“I was raised a Christian. I taught a Sunday-school class from the time I was sixteen until I was just turning my eighteenth year. At this point in my life my parents changed their place of abode; the only regret I felt aside from my breaking up of a general friendship, was the fact that I was called upon to leave my sweetheart. “David Strathmore was all to me that any young man can be to a girl who is in love. He had lived in the little village where I was born and raised for twelve years, during which time we had been school-mates, play-fellows, steadfast, youthful friends, and with the true congeniality of our young natures we became lovers early in life. He was constant, true and tender. I had learned to count upon his sagacity in all things. I was not alone in my admiration for him; that is to say, although I was the only girl who really loved him, but think that was because it was a foregone conclusion that marriage was to be the result of our constant association. Everybody who knew him admired him, and that meant nearly every man, woman and child in the locality, for his father was a grain merchant and David had grown up in his business there by coming in contact with almost every citizen. “I had never known what trouble was, and when, on the evening before we were to leave my native town, David and I took a long stroll, I felt as though each step brought me nearer to the grave. “‘But we will be true to each other,’ he said, as he held me in his arms pressing his warm lips to mine. “‘Yes, David, and you will come for me soon, won’t you, dear?’ “‘Yes, Ethel, as soon as I have placed a sufficient sum in the bank to make us a home, I will come for my blue-eyed belle.’ “So with promises of loyal devotion, we parted. “I really liked my new surroundings very much in our new home. The young people were very kind to me and I was soon on a firm footing with the best society of the town. It was a college town and I met a young man who was in his last year of school. “His name was Edward Singleton, and I was more than delighted to know that he and my David were warm friends. That fact bound us closer together, and I did not feel that I was being disloyal to David when I accepted the attentions of his friend Singleton. “He was very kind, a born aristocrat, and soon became devoted to me. “David came to see me as often as possible. At such times Singleton could call with him, but always retired from the scene as soon as propriety would allow. He seemed to know that David and I were engaged. Once when it was time for David to call, he failed. Fearing he was ill I immediately wrote to him to ascertain the cause. His very cold letter informed me that he had come to our town with the intention of making his regular call, but had learned that I was being attended in a very chivalrous manner by his old friend Singleton, and he did not wish to be classed as an interloper, etc.