Omaha daily bee., 1919-09-01
My HEART and
NV HUSBAND
Adele Garrison's New Phase of
Revelations
of q Wife
What Dicky Said to Madge When
He Found Her.

The ng-drawn whistle, of the
newspaper train brought me to my
feet, quivering I dressed hurried
ly, opened my door with infinite care
that no one of the family should be
disturbed, and stole downstairs to
the hall where I huddled into high
backed chair-one of Dicky's treas
ures-to wait for the appearance of
the paper man.
At last I heard the clump of his
feet in the driveway. counted the
steps with feverish impotence until
they halted a little way from the
veranda. Then the thud of the fold
ed newspaper as it left the skilful
hand of the delivery man and struck
the door, told me that my vigil was
ended.
Relief of Tears.
l waited until I was sure the man
was out of sight before unbarring
the door and taking the paper in.
Then after fastening the door took
the paper to the library--the most
secluded room downstairs--switched
on the light, for the dawn outside
was not yet strong enough for read
ing, and sat down to search for the
thing | dreaded to find.
First page, second, third, fourth,
went over them carefully, finally,
upon the fifth, my eyes caught sight
of an inconspicuous headline:
FORMER FOOT BALL HERO
FINDS WIFE POISONED.
I read the brief news story fever
ishly, then turned back and read it
again, drawing long breath of re-
lief when | had finished.
For there was nothing in the news
story save the bald facts which
Alice Holcombe had narrated to me.
The cause of her death was spoken
of as a mysterious poisoning" the
, source of which was in doubt, and
| it was further stated that an autopsy
| was to be performed to determine
the nature of the poison, which was
| evidently a quick and powerful one.
There was no hint of connecting
Kenneth Stockbridge with the death
of his wife, and no word which could
possibly lead any one to conjecture
that his marital life had been any
thing but happy. I knew enough of
newspapers to realize that if poor
Milly Stockbridge's insane threat to
file a suit for divorce, naming Alice
Holcombe and myself, had been
published, the news of it would
have connected with the story of
her death. Nevertheless, ] carefully
scanned every column Of the paper
to assure myself beyond all doubt
that the horrible thing was not hid
den in some obscure corner.
When I had fearfully finished the
last column Of the last page my
overstrained nerves gave way. The
paper slipped from my hands to the
floor and ! buried my face in the
arm of my chair in paroxysm OF
hysterical weeping.
Look at Me-"
I felt my hands drawn upward,
and Dicky's face, mystiied, anxious,
looked down at me.
For the love of sanity, Madge"
he exploded, whatever is the mat
ter with your"
The room whirled with me. How
was | ever to explain my emotion
to my husband? l had been so care
full to keep from him any suspicion
of the unpleasant conditions sur
rounding my teaching at Bayview,
that | knew the revelation of it now
would not only shock him, but an
ger him because of the deceit he
would justly consider that / had
given him.
"I-I-don't know" I stammered.
Il guess I'm getting worn out, nerv-
ously. l awakened long while
ago, and after trying in vain to get
back to sleep, 1-1-thought-l
would come down here and read
awhile"
There was a long silence. did
not look at Dicky, but l felt his gaze
upon me.
look at me-" he burst out thickly
at last.
I raised my eyes miserably to his,
met in them the old, angry, Jealous
look which had not seen in Dicky's
eyes for many months.
THAT spiel won't co." he said.
coarsely. 81 happened to be wake
full, too, this morning, and | heard
you when you stole downstairs. l
thought at first you'd gotten hun
cry or something, and thought moth
ing about it. Then heard you take
in the morning paper and 60 into the
library. I waited for awhile, and
decided I'd come down and take a
slant at the news myself. And then
l hear this wild weeping and find
you like this.
Something's doing that l don't
know anything about, but don't
make any mistake. I'm going to
know right now"
Continued tomorrow,l