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FIDELIA

the fire and, after locking up the others, she wrapped this and carried it up to her room, where she bolted the door.

Here she reread those pages dated at Lakoon, Idaho, and in the valley near there. During her reading, she had to stop several times for the rush of sensations which shortened her breath and caused her to flush and perspire. Twice she shut the book and faltered over her decision; but she finished and took an envelope and wrote, "Mrs. Hartley Bolton, Menton, Oregon." She stamped the envelope and she set herself to compose the enclosure.

Several times she tore up sheets half written but she always went at her letter again until she completed a page which she enclosed in the envelope.

She mailed it in the letter drop on her floor; then she carried down the diary with the burnt covers and replaced it in her trunk. She carried also the torn sheets upon which she had written the unsatisfactory drafts and, taking these to the furnace which heated water for the hotel, she thrust them into the fire.