Show I Epist6REhoes I dAfl QJ Copyright 1006 by Dally Story Pub Co ITho New fling and the Old Love Dear ItIchardht the old days I I would halo written dearest but today to-day another man acqulietl Urst mortgage mort-gage on that title by virtue of placing a diamond ring on a certain finger of what you once called the fairest hand In the world Why I should choose otla man nnd a former lover as my confidant and honor you with the first news of my engagement I know not Perhaps It Is because ot memories mem-ories which will not down oven though i tho flashing eye of his ring bcems to reproach mo for not letting the dead post bury Its old love Is this letter treason to him I doE do-E not think ho would so consider it for ho has told me I do not nhlc that you love your former admirers less If you will love mo more That speech won for him my hand If not my heart Leonard is not jealous and in that he Is unlike you Jeulousy may be flattering flat-tering to a womans vanity hut It Is destructive to her peace of mind Yet a woman loves with her heart not with her mind and where tho heart In l concerned a woman does not think sho feels So I sometimes s halt that Leonard were less phlegmatic that ho had more blood In his veins and less of Ice that ho were more like you That Is treason and otmy bonds are still too oung to teach mo discretion dis-cretion Do you know what a temptation tempta-tion a diamond ring Is to n woman But for that I might have waited 1 waited for you Would you have cared 4 Rachel waiting for her Jacob gavo evidence li evi-dence of no greater patience than 1 mine Aro all Now Englanders like John Alden too bashful to speak for themselves But I will not compare you to John Aldcn You have a higher sense of honor than that unjustly landed Puritan for you would not betray be-tray your friend Perhaps It l you were that kind of a man I would not bo writing this letter Yet In penning t this eplstollc echo of Eden I prOo that I am but an erring daughter of Eve Aro you a son or Adam Tomorrow To-morrow may tell Ah me I wish tho morrow were today and yet I dread t the mornings dawn Would love you more on a pedestal towering to the clouds nnd unattained or kneeling at my feotall mlno own but with I tho dirt of desire on the hands you reach forth to clasp mine Who can rend a womans heart and bo sure Even she herself cannot do that Can I then dare to hope you will understand these heartthrobs trickling through my pen In Inky Indiscretions In-discretions If you do not understand should one reproach the textbook because ho does not read Its moaning aright Spare mo In your reproaches for In lovx tho end sanctifies the means In what on earth have you faith If not In mo If doubts distress YOU now what mean the protestations I of the past I can say no more my selfishness and my hope grow dumb my heart brims over with silence Tho Deity can Invent no greater purgatory than will bo mine If you cannot forgive t your LILIA I IITho Letter Which Reached Him My Dearest Dickdny I not call you by that sweet old pet name once more even though a few days must A r tP z A j tJ ci h it t 0 I ti r lff j kf 1 XI 1 i3 e = I dl i j 0 vi 1 r tft I 1 1 fl II 1 j I U d Dear Richard elapse before tho law will confer upon I mo tho right to own you before the world My dearest that llrst word claims you mine the second tells you that you are still tho dearest of all pm to mo I am hysterical silly delirious with Joy to know that I may soon give myself my-self to you The fact that I am married mar-ried and Its accompanying man I hud quite forgotten May God forgive me you already have for If I err It Is bo causo of you of my love for you Whether I ro < I frHvrs mo does not matter nothing matters now so long M we two love and may begin to live I nm dating this letter the first time In three ycnts for since we purled there have been no dates in my life nothing but n blank a blank only you can help the future to fill and make pregnant with promise In a few days my bonds will ho broken Leonard preferred a separation separa-tion but has consented not to oppose my application for a divorce which already al-ready has been made There1s to be no scandal the utmost secrecy Is to bo observed The judge has oven rashly promised to keep tho case out i III I I I I 1 11 I r f II tt 1 i mAk i I 11 II I tll II i 11 tt I 0 I never needed you so much as now of tho newspapers When the law severs the old bonds It will tie another an-other nuptial knot as soon as you wish With you as my lord and master bondage would ho sweet I have been a wife in no more than name Since Leonard found me cry Ing over your letter on our wedding night wo halo lived our separate lives meeting only at dinner and In society Oh Dick why did Fate and Uncle Sam fail to deliver my former message mes-sage to you Doubtless it Is now In tho Dead Letter office that cemetery of burled hopes I have como to ho thankful that like tho writer my letter let-ter went astray I would not have you say In tho coming years as did tho first occupant of Eden Tho woman tempted me Your full but arouses tho mother Instinct I long to kiss away your hurt as did my own parent In tho days before you came to bo tho embodiment of my Ideal My demigod demi-god yet son of Adam you shall no longer suo at my feet Let me look levelly Into your eyes together we will rise to sunlit heights and forget tho shadows lurking In the valleys of our past Edith tells me you will return homo Sunday I hunger for a sight of you For two years you have kept away your absence was hard to bear but perhaps It was as well I could not I have remained true to the man the world called my husband had you been nearby True Have I been true to hIm Alas my thoughts halo been traitor for none belonged to him 1 wronged him In that I had no Jove to glvo him In aught else God Is my Judge Do you merciful and together we will atone for tho past not In sorrowing sor-rowing penance but In joyous living Dare I como to seo you at your homo and so defy conventions and your mother For you I dare all things even to laying mr heart bare even to tearing away a womans most sacred attribute her modesty and showing myself to you with soul naked but unashamed un-ashamed You need not forbid me I shall come Your sister loves me as you know only less than sho loves her brother Yet I do not need eves Mr as an advocate Let your own heart plead for mo and I do not fear its judgment Judg-ment I never needed you so much as now I am weary fold mo away from tho world In your arms Let us forget for-get in tho dawning of a bettor day the hideous dream of those missing years I nm overwrought nervous tho sudden sud-den drip of salty tears has blinded my eyes nnd tho page Is a blur before mo I know not whether my pen Is loyal to my heart But oUOU understand under-stand when I only hint at what I daro not give a voice There are some things so sacred that to reduce them 1 to words would bo desecration I await you Onco before I said como and you heeded not This time I know you will obey for this message will reach yon Heaven and all Its angejs will see It safely to Its journeys end My lovo from Your love LILIA |