Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1923-04-20
When They Made
the Discovery
20. ls2a. western Newspaper UniOn.>
By JUSTIN WENTWooD

20. 1924, Western Newspaper Union.)
Anne Gilchrist was dead, and Gil
christ was sitting in the empty room.
thinking how fatally life enmeshed
one. They had been married twelve
years. and Anne had died q week be-
fore.
Their marriage had not been hap
by one. They had found that out a
week after their marriage. Gilchrist
was sculptor, and temperamental.
Anne was cold. She had never given
him that love that he had had a right
to expect. That was the one thing
he found 1t hardest to forgive.
All their bitter words he had for
gotten. II only she had had love in
her nature everything might have
gone well. Love could have overcome
his irrltability which he had vented
on her. He knew that. He did not
defend his own unklndness; he only
felt that, lacking love- Anne lacked
justification. And now she was dead.
They had only two friends in the
village people of Gilchrist's type.
Mr.. and Mrs. Fairlelgh were authors,
and did very well at 1t. They had
understood him-and Anne. They had
llghtened the heavy burden Of their
lives by their companionshlp. Fair
leigh was coming over to sit with him
that night.
Gilchrist was going through the
things Anne had left behind her. She
had known she was dying, but the
end had come with tragic suddenness.
Every little memento of the past was
blow to Gllchrlst.
"If only you had loved-loved any
oneW he soliloquized to the dead
woman. Even If you had been I'M
faithful 1t would have been better
than that eternal coldness."
Turning over her bills, receipts, pa
pers, he came upon an envelope,
sealed. He opened 1t and read, at
first without understanding then with
sudden rush Of emotion.
"My dear'--lt ran. when you open
and read this l shall be dead. can't
pretend that my life has been very
happy one, but at least am pre-
pared to go wherever we go without
malice, without unkindness, without
uncharltableness
II want you to know that, though
life has dealt so harshly with me that
the capacity for demonstrating my
feeling has almost been destroyed,
40 SCI '0g6ntKe9u. ~ have always loved
You have always been in my H6ngnfl
first and foremost.
"And so this little message of fare
well takes all my love with It. Nc
other man has ever entered my heart
wish that could tell yop-but
cannot"
II was signed "Anne."
Gllchrist read the little note with
a wildly beating heart. SO she had
loved him after all She like himself
had been under that unhappy lnhIbi-
tIon which forblds one to tell Of love
to ones own dearest.
And memories surged through his
ings, of their courtshlp. He had al
ways admired Anne, in spite Of her
apparent GOODNESS. He had always
believed that some day he could
awaken her to love.
That hope had been destined to dis
appointment. Still, they had had
periods of happiness.
He remembered once when she had
turned to him and put her arms round
his neck asking forgiveness for her
cOldness.
Then there was the time when their
hope Of child had been frustrated.
They had chung to each other then.
But the years Of married intimacy
had worn them both down. Little by
little even the pretense Of love had
died At the end they had been frank
ly hostile. And he had not kissed her
before she dled-sOmehow he had felt
he couldn't go through that lie.
A tap at the door Fairlelgh en-
tered. The men shook hands. Gil
christ, who was on the most conf
Dental terms with Falrleigh, STAN
mered out his emotions. He spoke of
the letter.
II can't tell you how 1t makes me
feel" he said. "If It had been some
other man, even, / should have been
glad to think poor Anne had the ca.
pacity for love. But this-thls over
comes one, FaIrleigh. II makes me
feel that I've been brute to her"
But Falrlelgh was staring at the
envelope Of the mlsslve which GIL
christ had tossed across the table
And Gllchrlst's eyes wandered to It,
and then fixed themselves in amaze
ment on his friends face.
The envelope was addressed to