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Show 1 LOVE and MARRIED LIFE tij, the noted author j Idah MGlone Gibson j HELEN'S LETTER Helen's leiter heaan "Kathenne, Dear: Nearly every j friend I had in the world has failed l me. and I am rather curious to know just who you whom 1 have elwjiys considered my oldest and best friend, will do when you hear from others what I have done. In my own heart 1 am sure, dear, that you will undersiand, even thOUgb you may not approve. If you do not can not understand, then 1 shall have to pas judgment on myself as :t woman set apart from her kind; one of those women of whom one often reads, but never meets, one that, someway. I never believed in -a thoroughl bad woman. I shall le lo say to myself that no other v.. .nu n mi conceive of emotions emo-tions and pa.-sions so strong that thev batter down all one's preconceived ideas of right and wrong. I am quite sure, Katberine. dear, that you recognised recog-nised the growing ini'-rest between Robert an.i nj' when you visited me last summer 1 don't know just when oui i" blossomt d mil Bin. oh, deai heart, I am afraid to look Into the future fu-ture too far, for fear I shall see the fading of that tlowcr of hope and faith and tender passion' Bul l' binned im bojUs behind me and said to tbe world what 1 have so often said to myself the last few-months. few-months. 'The world Well lost, am! all for love.' "It Wasn't a ease of love at first sight With Hob and me 1 think my first reaction in regard to him was that of pity, for Hob is so essentialh re-arious. He Ipyei to be with his fellow-men and after thi first bshy was bom I do nol think that Ruth waa was ever in a restaurant, a public plat e of amusement, w ith the excep-tion excep-tion of occasional visits to her mother or to some particular! close friend rlCiure ot Lununcaj You probably do not know what a picture of disconsolate lonliness Bob presented for a while among the old crowd. He was scrupulously prope? in bis attention to all of us, but parti l suppose because of my Bympathj and partly because we bad been Bucb uood triends, h- began more and mCTS lo seek my company. "Honestly, (Catherine, neither of us had the sllghtesl idea of wroninc Ruth in nny particular. I wondei II ;( n w oman dot e baA e such an idea 1 ' first?) Ruih is a fine woman and a spelndid mother, but because she is all mother, when Rob had given hei her children she lost all interest in him in their care. "1 do not know when 1 began to lose ray appreciation ot the dilferenco be-tw'eon be-tw'eon friendship and love. I mean. I do not know friendship ended and love began For a long time I unconsciously uncon-sciously found msell lookinK for Rob B fae- at every gathering I attend; tu, without uuite realizing bow WMiM I had grown to depend upon his pres ence lor my contentment. - ii was, I think 1 comprehended j sooner than he where we had drifted and the very manner in which I tried to break up the intimacy brought on 'the denoument 1 most dreaded In keeping away from Rob 1 only made him feel that 1 was more necessary to . h.'s comfort. Calls on the Phone ; " After I had kept out of his sight for ihree or four days days that 'seeimd an eiernit to me he called ; me on the phone and said he must see me. I v. as sick with longing for the I slghl of his dear face and I tried to placate my conscience by saying that ii should !) for the last time When he came into my fining room, however, how-ever, he stood looking at me for a moment and then opened ins arms and 1 walked straight to them. I expect that it is only given to mortals to experience ex-perience such ecstacy as I knew at that moment, but once in life. "But soon came the reaction. I broke awa from Rob's clinging arms and wo stood looking at each other in consternation. "'What have we done?' I asked. What shall we do?' he asked in i turn. 4(g " "Ruth must never know.' I said. " 'Ruth must know immediately, ' he answered. " "I shall go away and neer see you again ' 1 declared. ' 'Vou will Btay nchi here, where my arms can find you, any time, and. suiting the action of the word, he drew me close to him again' J "'But Ruth loves you! You are the I fathfr of her children!' Mo Effect on Her Heart " Ruth does not love me, although 1 1 am the taihr ot her children Ruth loves her children and is grateful to 'me for them. The knowledge ot ybui ; love and mine mav hurt her pride, but ; it will have no effect upon her heart. Why, my dear, should we make ourselves our-selves perfectly miserable in all the years to come, for the sake of what the world ma) say in connection with j its preconceived ideas of Ruth's life ! and nun-- ' "Katherine, I loved him loved him f so that I do not believe I would have h been strong enough not to have taken him from Ruth at any cost. I humbled my pride and went to Ruth and told I her just what 1 have told you. Then I 1 knew that Rob was right, her pride f was touched, but not her heart, for she J said to me: I " 'Take him. but I want to tell you that he is not worth the taking. He j certainly is not worth the keeping. 1 hae all that life can give to make me happy my children, and I shall be (happier when I know that I "will not I I have to divide their love with an- one!'" My mind refused to picture a woman j like Ruth 1 stopped reading for a moment to get used to the idea. Tomorrow Helen's Punishment Y oo I |