THE DEAD LETTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 19 October 1907, Page 4

THE DEAD LETTER.

Because Jeremy Tresize had no capacity for control and because he was burn to serve, people passed continually over his head, and ambitious youngsters regarded him as a pleasant obstacle, a mere preliminary hurdle, leading up to the dillicult water-jump beyond which lay the winning-post of promotion. And since it shamed the Service that a man oi middle-age should take orders from those once his juniors, the Postmaster of Mercester set Jeremy Tresize ill the Dead Letter OJliee, to work beside women and under a woman's control, It is an immutable law in the Post Olliee that all dead letters must first be opened by a man, lest the morals of the female stall' be harmed by their contents; and before such letters could be sent back to the writer* withan explanation of their non-delivery it the duty oi Jeremy Tresize to scan them hurriedly through. And if in all other things he had tailed signally, he was at leaVt admirable in this. lie would have perished rather than have allowed even an ardent love-letter to pass his censorship, and for the smallest hint of written unconventionality he had an unerring eye. So that when the Postmaster asked Mi-n tlic controller of the branch !iu\v lereinv did hU wurkj,th;it lad t \ u]) her quite line eyes ami spid iniii"Air Tresize is all tlml 1 can desir"' lie is so careful with his work, ami an excellent example to ni.v girls!" and when .Miss Moggs had gone out of the room the Postmaster repealed her -,|.eeeh to his chief clerk, and the chief clerk laujiheil out aloud anil said "1. always told you that Tresize was an old woman, sir!" Hut although Jeremy had heen passed over and was a deadhead and a failuie, he \va< very happy. For. as il in coinpi'iisation lor his ollicial failure, his .luiiiiMie life had heen a great succ,'S>. lie had. for his -tathm. a more than sullicieiit income—havhei private means over and above his salary and hi-> wife was. at once, competent and goodtempered. She was a well-looking,well- • preserved, gentlc-tongued creature, n..l without intelligence, and how she had come to marry her husband no onecouh. ever make out. i'.nt huw any given woman ever came to marry any given and Vice versa, is a f |Uestion often ; ,.|;,.il hv (and about) lis all. (in ;l eeifain l.'dh of May ft do not mention the year, though he remembers it with extreme definition) Jeremy■ > interim- mechanism began to indicate to liini that the acceptable iumr tor luncli wa- at hand, lie glanced at the clock. It' still wanted another two minutes to one (at which time lie was due to go oil dutvl. ami with il.at eonsc.en rousWhich endeared him to Miss Map. picked up another hand!til oi letters lu.gun to open them. Smhleiiiv his eye caught a familiar name. ami. hardlv conscious of his action lie balan.nl an unopened envelope in hi- hand. Then, with nervous fingers, lie „l:d under the envelopes Hap the little dagger-penknife with a cross for handle (aWwnl from his wife), ran it aloii" the clue, and pulled out the contents with a jerk. They were a sheet of liotcpaper and a postal order tor a .-ainea, Jeremy plucked cliaractensticallv 'it hi- -brown beard, smoothed out the folds'of the paper, according to his lung habit, and read on. And when he had read the letter ami read it aeain. he dropped il on the desk and I -;;t 'tarhiK lieforc him with blank, un-

teeing eyes. At last he picked up the postal onlre and put if into the paper, as he had found it, and put the paper back into (lie envelope again. And then, furtively, lie thrust the "envelope into his pocket and went home in his office tout, a thing which he had never done before in all bis thirty year.,' service. For the envelope wan addrctsed to Iu» wife. And because the address was illcorrect it had been indors-d as uiuleliverable and had come In (he Dead Letter Ollice to be returned to the sender. lie walked home, blindly and with staggering feet. As he went up the little tiled walk to his villa (which was brand-new. in a brand-new street, and wan called Chat sworth) his wife opened the door and stood smiling before him. And because she was glad of his coming she failed lo nee that anything unusual had happened. So, according to hei cuslcin. .-lie ki-scd him gently—as she ilid all lliins' ;'nd look' his hat from hi-, head and it in the hall. Jeremy caught at his wife's arm and pushed j'.ei' in!« the dining-room. '•You're a bad woman!" he cried wildlv. "A regular bad lot!" Mrs Tresis"' stared at him in utter amazement,

