No Beginning, No Ending
…successful physician had not drink tempted me. But “and a hollow unearthly laugh issued from the lips of the man.” I have taken my last and fatal drink. The last was supposed to be “Bottled in Bond” but it proved to be wood alcohol which has not only taken my sight but will, as the doctors inform me, take my life in a few hours. I should not have taken it but after the wreck nothing else would do for I feared the boy was killed.
At the mention of the boy
his figure became rigid and he appeared to be goading himself on to some
unpleasant duty. “Madam, you who have
mourned for your son as dead these twenty-one years, have caused to rejoice now
that once more his life has been spared.
That night so long ago when you thought he lay a corpse he was only
sleeping. It was the same Demon that
has robbed me of the self-respect and manhood that has robbed you of the joy of
your son through childhood. Instead of
giving just enough of the drug to quiet him I gave enough to cause an unnatural
sleep which should last 24 hours. As
you know within that time he lay in his coffin. You know the coffin was not opened again but there was sufficient
air for a four-day-old baby. Thank God
before it was too late I regained my senses and realized my mistake in time to
prevent any more sorrow. My men and I
followed closely after the funeral procession and before the sound of the
wheels had died away we were hard at work.
The child was still breathing though very faintly. He however soon recovered and I have tried
to rear him as I thought you would have and today he is a strong self-reliant
man. I ask you to forgive me. I have tried to make good my mistake. His left arm is fractured as a result of the
wreck otherwise he is safe. My wife and
I will return at once to my home”
But Mary and Amos never
heard the last…