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Speaker 1: Her letters Kate Chopin. She had given orders that she

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wished to remain undisturbed, and moreover had locked the doors

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of her room. The house was very still. The rain

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was falling steadily from a laden sky in which there

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was no gleam, no wrift, no promise. A generous wood

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fire had been lighted in the ample fireplace, and it

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brightened and illumined the luxurious apartment to its furthermost corners.

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From some remote nook of her writing desk, the woman

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took a thick bundle of letters, bound tightly together with strong,

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coarse swine, and placed it upon the table in the

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center of the room. For weeks she had been schooling

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herself for what she was about to do. There was

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a strong deliberation in the lines of her long, thin,

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sensitive face. Her hands, too, were long and delicate and

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blue veined. With a pair of scissors, she snapped the

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cord by the letters together, thus released the ones which

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were topmost slid down to the table, and she, with

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a quick movement, thrust her fingers among them, scattering and

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churning them over till they quite covered the broad surface

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of the table. Before her were envelopes of various sizes

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and shapes, all of them addressed in the handwriting of

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one man and one woman. He had sent her letters

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all back to her one day, when sick with the

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dread of possibilities, she had asked to have them returned.

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She had meant them to destroy them, all his and

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her own. That was four years ago, and she had

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been feeding upon them ever since. They had sustained her,

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she believed and kept her spirit from perishing utterly. Now

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the day had come when the premonition of danger could

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no longer remain unheeded. She knew that before many months repast,

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she would have to part from her treasure, leaving it unguarded.

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She shrank from inflicting the pain the anguish which the

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discovery of these letters would bring to others. To one

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above all, who was near to her, and whose tenderness

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and years of devotion had made him, in a manner

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dear to her, she calmly selected a letter at random

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from the piled and cast it into the roaring fire.

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A second one followed, almost as calmly. With the third,

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her hand began to tremble, when, in a sudden paroxysm,

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she cast a fourth, A fifth and a sixth into

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the flames in breathless succession. Then she stopped and began

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to pant, for she was far from strong, and she

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stayed staring into the fire with pained and savage eyes.

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Oh what had she done? What had she not done?

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With feverish apprehension, she began to search among the letters

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before her. Which of them had she so ruthlessly, so

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so cruelly put out of her existence? Heaven to grant

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not the first, that very first one, written before they

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had learned or dared to say to each other, I

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love you. No, No, there it was safe enough. She

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laughed with pleasure and held it to her lips. What

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if that other, most precious and most imprudent one was missing,

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in which every word of untempered passion had long ago

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eaten its way into her brain, and which stirred her

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still today as it had done a hundred times before.

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When she thought of it, she crushed it between her palms.

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When she found it, she kissed it again and again.

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With her sharp white teeth, she tore the far corner

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from the letter where the name was written. She bit

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the torn scrap and tasted it between her lips, and

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upon her tongue like some god given morsel. What unbounded

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thankfulness she felt it not having destroyed them all. How

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desolate and empty would have been her remaining days without them,

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with only her thoughts, elusive thoughts that she could not

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hold in her hands and press as she did these

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to her cheeks and her heart. This man had changed

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the water in her veins to wine, whose taste had

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brought delirium to both of them. It was all one

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and past now, save for these letters that she held

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encircled in her arms. She stayed breathing softly and contentedly,

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and with the hectic cheek resting upon them, she was thinking, think,

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you have a way to keep them without possible ultimate

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injury to that other one, whom they would stab more

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cruelly than keen nie blades. At last she felt the way.

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It was a way that frightened and bewildered her to

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think of at first, but she had reached it by deduction,

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too sure to admit of doubt. She meant, of course,

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to destroy them herself before the inn came. But how

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does the end? And when? Who can tell? She would

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guard again the possibility of accident by leaving them in

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charge of the very one who, above all should be

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spared a knowledge of their contempts. She roused herself from

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the stupor of thought and gathered the scattered letters once

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more together, binding them again with a tough twine. She

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wrapped the compact bulana tight sheet of white, polished paper.

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Then she wrote an ink upon the back of it,

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in the large, firm characters, I leave this package to

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the care of my husband, with perfect faith in his

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loyalty and his love. I asked him to destroy it unopened.

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It was not sealed. Only a bit of string held

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the wrapper, which she could remove and replace it will

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whenever the humor came to her, to pass an hour

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in some intoxicating dream of the days when she felt

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she had lived. If he had come upon that bundle

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of letters in the first flush of his poignant sorrow,

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there would not have been an instant's hesitancy to destroy

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it promptly and without question. Would have seemed a welcome

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expression of devotion, a way of reaching her, of crying

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out his love to her while the world was still

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filled with the illusion of her presence. But months had

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passed since that spring day when they had found her

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stretched upon the floor, clutching the key of her writing desk,

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which she appeared to have been attempting to reach when

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death overtook her. Day was much like that day a

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year ago, when the leaves were falling in the rain,

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pouring steadily from the leaden sky, which held no glean

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no promise. He had happened accidentally upon the package in

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that remote nook of her desk, just as she herself

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had done a year ago. He carried it to the

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table and laid it down there, staring with puzzled eyes

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at the message which confronted him. I leave this package

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to the care of my husband, with perfect faith in

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his loyalty and his love. I asked him to destroy

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it unopened. She had made no mistake. Every line of

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his face, no longer young, spoke loyalty and honesty, and

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his eyes were as faithful as the dog's and his loving.

