Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/139

 And suddenly Hron turned to his wife’s little box again. Did it contain nothing else? Would he find the explanation of this terrible calamity? He remembered that the salesman had drawn his attention to the double bottom when he had bought the box; he had forgotten the contrivance, but now he tried hastily to discover the little hiding-place. He removed the sides, pulled out two ornamental rosettes and there was the bottom. In it were some faded papers, covered with writing in Magda’s hand. They looked like the beginnings of letters, or notes from a diary; loose leaves, torn out of a book.

Hron began to read these sheets; the handwriting varied considerably, they had evidently been written at odd moments on various occasions. He read, and almost forgot to breathe. These leaves were the outpourings and anguished cries of a woman’s soul in despair. If he had had any doubt as to the relationship of the two Magdas, these lines removed them. He saw the whole situation clearly What a fearful discovery! His own, his adored Magda!

Some of the sheets were quite fragmentary:

‘There are worse things than death,’ began