and wipes his perspiring forehead again and again. He leans over her
shoulder to read. The writing is large and distinct:


Thursday Afternoon, Nov. 30.

MY DEARLY BELOVED WIFE AND WIDOW:

It may be barely possible that I have lived these years of shame and
degradation to some good purpose, and for the following reasons: The
man whom you now love so well--the man whom you are about to
marry--George Harpwood--is an adventurer and a criminal.

I inclose documents which show that on Monday, the 4th of August, 1873,
this George Harpwood, described and photographed, married Mary Berners,
who now lives at Crescentville, a suburb of Philadelphia. She bears
the name of Mrs. Mary Harpwood, and has not been divorced to her
knowledge. Beside deserting her, Harpwood robbed her and reduced her
to penury.

I inclose documents showing that five years earlier, or on Wednesday,
the 8th of January, 1868, George Harpwood eloped with a child wife,
Eleanor Hastings, and basely deserted her within four weeks. She now
resides with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Moses Hastings, on Ox-Bow Prairie,
a few miles south of Sturgis, Michigan.

It is my request that the little store and its belongings, including
the bank account of Robert Chalmers, so-called, be given to the widow
of the late Walter B. Corkey.