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He was a tall, powerful man, standing there in the firelight,

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with shoulders that stooped a little, and hair that was

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growing somewhat thin and gray, and a face that was

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distinguished and must have been handsome when he smiled. But

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he was slow destroy it unopened. He re read half aloud,

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But why unopened? He took the package again in his hands,

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and turning it about and feeling it, discovered that it

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was composed of many letters, tightly packed together. So here

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were her letters, which was asked she was asking him

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to destroy and open. She had never seemed in her

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lifetime to have had a secret from him. He knew

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her to have been cold and fashionless, but true and

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watchful of his comfort in his happiness. Might he not

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be holding in his hands the secret of some other

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one which had been confided to her, and which she

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had promised to guard. But no, she would have indicated

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the fact by some additional line or word. The secret

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was her own, something contained in these letters, and she

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wanted it to die with her. If he could have

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thought of her as on some distant, shadowy shore, waiting

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for him throughout the years, with outstretched hands, to come

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and join her again, he would not have hesitated with

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hopeful confidence. He would have thought, in that blessed meeting time,

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soul soul, she would tell me all till then I

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can weight and trust. But he could not think of

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her in any far off paradise awaiting him. He felt

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that there was no smallest part of her anywhere in

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the universe, more than there had been before she was

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born into the world. But she had embodied herself with

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terrible significance and an intangible wish, uttered when life still

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coursed through her veins, knowing that would reach him when

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the annihilation of death was between them, but uttered with

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all confidence in its power and potency. He was moved

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by the splendid daring, the magnificence of the act, which

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at the same time exalted him and lifted him above

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the head of common mortals. What secret, save one could

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a woman choose to have die with her? As quickly

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as the suggestion came to his mind, so swiftly did

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the man instinctive possession creep into his blood. His fingers

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cramped about the package in his hands, and he sank

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into a chair beside the table. The agonizing suspicion that

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perhaps another handshaired with him, her thoughts, her affection, her life,

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deprived him. For a swift instant of honor and reason.

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He thrust the end of his strong thumb beneath the string,

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which with a single turn would have yielded with perfect

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faith in your loyalty and your love. It was not.

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The written characters addressing themselves to the eye was like

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a voice speaking to his soul. With a tremor of

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anguished he bowed his head down upon the letters. He

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had once seen a clairvoyt hold a letter to his

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forehead and purport in doing so to discover its contents.

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He wondered for a while moment if such a gift

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for force of wishing might come to him, But he

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was only conscious of the smooth surface of the paper,

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cold against his brow, like a touch of a dead

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woman's hand. A half hour passed before he lifted his head.

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An unspeakable conflict had raged within him, but his loyalty

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in his love had conquered. His face was pale and deep,

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blind with suffering, but there was no more hesitancy to

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be seen there. He did not, for a moment think

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of casting the thick package into the flames, to be

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licked by the fiery tongue and charred and half revealed

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to his eyes that was not what she meant. He arose, and,

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taking a heavy bronze paper away from the table, bound

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it securely to the package. He walked to the window,

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looked out into the street below, darkness had come, and

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it was still raining. He could hear the rain dashing

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against the window panes, and could see it falling through

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the dull, yellow rim of light cast by the lightest

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street lamp. He prepared himself to go out, and, when

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quite ready to leave the house, thrust the weighted package

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into the deep pocket of his topcoat. He did not

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hurry along the street, as most people were doing at

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that hour, but walked with long, slow, deliberate steps, not

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seeming to mind the penetrating chill and rain driving into

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his face despite the shelter of his umbrella. His dwelling

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was not far removed from the business section of the city,

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and it was not a great whab before he found

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himself at the entrance of the bridge that spanned the river,

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the deep, broad, swift, black river dividing two states. He

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walked on and out to the very center of the structure.

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The wind was blowing fiercely and keenly. The darkness where

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he stood was impenetrable. The cells and of lights in

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the city he had left seemed like all the stars

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of heavens massed together, sinking into some distant, mysterious horizon,

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leaving him along in a black, boundless universe. He drew

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the package from his pocket, and, leaning as far as

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he could over the broad stonn rail of the bridge,

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cast it from him into the river. It fell straight

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and swiftly from his hand. He could not follow its

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descent from the darkness, nor hear its dip into the

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water far below, and vanished silently, seemingly into some inky,

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unfathomable space. He felt as if he were flinging it

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back to her in that unknown world whither she had gone.

