Page:Ruth of the U.S.A. (IA ruthofusa00balm).pdf/35

 "Thia." Mail arriving for you, or to arrive at hotel, together with possessions in room will inform you of your affairs more fully. So far as now known you have no intimate friends in Chicago; you are to start Thursday evening for Hoboken where you report Saturday morning to Mrs. Donald G. Gresham for work in the devastated districts in France, where you will observe all desired matters, particularly in regard to number, dispositions, personnel, equipment and morale of arriving American forces; reporting. If and when it proves impractical to forward proper reports, you will make report in person, via Switzerland; apply for passport to Lucerne.

With this, the connected writing abruptly ended; there was no signature and no notation except at the bottom of the sheet was an asterisk referring to an asterisk before the first mention of "mother." This note supplied, "Mother's maiden name, Julia Trowbridge Gifford," and also the street address in Decatur. Below that was the significant addenda:

Cynthia Gail killed in Sunday night wreck; identification now extremely improbable; but watch papers for news. No suspicion yet at home or hotel; but you must appear at once and answer any inquiry.

This last command, which was a repetition, was emphatically underlined. The page of the letter in Cynthia Gail's handwriting was addressed to her mother and was largely a list of clothing—chemises, waists, stockings, and other articles—which she had bought in Chicago and charged to her father's account at two department stores. A paragraph confided to her mother her feeling of in-