AFRAID OF THE FUTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15504, 10 January 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

AFRAID OF THE FUTURE.

DISILLUSIONED WIFE,

DECEIVED B. HER HUSBAND.

A petition' for a dissolution of her marriage was presented recently In London hv Mrs. .leannette Levi on the ground of the alleged cruelty and misconduct of her hiwband Mr Paul Joseph Lev;.

Mr Hume Williams explained that the 1.i.-i and u.i«. a German by birth, but ■-..•■. settled in England, and bad expressed his intention of remaining here. The parties were married on July i. 1902. at the f\ n.iar'igUP in lireat St Helens, and lived at ::r«t in Mi la rale. At an early date troubles arise owing to the habits of the I island, and by }P,09 tne relations betwtin linn aid his wife were net of the hatH'iest. L.i 100 the only surviving child of the marriage was born, and sub ! sequently the husband began to neglect ' h:« wife and st.iv out till three or four j r'll'xk in the morning He indulged in gambling and became financially em . tiarTassed. li< May, 1911. the wife found ! a r <■•;} ,e u' p'-.l dat.-d clinqut-s in her hus band's font. She thought t"hey were con- I nected with ambling, and asked about them Aft. i . struggle, in which she was i treated with , good deal of violence, he obtained t>os!<'sion of them. In October | i-he found a i -reipt for £500 for a pearl | nerkla. . She asked her husband what bad become of it. and he refused to give auv eiplaniLton. She followed him to v i f ' (Tit<■. and there insisted on knowing to whom the pearls had been given. He said he had pawned thc-ni. Mrs I •"•. . in her evidence, stated that ■with regard to the pearl necklace her husband showed her the pa v:n-ticket. It j seemed that he had bought the necklace ! for £V)Q from a business friend, wno, thinking that it wad for witness, had treated her husband well in the matter. He pawned ,t for £525. Letter from Abroad. Shortly after he went abroad, and on April 16 he -vrole to her:—■ "My Deai Jenny,—l do not know if you will open this letter and read it, as I know all tha' you must feel for mo is hate and contempt I must pit down and open my heart to you One thing let me tell you, Jenny I still love you. arid now as lam far away from yon, 1 realise it more than eve'. I cannot believe that every bit of love you ever had for me is dead now, and if you v ou'«d even tell me so now I could not an i would not believe it. Think of some of those happy days we spent together ; think of that time when our darling baby was born, and that all this should be at an ind now. You have it in your power to g:v-> her her daddy back again. Think of the step you are taking. With one blow \ -a are not going to ruin one life, but t l, e. Let us live somewhere together, oi. 'v for each other and for the child, and perhaps one day you may thank the Almighty that yon forgave me. Jenny, mv h.-wt is too full.—Your brokenhearted., but still loving. Paul." This wijs ! .Bowed by another letter:

'• My iivvn Darling Wife, — As it is your wish. I iim leaving London to-morrow a br i.Ki .1: h -m. a man, who has lost everything which is dear and near to him. I cau a»*uro yr-u that if it would not have been your de.tire for me to go, the darling baby, to whom I am entrusting this last message to you, would have kept me here. I hare done wrong and whatever I am suffering now I deserve ; but there is one tiling let me tell you, that my love for you is as deff as ever, and the last favour I wish to ask is not to let the child think too hardly of me. If you still persist in the course you are taking I only nope and trust that yonr future will be as bright as mine looks black. With all love to you and our darling baby, your brokenhearted, Pact.." Wife's Reply. On May 29 petitioner replied : " I really should not answer your letter, but fed 1 mast let you know something of ray foehngs. Your letter is full of pity for yourself. Have you thought of the pain and suffering I am going through and what my life is going to be? .... I am sure you have not enough feeling to realise what a shock and a blow it has been to me to know that throughout our married life you have been unfaithful to me ; you can never know how I feel this. When I think of leaving our home and all the things that were deal to me, and commencing a n-w life, my heart breaks. You ask, if I havs a scrap of affection left, to forgive you. What affection can I have left? flow did you treat my affection— with extravagance and affection for other women. Have you not done everything in vour power during our eleven years together to kill my affection? You know that for years I loved you, and lived the most unnatural life with you because I thought you were not normal, like other men. You ask me to look into our baby's eyes. ... Did you think of her at night, when you came home and took ner in your arms, kissing her dear, innocent lips, after your own nad been in contact with such abominable things? Oh, don't think me bitter and hard, but you starved every feeling of love and affection in me, and now I rinnot forget all these things. You have outraged every womanly feeling, and made London and my life unbearab'e. If I had not come away I think I should have [rone mad. . . . -Yon say you fit ill love me, but in what kind of way? Well enough, I suppose, to keep your house rloan and get your meals ready. . . . You say my last words to you were cruel. What do you think these thoughts arc to mo? . . . You ask if I remember the happy times we Lave nad together ; aLcht and day I think of them, and then think that throughout those happy times, even when our little darling was born, v"a were spending your time, money, and happiness with other women. If you only "ead between the lines of this letter you will see hoT you have broken my heart. Our darling loves and asks for

you; she a.' wilL I suppose it is your reward for all the misery and unnappiness you have brought into our Jives since her birth. I have held her up to you and tried to make you go straight for cct sake ; evidently it was impossible. Husband's Anxiety. On July 27 Mr. Levi wrote to his wife: *' My Darling Jenny,—For three days I have been trying to meet you . . . but 7. was not lucky enough to catch you. You don't know how anxious I am to have spoken to you, and I waited hours and hours for you, but unfortunately without success. . . . You will, no doubt, know by now that I have put in already a defence into the court, and the reason I have done so, Jenny, is the one only that I am loving you, loving you more than ever, and I have made up my mind to have as hard a fight for you than ever a man had nnde. When I left London, three months, it was only for one reason, and that was to please you and do as you wanted me to do. ... But I can see after this three months that if I go on like this I shall lose you for ever, and now I am going to show you and the world that f am not such a weak fellow as they think me to be, but I will show you that I am a man, a soldier who will fight to his last breath for v hat is dear to him. Jenny, no one known what I have gone through during the la*t three months, but if I had committed murder God could not have pimiehfd me more. Ido not want to tell you lh<» agor.v I went through everv day when I look 'd at your and baby's photo. No human being could describe that; but, Jenny, I also know that you must have suffered terribly, and I feel in my own heart to-day that it is not possible for you to have lost every bit of affection for me. My own heart tells me that in your own heart you do not want to divorce me. . . . Jenny, my darling, I implore you, and if you stood L'i front of me now I would go down on my knees and beg to be forgiven. I know that if once you should get the divorce I have lost you for ever, and., therefore, I am going to defend it. It is my love for you to-day which makes me take this step, and if I cannot win yon back before this case comes on I mast fight it, to try and prevent anybody else possessing yon. I caw only «ay again ana again, that I am going to fight for you to my last breath. Jenny, my darling, you have been a wife to me like you could only find in a million, and I would give my life readily to-day if I could make all that has occurred not have happened Once more, my dearling Jenny. I implore you to forgive and forget for your own sake and that little, darling of ours, and I feel sure that you will bless the day yon will do 80. •nXour losing husband,,'*