] can't be near you
without loving you and hating your hus-