Show kathleen norris says Return returning iii 9 husband brings tragedy bell syndicate features 1 q A 7 I 1 she has loved peter all her life he is her ideal of a husband and father lie ile loves little bob as if he were the childs own father and he idolizes baby mollie by KATHLEEN NORRIS T TERE ERE is a real puzzler and H I 1 1 a sad tragedy too I 1 am at a loss what to advise rosamond kay who writes me a charming letter from east st louis hers is one of those problems that can be solved only in her own heart she must weigh the claims of the two men in her life one against the other and decide which is the real claim rosimond rosamond was married seven years to robert she was then 20 she loved him very truly and when he was numbered officially among the dead in tunisia she grieved for many months then she married peter by robert she had a son now five years old by peter she has a daughter just one year old rosamond is 31 she writes me that her heart aches for robert coming home tired and sad after a long and agonizing imprisonment and illness but she says she has loved peter all her life he is her ideal of a husband and father he loves little bob as if he were were the childs own father and he idolizes baby mollie rosamond has to meet in a week or two and she know what to do for robert is living and coming home to rejoin his wife and child petes finer in every way he has my letter now explaining the situation writes rosamond it was a terrible letter to write I 1 was prostrated with the shock of knowing that the man who was actually a ghost to me was coming back these years with peter have been heaven he is the more successful man the more popular the finer in every way robert is of a moody jealous nature he was always unhappy if I 1 took bob to visit my mother he dis liked my having guests in the house he made enemies in his business we had not been married long before I 1 spent many hours in tears and doubt and realized the extreme difficulty of the path I 1 had chosen to emerge from all this into the security and joy of peters companionship his enthusiasms and plans was to come out into the sunlight after a time of shadows I 1 really had mourned robert I 1 wets was genuinely shocked by his reported death but after that I 1 learned what true married felicity can be now as to the children bob is a shy affectionate little fellow who clings to me he has all but recovered physically from a bad session with infantile paralysis but it has left him dependent nervous he dearly loves mollie who is a fat riotous laughing little tyrant already I 1 cannot bear to separate them and yet it is incont inconceivable elsable that I 1 should take mollie to roberts house robert as a matter of fact has no house no job and not a single living relative also I 1 must say that he always was devoted to bobby and bobby to him although naturally the small boy hardly remembers him now still roberts wife 1 I know the letter concludes that peter and I 1 are not legally married I 1 am still roberts wife shall I 1 return to him or shau shall I 1 ask him tor for a divorce and turn him over to lonesomeness and perhaps heartbreak in my letter etter I 1 said come home and ne we will adjust all ENOCH ARDEN DILEMMA fortunately only a few deiv wives ever have to make the decision that rosamond must it is the enoch arden plot the supposedly dead husband returns to find his wife remarried and happier P ier than she had ever been with w ith him robert was reported dead by the war department during the tunisian campaign many months later rosamond married peter a fine man she had known all her life she already had a son five years old now she has a baby daughter mollie who resembles her father peter this little family is quite happy together peter is successful jolly and affectionate robert has a moody and jealous disposition rosamond nevertheless realizes that robert is really her husband and that he lias has every right to her the shock of losing her after the bitter years of fighting and the misery of life in a german prison camp is almost unbearable to robert he is coming home soon and rosamond will have to face him she know what to do the thought of giving up the delightful life she is now leading to return to a war weary jobless man who at best was inferior to her 7 present husband is almost maddening yet she knows her duty and can see no decent way out these matters you will see your adorable boy and believe me you are welcome despite these strange circumstances I 1 hardly could say less ess he has been fighting to protect these same babies from the hell that was nazi europe his answering letter takes it for granted that I 1 still love him perhaps in a pitying sorrowful way I 1 do peter will only say to me we must do what Is right what in your opinion is right 0 poor rosamond this is a heartbreaking situation to return to robert is more than can be expected of af poor human flesh and blood she might make the effort but to be poor again hardworking hard working again separated from her laughing baby missing peter there is a daily hourly immolation that would call for supernatural per natural graces of an unusual kind roberts jealousy add one more difficult note to a difficult position robert is not apt to give up his place generously when he sees Ro happiness or suspects it he will not subside into the amiable family friend willing to accept the overflow from the completely felicitous s household so I 1 only can recommend prayer to rosamond gods ways are act nci our ways there are unexpected twists and turns and changes in any d domestic crisis that can remove from it all the bitterness and rancor thereas there is a certain mysterious rightness and smoothness about the curing of those ills that are taken t to 0 god in prayer that is the one unfailing answer |