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A Hoosier Chronicle by Meredith Nicholson
page 65 of 561 (11%)

Kelton rose and paced the floor. Thrice he crossed the room; then he
flung himself down on the davenport beside Mrs. Owen.

"I don't know, Sally; I don't know! She was high-spirited as a girl, a
little willful and impulsive, but with the best heart in the world. She
lost her mother too soon; and in her girlhood we had no home--not even
the half-homes possible to naval officers. She had a good natural voice
and wanted to study music, so after we had been settled at Madison
College a year I left her in New York with a woman I knew pretty
well--the widow of a brother officer. It was a horrible, terrible,
hideous mistake. The life of the city went to her head. She wanted to
fit herself for the stage and they told me she could do it--had the gift
and all that. I ought never to have left her down there, but what could
I do? There was nothing in a town like Montgomery for her; she wouldn't
listen to it."

"You did your best, Andrew; you don't have to prove that to me. Well--"

"Edna ran off--without giving me any hint of what was coming. It was a
queer business. The woman I had counted on to look out for her and
protect her seemed utterly astonished at her disappearance and was
helpless about the whole matter when I went down there. It was my
fault--all my fault!"

He rose and flung up his arms with a gesture of passionate despair.

"Sit down, Andrew, and let's go through with it," she said calmly. "I
reckon these things are hard, but it's better for you to tell me. You
can't tell everybody and somebody ought to know. For the sake of the
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