“One night when I came home from school, I found a letter from the Alexian Brothers’ hospital, telling me of the severe illness of Jack, and that if I would see him alive, I must come at once. My heart was almost bursting with its strain of conflicting emotions. At one moment I was on the mountain top, filled with joy at the thought that he had not forgotten me; the next, down in the valley of despair, fearing his death.
“I told mamma the whole occurrence, and while she did not approve of an acquaintance made in such a way, she concluded to go with me to the hospital. When we arrived we talked to the nurse a few moments, and she told us that he had constantly called for Carrie in his delirium. He never mentioned my last name, and as a last resort they thought of looking through all his effects to see if there was anything among them which would throw light on the subject.
“In his coat pocket they found his last letter to me, which he had evidently not sent for some reason, and in this way they learned my address. They thought it best for mamma to remain outside at first, until they saw what effect, if any, my presence had upon him.
“I went up to the cot and kneeled beside it, putting my cool hand on his burning forehead, and whispered ‘Jack’ very softly.
“He ceased his ravings and seemed to be listening. I repeated his name and he murmured ‘Carrie.’
“That was the turning point in his disease. The fever abated and I continued to visit him almost daily, sometimes in company with mamma, sometimes alone. Mamma liked him very much indeed, and soon lost sight of the way I met him.
“When he had recovered sufficiently to go out, he came over to our house. He won papa over directly, a feat I had feared far more than that of winning mamma, for he was so set in his ways. He improved the first opportunity to ask papa for my hand, and he consented on condition that we wait one year at least, for he thought I was too young to assume the responsibilities of married life. So it was arranged. I continued with my shorthand, and after I finished found a nice position in a lawyer’s office.
“Jack would give me no peace until I would consent to marry him secretly. He said he was afraid he would lose me. So one day we stole away and were married. He was very tender with me, and taught me the beauty of married relations, so slowly and gently, that I was not shocked, as I might have been had he been different. To outward appearances he was only the devoted lover and I, being his fiancee, he was allowed to call as often as he chose and stay as late as he liked, for my parents had implicit confidence in him.
“One day, six months after we were married, a strange man called at the office to see me. I met him with a great deal of trepidation, fearing, I don’t know what.
“‘Is your name Carrie Barnes?’ said he.