Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-04-12
CHAPTER XVII.
A Letter From Bill,

A Letter From Bill.
All through the long night she lay
awake, struggling with the incredible
fact that Bill had left her; trying to
absolve herself from blame flaring up
in anger at his unyielding attitude,
even while she was sOrely conscious
that she herself had been stubbOrnly
unyielding. If he had truly loved her,
she reiterated, he would never have
made it an issue between them. But
that was like q man-tO insist on his
own desires being made paramount;
to blunder on headlong, no matter
what antagonisms he aroused. And
he was completely in the wrong, she
reaSSerted.
She recapitulated it all. Through
the winter he had consistently with
drawn into his shell. For her friends
and for most of her pleasures he had
at best exhibited only tolerance. And
he had ended by %outraging both them
and her, and on top of that demanded
that she turn her back at t~wenty-four
hours notice, on Granville and all it's
| associations and follow him into a will
derness that she dreaded. She had
full right to her resentment. AS his
partner in the CLANCY enterprise of
marriage were not her feelings Inc de-
Sires entitled to equal consideration?
He had assumed the role of dictator.
And she had revolted. That was all.
She IA justified.
Eventually she slept. At ten O'Clock,
heavy-eyed, suffering al intolerable
headache. she rose and dressed.
Beside her plate lay a thick letter
addressed in Bills handwriting. She
drank her coffee and went back to the
bedroom before she opened the en-
velOpe. BY the postmark she saw
that it had been mailed on a train.
Dear Girl: 1 have caught my
breath, so to speak, but l doubt if ever
a nor forlOrn cuss listened to the
interminable clicking of car wheels,
| am tempted at each station to turn
back and try again. 1t seems so I'M
real, this parting in hot anger, so mis-.
erably unnecessary. But when / stop
to sum it up again, | see no use in
another appeal. l could come back
yes. Only the certain knowledge thai
giving in like that would send us spin
ming once more in a vicious circle pre-
vents me. l didn't believe it possible
that we could get so far apart. MOI
that a succession of little things coulC
cut so weighty a figure in u lives
And perhaps you are very sore anC
resentful at me this morning for be
ing so precipitate.
Il couldn't help it, Hazel. 1t seemed
the only way. 1t seems so yet to me
There was nothing more to keep M
in GranvilIe-everything to make MI
hurry away. If l had weakened ant
t%emporized with you it would onl.
mean the deferring of just what ha'
happened. When you declared your
self fatty and repeatedly it scenes
hopeless to argue further. 1 am a poo
pleader, perhaps and | do not believ'
in compulsiOn between US. Whateve
you do you must do of your w vol
ton, without pressure from me. w
couldn't be happy otherwise. If
compelled you to follow me agains
your desire we should only drag mis-
cry in our train.
II couldn't eve say good-by.
didn't even want it to be good-by.
didn't know if l could stick to IN
determination to go unless / went a
l did. And my reason told me that
there must be a break it would bette
como now than after IOn1-dr1 WHOM
chickering's and bitterness. If we ar
so Numerically opposed where W
thought we stood together we hav
made a mistake that no amount of az
justing, nothing but separate road
will rectify. Myself l refuse to b.
lieve that we have made such a mi
take. l don't think that honestly an
deliberately you prefer an exotic, u.s.
less, purposeless, parasitic existenC