■•.leveiuy'.'' -lie i'urowiug out jiroi•:-i1 hands. Hi,f. ],(. tlini=t her roughly from liiin jinil I'""'''! lb* onv«'li>|K! from his poeket. "This i> endcneef' lie erieii, with nil delight at si l iking tin- "lie heing v.-lid had treated llim well ill liis l'.iisrrahle little life. Anil lie Hung tin- letter in his wile's face. ■Tead that! ' lie eried. ''Head tlitil!" 'i'lio thrown envelope eaught Mrs'J'reM'/.e under the eye and tore Hie shin, so that a thin red iine showed. irregularly, nil her bloodless ehoeks. But slicstooped iin.l pieked the envelope from the ~r „ HU«I siH'l divw .lilt (lie paper gently 'l:is <li.. did all thing-—and began to . • Tl ■lereinv was lie-ide liiinsol! now. M ..rvin-d a- if all I he vi-es whieh lie lud Wen without for a lifetime liad eome jo him, suddenly and in overwhelming fore-. "Co to your Ivy,-! 1 as lie asks!' lie rjrT "and Ihiv tlie ticket as he tells vnu. Vml t:1 ki- the train to London, and never let 1110 see yoii or hear from you a^iiii!" ' Then, fox live full minutes, lie went

utterly mad, and raved at Mi's Tresize like one possessed of a devil. And in his madness he used words that were new to him —words of which he didn't even know the meaning. And among them lie said many things that no woman should ever, in her heart, forgive. Yet Mrs Tresize let him speak. Then, suddenly, he collapsed and sank into a chair. "You'rn a bad woman!'' he repeated again and again, for lie had come to the end of Jus vocabularv.

His wife stood in front of him, silenl still; buther hand which held the lettei trembled, and her whole body swayed and shook. And she leaned against the sham marble mantelpiece to steady herself.

Then with an effort she found voice. "Listen to me, Jeremy Tresize," she said. '"You are almost an old man and I am still a young woman, and I've never yet wronged you iu word or deed since you married me fifteen years ago. Put in my heart I wronged you before that <lay. and before I leave you I am going to tell you what i always kept hid for your sake. When T married you I never loved you; I loved nobody else, it's true, but I don't love you as—as a girl should lova the man she's going to marry, i married you because I wanted a comfortable home and because you weir coiui'oriablv oli", and my life va< miser-

I able in my parents' house. Afterwards I cam;.' to lov you—in spite of all your lit tie. weak ways—and I made you a good wife if over woman did. Hut tlrs is a judgment on me for marrying you when no love was in my heart, and 1 see you can't trust me, and I. wouldn't stay with you now if you promised ever so and swore you believed mo to be speaking God's trulh—which it i-s. For tills letter isn't mine and isn't meant for me, aird—and—but it's no good saying any morel" And the envelope, falling from lu-r fingers which relaxed their hold, lluttered, almost reluctantly as it seemed, to the lloor. Then Mrs Tresize, without looking at her husband, turned on her heel and went out of the room, shutting the door gently after her. I Ami Jeremy, a bundle of irresolution and nervousness, sat ashukc in his chair, looking at the letter on the hearthrug. Upstairs, iu the bedroom overhead, his wife crossed and rei-rossed the floor, opened and shut cupboard and wardrobe, in preparation for departure. Presently she came into the room again with a dressing-bag in her hand, "(iood-byc!" she said coldly.

"(Jood-bye, Mary!" stammered Jeremy The door of the dining-room closed upon Mrs Tresize, and then the front door .shut as well. But Jeremy, incapable of movement, sat ashakc ill the chair, staring at the letter on the hearthrug. How long lie sat there lie doesn't know; he was conscious only of unsuccess in everything to which he had set his hand. AU his life bad been a failure except hism arriage. Now that was a failure, too. Somehow it didn't seem to matter whether his wife was innocent or guilty. It was of himself that he thought. And lie saw himself naked, and was ashamed for the weakling that he was.

Jlabit—ami Jeremy more than most men was a creature of habit—led him back to the Post 'Ofliee. But before he went he took the letter which lay on the hearthrug and put it into his pocket again. Vet all interest in it was gone; it was only of Jeremy Tresize, the failure, that he thought; for the moment., even his wife was forgotten.

When lie reached the Dead Letter Oiliee he sat down in his accustomed seat and began to open the envelopes in front of him, one by one. But his thoughts wandered and his censorship was not; so that the morals of the young women whom .Miss Maggs habitually described as "my girls" were much in jeopardy. Nevertheless, he worked blindly oil. An imposing personage, frock-coated and gold-braided, came pompously into the room and whispered to the controller at her desk. She nodded.

"Mr Tresize!" she said, and beckoned to Jeremy, who shuffled forward. "The Postmaster wants you in his room/' she vent 011. "Stainton will take you down."

"•Follow me, Mr Tresize," said the pompous person, in a thick voice. And Jeremy mechanically obeyed.

It was his wife—his wife that had come to tell the Postmaster that she was going to divorce him, he thought, dimply. Perhaps she had come to ask how it could be done, ilis too neighborly knees almost refused to carry him further: but Stainton, ahead, bore 011 like a Juggernaut, and Jeremy followed, as if held by a magnet. "Mr Tresize, sir!'' cried the great man, throwing open the door of the Postmaster's room. And he stepped aside and half-pushed, half-coaxed Jeremy forward. "Good afternoon!" said the Postmaster genially. But Jeremy was too dazed to return the salutation. His wife was not there—he saw that at once; but he felt that she must be somewhere about—perhaps behind tin* big screen in the comer of the room, like an injured person in a novel, and would conic out and denounce him at tiie proper moment. Then, Woking mum!, he saiv beyond the Postmaster, not his wife, but two alert, active-look-ing men, whose faces lie did not know. One of them got up and strolled across to the fireplace. "Perhaps you would like to put the questions, Mr Lambert':" he asked, turning to the Postmaster.

