“The storm had not burst forth, but the dark clouds were gathering from the four quarters of the horizon, from which lightning and thunder were three years afterwards to burst forth.
“She says that he called upon her as soon as he arrived in New York—the middle of November. She had got to this city in the latter part of October. In the meantime such things had happened here that when the man whom she loved and whose hand she had refused called upon her she declined to see him alone, and she says: ‘I saw him at the Navarre. I would not see him alone. He came into the room and sat beside me and said: “What is the matter with you?” and I said: “I don’t care to speak to you because I have heard certain things about you.” He said he did not understand, and wanted me to tell him.
“‘I told him that I had heard terrible stories. He said, “Poor Evelyn! They have deceived you!” I told him that Mr. White had taken me to Abraham Hummel’s office and that they had showed me papers which they said were filed in a suit by a young woman against him. He said, “Poor little girl! You can believe them if you wish.” The interview lasted ten minutes. I persisted I did not want to have anything to do with him. At the parting he kissed my hand and said no matter what happened he would always love me and I would be an angel to him.’
“Gentlemen, I ask you to picture yourself in the state of mind Harry Thaw was in when he received such a greeting from the woman he loved—the one he had parted from but a few weeks ago; the one he had sworn to devote his whole life to. I ask you to imagine what his condition of mind was when he returned to New York and found that she had had her mind so poisoned against him again by the man who had been the cause of all her misfortune.
“She would allow White to fill her mind with these terrors of Harry Thaw to such an extent that she refused to see Harry Thaw alone. And what must have been the condition of mind of that poor man when he exclaimed, ‘Oh, poor, deluded Evelyn!’ and stooped and kissed her and then parted, as she believed, forever from her.
“Gentlemen, what was the condition of his mind is pictured to your eyes by documents of immeasurable worth, telling the story of this epoch in Harry Thaw’s life.
“The series of letters that voiced the wail that came from his suffering soul is unparalleled in history from the time of the Greeks to the present day.
“He wrote to her the day after he had kissed her hand and parted from her—she thought for all time—he wrote: ‘Yesterday I saw you—you believed everything false people told you. Poor little Evelyn! You have fallen back into the hands of the man who poisoned your life—who poisoned your mind. I have no reproaches to heap on your head, for I know you are honest.
“‘I must fight this battle alone.’ his letter went on. ‘I should have bet every cent in the world three weeks ago that no hypnotism in the world could have made you turn on me.’
“If this man (Hummel) who sat upon that chair and perjured himself in your presence—had he kept away with his smooth tongue and professional tricks and devices, poor little Evelyn Thaw would not have turned away from her the man who loved her and who was ready to sacrifice his life for her.