All blessings upon you, and may you be
happy.--With tears I sign myself,
'YOUR BROKEN-HEARTED HUSBAND.'
Joseph's absence through the night had all but prepared Clem for
something of this kind, yet he had managed things so well that up to
the time of his departure she had not been able to remark a single
suspicious circumstance, unless, indeed, it were the joyous
affectionateness with which he continued to behave, She herself had
been passing through a time of excitement and even of suffering.
When she learned from the newspaper what fate had befallen Bob
Hewett, it was as though someone had dealt her a half-stunning blow;
in her fierce animal way she was attached to Bob, and for the first
time in her life she knew a genuine grief. The event seemed at first
impossible; she sped hither and thither, making inquiries, and raged
in her heart against everyone who confirmed the newspaper report.
Combined with the pain of loss was her disappointment at the
frustration of the scheme Bob had undertaken in concert with her.
Brooding on her deadly purpose, she had come to regard it as a
certain thing that before long her husband would be killed.
Pages:
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694