I learned that the information supplied by him had led directly to the sinking of an American transport and the loss of hundreds of lives.
I dont know what most people would have doneBut Ill tell you what I did.
I went straight to my father, who was in the War Department, and told him the truth.
Frederick was killed in the war but he was killed in America shot as a spy.
Oh dear, dear! I ejaculated.
How terrible!
Yes, she said.
It was terrible.
He was so kind, too so gentle And all the time But I never hesitated.
Perhaps I was wrong.
Its difficult to say, I said.
Im sure I dont know what one would do.
What Im telling you was never generally known outside the State department.
Ostensibly my husband had gone to the Front and had been killed.
I had a lot of sympathy and kindness shown me as a war widow.
Her voice was bitter and I nodded comprehendingly.
Lots of people wanted to marry me, but I always refused.
Id had too bad a shock.
I didnt feel I could ever trust anyone again.
Yes, I can imagine feeling like that.
And then I became very fond of a certain young man.
I wavered.
An amazing thing happened!
I got an anonymous letter from Frederick saying that if I ever married another man, hed kill me!
From Frederick?
From your dead husband?
Yes.
Of course, I thought at first I was mad or dreamingAt last I went to my father. He told me the truth.
My husband hadnt been shot after all. Hed escaped but his escape did him no good.
He was involved in a train wreck a few weeks later and his dead body was found amongst others.
My father had kept the fact of his escape from me, and since the man had died anyway he had seen no reason to tell me anything until now.
But the letter I received opened up entirely new possibilities.
Was it perhaps a fact that my husband was still alive?
My father went into the matter as carefully as possible.
And he declared that as far as one could humanly be sure the body that was buried as Fredericks was Fredericks.
There had been a certain amount of disfiguration, so that he could not speak with absolute cast-iron certainty, but he reiterated his solemn belief that Frederick was dead and that this letter was a cruel and malicious hoax.
The same thing happened more than once.
If I seemed to be on intimate terms with any man, I would receive a threatening letter.
In your husbands handwriting?
She said slowly: That is difficult to say.
I had no letters of his.
I had only my memory to go by.
There was no allusion or special form of words used that could make you sure?
No.
There were certain terms nicknames, for instance private between us if one of those had been used or quoted, then I should have been quite sure.
Yes, I said thoughtfully.
That is odd.
It looks as though it wasnt your husband.
But is there anyone else it could be?
There is a possibility. Frederick had a younger brother a boy of ten or twelve at the time of our marriage.