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Show v fr ! N ! I A Clandestine j !( p; Correspondence j v' " y- v V iMiuiHc It wiih ii Hilly notion, fia jk (I iih1 xli! illiln't I'xpi'ot that & V iinylliltiK wnulil romp of II, 'iJ Ek lint SIw. Jtlrorki'i- Inn! set her '' E bcnrl upon luniiilni; oomc hort r n 'i'Biw clninU'HtliH' cnrrcHptinili'iifi'. Sin-know I K- It wus a rntlivr vulvar foini of direr- r j&"' Identity bo tlmionslily tlmt slit- ml,:lit , , K' drop tln whole iilTnlr al imy ilmu with- H out fear of dlMiivrry. Shu couirmI out 'f B' of her lmnxlnatlw nilnil many vciisomh ','' K ' that tsecmiMl to niniloiic. If they Old not 'It-.' justify, tlio little Hellenic, Curtis V- mi Ulceeker, her hiixhaud, was. (die lie- i ' K , IIcvlmI, vuiiuiifiicliiK tn nesleet her. , tir t4 They had been married six years, had C Tw" no c'll"(,n'"' !l1111 w,'ro "" ""tnniKlliiR" & Jfl to keep out or debt. She wan Niiffcrim; v S' from ennui, ainusemeiilN were e.peli- f iTKE 'vo al"' ('1U'"S showed each ulsht tf1 e' when he eame home the evidence of Wrl" busy, nerve-raekliiK, hothrrsome dayi. 4.' ' BometlmeM lie didn't come homo till r,f Pw. rant uildulKhl, ami hIii was helnnliu: ' 'fci'' tUMll,t '''M xterenlypcd npoloulrs. MffiA Rlayhe he wnn perfectly loyal, and k' E5 " anyway, Mrc. UhH'i'ker was Hiitu of her ;jj" own lldellty under any eomlltlonH, and L?IB i Bhuwai) fanclmitedwllh theldca of gut-'' gut-'' 'lllPt- ' '"B "I s"""' Nl,lt "'' " letter flirtation f- lillv ' iWlth Hume unknown man whom she V jffik Hover e.viii'eted or eared to see, ;? J Shu coiilldcd the plan to Miss Annie l 1Rk' Guthhert, her heHt friend, who had u sV Ky (typewriter, and between them they , Bs--" fixed tip an ndverlNeinrnt, which np- $ W? pcared In the next Sunday neWHpaper, W' B-'' as '""nvM: ' W AVAN'TIOI). lty n youns, hnndinmp, r h Intelligent woifinii, the iiciiualntancc E&' . of a Rytup.it lit tli'. educated and mor- Mb"-' l ul man; object, the exchange of In- Kftj WfA vtructlve and helpful letters. Ad- LI M. - ' dresx Q :t:i,- tliN olllce. 1' ""i UiitliluTt went for (ho answers, "Raft.1 nm' ""' (''',l; handed lur many. That '" InSe night Cm Us illiln't come home even '- BL, for ill mer, and IiIh wife, fur the llrtt ''P' time In her life, wai glad of It. Shu kVj went with her rrlcml Into the kllehen, iHSK '0(''('' tbe ilooi'H, and together they vlH ""' ('"u' "'" Kh'at oi'cr those answern i?ipi' to "(J iKt." .Most of them were Idiotic, SM& of '",u't'(; " f,'w weiu minu enough, '9b ""' "lc,'-','l,ul'.v cominouplace or 111-rBJBg 111-rBJBg bpelt. Some contained photograplm of SEiF lovelorn youths wilh curls nml foul-PBfi foul-PBfi '"h Millies. Some were the Hillciilovii L'VnS, plaints of old men who had outlived or pH neglected their opporuiultlCM to he jfijjjBV loved. It was veiy funny, the whola Kflpc liuslnes, and .Mrs. llleecker and Annie K'Kyf laughrd "ci- the leading and oer the H ihotogiailis till the bell announced kflJ, Mr, Hlcccl.cr. Tlicu Annie liuudled S'Jw' ' the sttllT Into her satchel and said: (feK?'- "Come oM'r in the uiorulug.'Cliloe, nml Kk we'll ir -wer Ihein." kHJkI" llut when It came to foimiilatlug n gK.' Jotter to the inot "likely" of the (or- blHB . rcsiondeutH, mid they saw what ntudy, KBk", what subterfuge and what time It le- P (juIrPcl, they dt'tcrmlncil to burn up tH,'. oil the letters but one unit make the aVJk'!' most of that. The lucky object of S'JBbK''- their attention signed, or rather print- "B1' cd, bis mime us Uodger rorlescne, and gWK. Ids addreHK was "(icueral Delivery." tBaT' Ic '""' enclosed lln photogrnph, . his it;Hi. typewritten letter t.liowed every uvl- k '! denrc of educatlen, good breeding and WtKi even reverence for the unknown "( UBAt. """ ,n"I fmlhwltli he became: a licr- Hi eonage, something of a hero In the KSBflp lnlnils of both tlii'M' good women, who KcuHK De'cr expected to see hlui, and would KB?" liavo laughed at his frank confession, PKp Ills gently hinted hopes his dlgullled RjjBJ melancholy If they could. sEyHJS llut they couldn't, ltndger 1'ortes- if-Bp'' ' cuo's letters iiinu than sallsited their &?Vf&' ,irst nittlflpatloii.st. Ills typewilttrn !