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An hour or two later, he sat at his table

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in the company of several men whom he had invited

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that day to dine with him. A secret had settled

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upon his spirit, a conviction assertatude that there could be

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but one secret which a woman would choose to have

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died with her. This one thought was possessing him and

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occupied his brain, keeping it nimble and alert with suspicion.

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It clutched his heart, making every breath of existence a

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fresh moment of pain. The men about him were no

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longer the friends of yesterday. In each one he discerned

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a possible enemy. He tended absently to their talk. He

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was remembering how she had conducted herself toward this one

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and that one, striving to recall conversation, subtleties of facial

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expressions that might admit what he did not suspect at

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the moment, shades of meeting in words that seemed ordinary.

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In a change of social amenities, he led the conversation

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to the subject of women, probing those men for their

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opinions and experiences there was not one, but claimed some

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infallible power to command the affections of any woman whom

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his fancy might select. He had heard the empty bows

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before from the same group, and had always met it

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with good humored contempt. But to night every flagrant, inane

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utterance was charged with a new meaning, revealing possibilities that

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he had hitherto never taken into account. He was glad

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when they were gone. He was eager to be alone,

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not from any desire or intention to sleep. He was impatient.

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Who had gained her room that ruin which she had

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lived a large portion of her life, and where he

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had found these letters? There must surely be some of

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them somewhere, he thought, some forgotten scrap, some written thought

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or expression, lying unguarded by an invisible command. At the

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hour when he usually retired for the night. He set

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himself down before her writing desk and began the search

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of drawers, slides, pigeon holes, nooks and corners. He did

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not leave a scrap of anything unread. Many of the

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letters which he found were old, some he had read before,

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others were new to him. But in none did he

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find the faintest evidence that his wife had not been

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the true and loyal woman he had always believed her

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to be. The night was nearly spent before the fruit

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of search ended. The brief, troubled sleep which he slashed

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before his hour for rising, was freighted with feverish, grotesque dreams,

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though all of which he could hear and could see dimly,

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the dark river rushing by, carrying away his heart, his ambitions,

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his life. But it was not alone in letters that

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women betrayed their emotions. He thought often he had known them,

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especially when in love, to mark fugitive sentimental passages and

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books of verse or prose, thus expressing and revealing their

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own hidden thought. Might she not have done this? Then

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began a second and far more exhausting and arduous quest

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than the first, Turning page by page the volumes that

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crowded her room, books of fiction, poetry, philosophy. She had

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read them all. But nowhere, by the shadow of a sign,

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could he find that the author had echoed the secrets

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of her existence, the secret which he had held in

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his hands and had cast into the river. He began

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cautiously and gradually to question this one and that one,

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striving to learn by indirect ways which each had thought

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of her. For the most he learned she had been

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unsympathetic because of her coldness of manner. One had admired

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her intellect, another her accomplishments. A third had thought her

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beautiful before disease claimed her, regretting, however, that her beauty

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had liked a warmth of color and expression. She was

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praised by some for gentleness and kindness, and by others

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for cleverness and tact. Oh, it was useless to try

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to discover anything from men, he might have known. It

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was women who would talk of what they knew. They

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did talk unreservedly. Most of them had loved her. Those

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who had not had held her in respect and esteem.

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And yet, and yet there is but one secret which

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a woman would choose to have die with her. Was

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the thought which continued to haunt him and deprive him

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of rest, days and nights of uncertainty, being slowly to

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unnerve him and torture him. An assurance of the worst

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that he dreaded would have offered him peace to most welcome,

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even at the price of happiness. It seemed no longer

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of any moment to him that men should come and

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go and fall, or rise in the world, and wed

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and die. He did not signify if money came to

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him by a turn of chance or eluded him. Empty

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and meaningly seemed to him all devices which the world

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offers for men's entertainment, the food and the drinks that

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before him had lost their flavor. He did not longer

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know or care if the sun shone or the clouds

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lowered him. A cruel hazard had struck him there where

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he was weakest, shattering his whole being, leaving him with

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but one wish in his soul, one gnawing desire to

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know the mystery which he had held in his hands

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and cast into the river. One night, when there was

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no star shining, he wandered restlessly upon the streets. He

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no longer sought to know from men or women wi

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they dared not or could not tell him. Only the

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river knew. He went and stood again upon the bridge,

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where he had stood many an hour since that night,

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when the darkness then had closed around him and engulfed

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his manhood. Only the river knew. It babbled, and he

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listened to it and told him nothing, But it promised all.

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He could hear it, promising him with caressing voice, peace,

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in sweet repose. He could hear the sweep, the song

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of the water, inviting him a moment more. And he

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had gone to seek her, and to join her and

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her secret thought, and the immeasurable rest