The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-08-15
Revelations
of o. Wife
Jacks Farewell Note.
IN apELE HARRISON.

/
/ stood motionless for several min
! utes with the special delivery letter
from Jack in my hand. I dreaded in
expressibly some calamity.
Only something of the utmost i'm
portance, l knew. could have in
duced my brother cousin to write to
me. He was too careful of my well
fare to excite Dicky's unreasoning
jealousy by a letter, unless there was
desperate need for it.
Finally, l sat down in an arm chair
by the window. and breaking the
seal, drew out the letter.
Dear Cousin Margaret" it began:
l thought involuntarily Of the last
letter Jack had sent me. the one an
nouncing his return from South Amer
lea, and asking me to dine with him
and celebrate his return after a years
absence.
That letter opened with the line
Dear Little Girl" and closed with al
ways yours, Jack
But when he had written the first
letter he had not known that I had
married during his years absence in
a land so wild that he could neither
send nor receive letters.
He had come back to civilization to
tell me something of which 1 had
never dreamed-so Ike brother and
sister had we been-that he loved me
and wished me to be his wife.
l did not like to remember the look
on his face when. after he had told
me, had made my belated confess
sion-that was married
l turned to the letter again:
Dear Cousin Margaret:
L have decided, suddenly, to go
across the pond and get in the big
mix-up. You perhaps remember that
L have spoken to you frequently of
my friend, Paul CailIard who has been
with me in many a bit of ticklish
work. He was with me in South
America, and like me. heard of the war
for the first time when he got out of
the wilderness. He is Frenchman.
you know, and is going back to offer
his services to the engineering corps.
And I am going with him. Mar
garet. 1 think I can be of service over
there. Paul Ca!llard is the best friend
| have. As you know you are the only
relative / have in the world. and Won
are happily and safely married. so 7
feel that am harming no one bv NV
decision.
IF Anything Should Happen
We sail tomorrow morning on the
Saturn. 1t will be Impossible for NC
to come to your home before then. So
this is goodbye When come bacl
II | come back. want to meet your
husband and see you in your home.
And now l must speak of a little
matter OF which you are ignorant now
put OF which you must be told before
90. Before your mother died, I had
MADE my will, leaving her everything
possessed, for you and she were all !
the family had ever known. After
her death / changed her name to
yours. II anything should happen to |
me my attorney, William Faye, 149
broadway, will attend to everything
for you. He is also my executor.
Most Of what l have, would have
come TO you by law, anyway, Margaret. |
for you are my nearest of kin'-isn't
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 |
a contingency.
And now, Margaret, good bye and /
God bless you,
Your affectionate cousin. Jack"
finished the letter with numb L
feeling at my heart 1t seemed to me /
as If one Of the foundations of nv
life had given away
When Jack had left me after that
miserable reunion dinner where he
had been hurt SO cruelty by the news
OF my marriage during his years alb
sence he had said-ah how we'll I
remembered the words-'T shall not
see you again. dear girl, unless you
need me, If you ever do. I can't be
near you without loving you and has-
ing your husband, whoever he may be
and that is a dangerous state Of af-