$, words in succesklve letters of lncreas- W- 9k' , ing letiglh were aliuosl vocal of a gen- !''sBK; orous, wise, and tender nature. Mrs. Y.'WkJL. - Uleccker nml her f'-teud began to en- Wk dow n'm w'1'1 t,u'''v Imaginable virtue. i . HR In the replies which the young wlfn ' wK4 wrote she strove to rise to his stand- ' B& ,u' t'hetorleal evcellencfj, to his n&t' nilcndlil limiger.i. to Ids vague but Wliigouie messages of hue. Slie Jio lougei iiermilted her l'rleml, Annie Outlihert, to dictate ewm an oecashinal uentence, and at last she even failed to Blmrc with her friend one of tho Jet- k, Ifi's hlch, ns rsuul. she had received fe lit tho general delivery window. 'B. Then Mrs. leci'ker. almost uncoil-. MWBB sclmmly. begtn to compare Curtis, her AVHA the HHHHA cue. AVliy had the des- Kaf r. r .. 3...v. .. 111. 'V.. ...'-- I tl liny never written such loiters lo her? Why was he nut vlfiuiit like linger there! She had begun to call him "Uoer" She became a bit scared then, for she w.is a title and dutiful wife, She ami llleecker had eM'hang"d vn.v few letlers In their courting days. I'crhaps he would have wiltlen Just r.i Moll as I'ortcfcue If lie'il had the opportunity, she thought. And then, In a sudden icullzailou of her folly and perhaps of some subtle ami hateful hci'se of disloyalty, she went to Annie's An-nie's house iiml wrote a long loiter to Kcirteseuc In which she beg'jed hit pardon for "luring" him Into a cow-H'KiUileiice cow-H'KiUileiice that niul. appear deceilflll, fritllliMs ami evi i liunilll.illnu' w.'ie.i flic, "lli'aire l.ando'i," admitted. ii she now must, that she was a mauled I uoiliau, wIiom' husband was "the b'ist I man on earth." She ovprctcd Hint lb Inn'; and seir.dei.rpva'hig lclter wint'iil put a llusil stall to his lelieis. but afto? a week, during whlili slie did not In (inire for any letters at lite viiifov, slie asked .Mule to '"i-ce Ii' theic .a tlll.t illlllg." 'llli'l'e li'.c lUel "I. ton," uini Ibigi'i' I'di':'.""!"'. "a"- I mariird. Mv wl.'e is me f iil-tulli-i.1 it I of all a In lie. beauty fl' il I lell'gein j lull - " A ed then If l.ii'ii.'li il In! n subtle nml ginv-iMuy voided ills-course ills-course to the effect that "Mrs. Korles-cue Korles-cue was' not wholly salMled villi him," That she didn't uuileistaii.l him, that he could not blame her. hut thai In seeking a correspondence with "Mrs. l.andon," he had only tiled nfur I that Impeisoiial and, he thought, uu-' uu-' s"lHsh, gralltlcatlou which couus of I the spiritual nml mental conimonv of two kindled souls. It was very line, said Annie and Chine, and the latter almost shed tears as she ilecliirnl pes! lively that she would make no answer. And so the affair stopped. It was about two weeks later that Mis. llleecker began to perceive a ngLilr change In the behavior of her husband. lie had become so considerate, consid-erate, so confidential, so tender, so assiduous In his attentions to her that she felt like a girl again In the wooing days, lint after lea one night ho said, with siuldru embarrassment: 'Cliloi', I know you'll laugh, but 1 did a very ipieer thing this summer. I answered nil 'ad' of some woman who wanted to correspond with u moral and Intelligent man of sympathy.'" "What was her name?" gasped Mis. Ulceeker, getting while, and icaJy to faint. "Don't get angry, Chloe!" l.o said quickly, mistaking her fright for rage. "I never signed my name; but honest now, for awhile 1 thought my correspondent corre-spondent must be YOU. 1 ' "Yes. yes, Curtis! You thought" she was almost choked with tenor. "I thought it might be you. nml I wnH almost sure when Rhc tier name was 'lleatrlce l.andon' admitted that she was u married woman. 1 told her that 1, too, was married, nml -v ell Chloe, I thought thnt would put end to It, hut what do you think?" "What, Cmlls?" "Why, (die came right back; snhl fhe didn't believe me. Insisted that no married man ever praised his wife as I had done and Inclosed her picture!" "Her picture!" "Yes. Look!" He pulled out n Photograph Pho-tograph and showed the fair face of Annie Cuthbcrt. And now Mrs, llleecker dnesu't know what to think of her friend Miss Ciithbeit, but they've kept the secret the three secrets. Curtis never let Annie know that he knows. Annie never "let on" that she took up the Kortescue correspondence where Chine, let It drop, anil Chine has never told her husband that she was "lleatrlce l.andon." Itut she Is fonder of him than ever, because be did prnlse her, oh, so eloquently. In those letteis. .lohii H. ltaftery, In the Chicago lice-ord'Herald. |