including
the bank account of Robert Chalmers, so-called, be given to the widow
of the late Walter B. Corkey.

The bitterness of life is yours. But the bitterness of death is mine.

Your husband, who loves you,

DAVID LOCKWIN.

There is a click at the door. The bride hears it not. The documents
fall to the floor. There are photographs of George Harpwood; there are
green seals; there are many attestations.

The bride must raise her eyes now. She sees the star of the officer.
She reads the number--803. Is that from David, too?

Ah, yes, she must turn her head. The bridegroom is gone!

A man enters, in hot haste and intense excitement. Is it the
bridegroom returning?

It is Dr. Tarpion. He seizes her by the hand.

"My dear friend!" he cries. "My dear friend!" he repeats, "I have just
now learned that your husband is still living."

But she does not hear it. She can only look gratefully toward the
administrator, clinging to his hand.

She gazes in a dazed way on the white prescription-booth beyond the
square stove; on the bottles of blue copper-water on each corner.
Higher, the partition rises into view.

She meets the eyes of the officer.

A patrol wagon clangs and clamors down State street. It will stop
before the door.

Officers enter from the patrol wagon. "Where is that suicide?" they
ask in a low voice, seeing a bride.

The officer in charge steps to the side of the bride. He speaks
tenderly--the tenderness of a rough man with a kind heart. "Madam," he
says, "you can go behind the partition and see the body. No one will
come in for a few moments."

The bride rises. She hurries toward the little room where Robert
Chalmers suffered and died.

"Oh, David!" she cries. "Oh, David! Oh, God!"

"I guess we will not need the wagon," the officers say among
themselves, and step out on the sidewalk.

The little clock behind the partition strikes 6.

A dozen factory whistles set up their dismal concert out in the blue
mist.

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's David Lockwin--The People's Idol, by John McGovern

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID LOCKWIN--THE PEOPLE'S IDOL ***

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