Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1910 — MYSTERY SOLVED [ARTICLE]

MYSTERY SOLVED

Whittemore first saw her at the opera. It wds her sweet fhce that attracted him. a face that bespoke some great sorrow. She kept her eyes turned upon the stage, but he noticed that it was where there was acting rather than music. All those in the box with her were chatting during the opera, while she, resting her cheek on her hand and her arm on the rail, her figure partly covered by a curtain, seemed to be absorbed by her own dreams. The opera was “Faust.” During the scene where Mephlstopheles and the nurse are walking in the garden'and Faust and Marguerite are singing their love she turned her eyes away, and they fell on Whittemore in the parquet, his head turned toward her, his eyes fixed Intensely on hers. She blushed slightly and looked again at the figures on the stage. "When the opera was ended and all rose to go. Whittemore was watching her box. An elderly man put a wrap around her shoulders, and the others of the party were also getting ready to leave. Whittemore watched to see some of them speak to her; but, though they were chatting with eagh other, no one said a word to her. Then they an went out, and it seemed as if the electric lights had been turned off. • Winter passed into summer, and Whittemore went to the seashore. The morning after his arrival at bathing time be strolled down to the beach. There, sitting under a sun umbrella, was the girl he had seen iiT-the opera. She was peering far out where the water and the sky met, and here and there a glint of sunshine on the horizon bespoke a sail. She was alone. Whittemore would have given worlds for some one to take him to her and introduce him. but he knew no one there. He hid come to be alone and for rest. I,le waited, expecting that some of her friends would join her, but they did not, and after the bathing she arose and went away. As she passed him she started. Evidently she remembered him. The next morning be was at the beach early, watching for her. When she came it was with a party of girls and an elderly man, all in bathing suits. What symmetry! Her hair, instead of being coiled under one of those unbecoming bathing caps, was streaming down her back as it is sometimes worn by very young girls while bathing. All the party save her were talking and laughing. She alone was quiet. Surely she must have some sorrow. The beach was shelving, and few dared venture beyond the breakers. The man of the party took the fair one by the hand and led her beyond their depth. Suddenly Whittemore saw him struggling in the water, The fair one had gone under. With all his clothes on, Whittemore plunged in and brought her out. They stood on the beach, Whittemore presenting a poor appearance in his dripping clothes. The fair one looked at him with an expression so distressed that he thought she regretted that he had saved her. Then, without a word of thanks, she turned and ran away to the bathing house. The man who had taken her beyond her depth had been dragged out of the water, and Whittemore saw him coming toward him. Whittemore, indignant, turned his back upon him and walked away. The next evening he saw the fair one being driven toward the railroad station. As she passed him she regarded him with the same pained glance. Winter came again, and Whittemore, who had detested society for its hollowness, plunged into the gay world, hoping that he might meet the girl who had absorbed his w hole being. He appeared at teas, receptions, balls; he went to the opera, to concerts, everywhere w here music was to be heard. At last at a musical entertainment at the home of one of his most intimate friends he saw her, but where? Sitting alone in a recess, so immersed behind curtains as almost to be indistinguishable! Although he was looking for her, when he found her he was taken completely aback. He stood still and trembled. “Pardon me,” he said. “I am permitted to speak to you here under our mutual friend’s roof, but I will not avail myself of the privilege. Remain here for a few minutes, and I will bring him to introduce me.” Without waiting for her consent be hurried away, found the host and brought him to the recess. It was empty. In vain he dragged the man through the rooms looking for her. She was not in any of the rooms below. They -waited in the hall, and presently she came down, followed by her maid. “Ah!” said the host. “Now I understand. That is Clara Van Cleve, an orphan. She is a deaf mute.” Whittemore went home in great distress. He was desperately in love, but he was a practical man and considered what it would he to be tied to one upon whom there was such a blight? For a week he suffered tor- • ture, then made up his mind that to ' go on through life suffering without ! her would be worse than suffering with her. Then he spent some time studying the deaf mute sign language. This mastered, without calling in any one as a go-between, he wrote to her, intimating that he knew of her misfortune and begging to be permitted to-share it with her. When the' two met the next evening at her home Whittemore astonished her by addressing her by her own method of communication. They soon became engaged, and when married Whittemore found, to his surprise, that her misfortune only drew them closer together and made their married life the happier.