The Po »t master nodded. "I want to talk to you about a very important matter,'' he said. "Ami, with the permission of these gentlemen, I'm going to take you into the Department's confidence."

ne paused and looked hard at Jeremy Then he went- 011:

"Two days ago these gentlemen sent a test-letter to catch a postman who was suspected of stealing. The letter was addressed to a house on his walk wliiclt didn't exist, and if he had been honest he would have endorsed it as undeliverable and have liandcd it back to the Superintendent; but he didn't. And these two gentlemen from London tackled him this morning and had his house searched, and found a box full of stolen letters; but this particular letter wasn't there. And he swears he never stole it, but that be endorsed it and put it. in the (Superintendent's box as a Dead Letter. Now. (.here isn't a trace of it, and the Superintendent hasn't seen it, and if tlic postman's story is true, someone else must have stolen it and there have been two thieves in the olliee. But there's-just tl*j chance that, somehow or other, it got through the Dead Letter Olliee, and I want to know if meniber dealing with it. It had a postal order for a guinea in it, and was addressed " ~

lie bruke off and turned to the older of the two men from London.

'How was it addressed, Mr Slolces? It was to the Superintendent that you gave particulars, X think." Mr Stokes opened a hull', ollicial, foolscap cover and drew out a slip of paper. "it was addressed to Mrs Tresi/.e, a! 18 Camelot iload, Mureester," he said. "Mrs Tresize!" cried the I'oSluia.-ler. ''Dill 1 thought it was a lictitie.'- aildress. And there is a Mrs Trcsbv in .Mureester, and here is Iter husband!' .Mr Stukea looked a little crestfallen.

"There was not one person of the name in the Mureester Directory," he explained. "I chose it for its lUlcoinmonucni. And there's certainly no such number. There are less than two hundred bouses in Camelot lioad!"

'Well, well," put in the Postmaster cheerfully, ''it's only another coincidence, And perhaps Mr Tresi'/.e will be able to help us all the more now. hor if he has just dealt with a letter with his wile', name oil it he is the more likely 'to remember it!" And he united encouragingly at Jeremy. "Sow, Tresize," he said. l!ut Jeremy, with the letter burning a hole in his pocket, and his poor knees trembling together more neighborly than ever, shook his already shaking head.

"I — 1-—I never saw it!" he stammered, purple villi teal'. And his foolish hand clutched at his coat pocket as lie spoke. The younger of the two men from London si coped quickly out Iroin behind l.he I'ostniaMer and faeed Jeremy, looking him full in the eyes. "You never saw it!" lie repeated, slow ly, and with equal emphasis 011 each word.

tlercmy struggled hard io utter a negation. but lus lips refused their olliee and trembled, neither shut 1101' open. 'the other mall's hand shot swiftly forward.

"'fhe letter is in your pocket!" he, cried accusingly. Jeremy managed to shake his head, but lie could manage no more. And. from his pocket, Mr Stokes drew the envelope lhat he sought. "Here is the second thief!" he said. "Two in one day isn't bad, eh?"

Jeremy looked hopelessly at the Postmaster. whose eves were on the triunw pliant Mr Stokes. "I can't understand at all," lie said. "Trcsizc is the very last man in the tJwt I should suspect!"

"The very last man is always the first to look for in these cases/' said Mr Stokes sententiously. "Now about searching his house and giving him into eustodv'r"

'I can't help thinking there's some mistake. Trcsize is not a thief, I feel sure. And, after all, the letter was addressed to Mrs Tresi/.e. He might have thought »

Then, at the mention of his wife's name the cords of .'Jeremy's speech was loosened, and, for the second time that day, lie spoke his thoughts. And in his distress tlie weak man waxed strong and his words carried conviction, even to unwilling ears. Whpn he had finished, there was silence for a while. Then the Postmaster looked interrogatively at Mr Stokes, who looked affirmatively back. The Postmaster inflated his chest and drew himself up and played the official where he should have played the man; for lie had risen from the ranks, and had all the brutalitv of the self-made.

'"Vou can Tresize," he said. "The Department will take no further notice ol' the matter: and 1 leave your punishment- to your wife!"

So Jeremy sidled out and up the •dairs into tlic Dead Letter Office, where hj" sat making believe to work. And

when five o'clock came ho sidled out and downstairs again and home to his villa, for bo had nowhere else to go.

lie put his key into the lock and went into the din ; ng-room, and tea lay on the table, and on the lire a kettle

•sang lustily, in her accustomed chair his wile sat, and in her accustomed way she kissed him genlly as always—and took his two hands iu her own. And when, weeping as no woman weeps, lie sobbed and said: "I thought you had gone!"' she looked at him with kind and gracious eyes.

<! l had to come back to you!" she answered, very simply.