WOMAN'S INFATUATION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 99, 28 April 1908, Page 7

WOMAN'S INFATUATION.

The love of Mrs Hough, of Dcs Moines, lowa, for Mr Cottrell, a member of the lowa State Legislature, has been made the text of a remarkable speech by the lady to a local society to which she belonged, and in which she held a £400 policy of life insurance, according to a Daily Mail account. Although she hsid an estimable husband and was the mother of children, Mrs Hough fell in love with Mr Cottrell, who was a married man with a fortune of £100,000. There were separations, divorce suits, and eventually reconciliation. The public had supposed . the scandal over when her local society summoned Mrs Hough to take her trial on the charge of immorality. The society's Committee on Morals had obtained two letters written by Mrs Hough to Mr Cottrell. After these had been read aloud, Mrs Hough, pale and resolute, though shaking with emotion, said : "My sisters, you have never loved. I knew it was wrong, but could not help it. He was so fine, so good. His love made pain pleasure and turned grey skies blue. I was like a young girl again. There was no sin. It was pure love. It made me better. Not even you could help yourselves if love ever really came to you from a good man. I clon't want to leave you, but my love for the man God made for me is greater than any humiliation. You brand me with shame when you should help and protect me, but my sin is not as great as you imagine." Casting her certificate of membership on the table Mrs Hough withdrew.