Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1920-05-13
4 The City Of
/ Purple Dreams


,,SSeeSSeeSSgSeSeS9Se 9eSeSgSeSeSS
tai, bought packet Of tobacco and
an evening newspaper, and went to his
room.
He disrobed to his underclothing.
and with the newspaper and ciga-
rette, stretched himself on the couch
bed, allowing his feet to rest on
chair. He inhaled satisfying cloud
Of smoke and unfolded the news sheet
land his fingers closed rigidly on the
paper; his heart seemed to stand still.
What he read at a glance stretched
| across four columns of the front page:
MURDER MYSTERY AMONG REDS
OLAF NIKOLAY, RUSSIAN NIHIL-
IST, FOUND DEAD IN SOUTH
SIDE BASEMENTl
WOMAN SUSPECT GOMEZ
The story so shriekingly heralded
was told in a few paragraphs. and
Fitzhugh breathed easier as he read.
Substantially. 1t related that Nikolay
had been found that afternoon by Es-
theirs landlady, who, thinking the man
drunk, had called the police. An ex-
animation showed that he was stabbed
to the heart and had been dead for
hours. Esther had disappeared, leav-
ing no trace behind her.
| Fitzhugh dropped the paper to the
| floor and stared thoughtfully at the
ceiling, crushing his cigarette slowly
between his fingers. Suddenly ne
jumped up and began pacing the floor
restlessly.
Pshawl--she'll get away all right.
Yes, yes, she'll get away all right"
On his way to work next morning
he called at the post Office and found,
as he expected, letter from Esther.
It was written on a scrap Of wrapping
paper with a lead pencil, and began
without preface:
/ II I'VE sinned 1t was because / loved
/ YOU So / did 1t for your sake. I am
praying God that your desire for wealth
may be granted you Even though your
ambition is one of which do not entire
| ly approve, would willingly die that you
| might achieve It, That is how l love you
1t may be long while before you heal
Laway. Destroy eng 2tter.
/ Your adoring
/ ESTHER
| He burned the letter In the kitchen
/ range and knuckled down to his up.
probrious toll as on the previous day.
Fitzhugh had clearly defined rea-
son for doing scullery work in res
taurant. 1t provided a steady. II
small, income; 1t facilitated economy.
and, above all, 1t afforded him secure
hiding place during. the day. He in
tended to stay there six weeks. by
that time his beard would be sufti-
GENTLY long to be shaped into q VAN
dyke. Also, for he praeticed the most
rigorous frugality, he expected to have
1 thirty dollars with which to buy some
i presentable clothes. From that point
on he felt positive that somehow bis
soaring aloft would be swift and sure
i Only once was the monotony OF that
| month broken. By one of those
anomalous conditions peculiar to some
cities, the street the restaurant was
/ on. miserable, poverty-stricken thor
oughfare, is less than ten minutes
| walk from Chicago's wealthiest resi-
Dental section. This homogeneous jrx-
i Imposition accounted for the break In
Fitzhugh's routine. 1t was late one
warm night in June. and he haG
walked few streets from his board
), Ing house and was taking the air along
the Lake Shore drive, when he saw
Kathleen Otis. A shining Limousine
stopped before the iron gateway
through which he had twice passed
and as he drew back into the shadows
of some shrubbery she alighted with
her father. How exquisite she was
j Every night after that Fitzhush
promenaded the drive. But he never
saw her again. He read later that she
had sailed for France with her mother
| and would uot rnt1irn until the au