HUNDREDS OF LOVE-LETTERS.

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

HUNDREDS OF LOVE-LETTERS.

BREACH OF PROMISE CLAIM

"DID NOT WANT HER ANY MORE." A bundle of correspondence, comprising between 500 and 600 letters, was handed in at the opening of a recent London action to recover damages for breach of promise, plaintiff being Miss Ansley Kate Lane, aged 28 years, employed as a book-keeper, and defendant, Mr. Frederick David Simmons, aged 29, manager of an ironmongery business. On the pleadings defendant did not admit the promise or the breach, and alternatively he said that the engagement was broken off by mutaal consent, and that there was a condition as to his means, which was not fulfilled. j In opening the ca.se Mr. Haves said the parties met in 1906, and from the begin ning defendant ran after the la.dv, courted her, and naked her to put her faith in mm and trust him. The jury would see howhe grew tired of her, how "he went on humbugging her, and finally how he cast -er back on t'ie marriage market. At first they did not see much of each other, but by January 1, 1908, he was writing to her; — " I try hard to be content and will be so as long as my little girl is satisfied with me, and willing to take me on trust and place faith in me, knowing me on the surface, 60 to speak. This faith from one so dear will always help to guide me."

The next day he wrote : " An overflowing stream of love for you, I darling. . . . Without my little girl I feel lost. No other girl shall steal my heart from thee, presuming there are any silly or blind enough to try. ... To be with you now and lay my head on your i shoulder and give vent to my feelings, j ; . . In future try and piece that faith in me which requires no question. With all my failings, numerous as tlwy are, thank • goodness my principles are good, and I | have always tried to act honourably, and j would sooner cut my hand, off than do anybody a dirty trick." Again on February 28 he wrote : " Some day you will understand my true character. Peculiar as it is, I could not alter it; so, for goodness soke, dear do not make me set my mind firmly against any given thing, for nothing on earth will alter it. From henceforth we can go hand in hand and heart beating to heart. , Sweetheart, good-bye.Witt fondest love, j yours ever." • His Lordship suggested iihat from the letters quoted the jury had got the atmosphere, and fewer selections would suffice. Mr. Hayes went on to say that in June of that year defendant wrote : " Trust me to cherish what I dearly love. If I abuse it, may I receive the punishment I should richly deserve." In September he wrote : " Oh, for the day when I can claim you for ever. If we could peep into th« future and see what it holds for us! Well perhaps it is as well we cannot." Mr. Hayes, continuing, said the lady'} parents gave their consent, and in August 1909, defendant gave plaintiff a diamonc engagement ring, and at a supper-party at her parents' house the engagement wa* publicly announced. j Mr. Simmer intimated that defendanl .did not deny theNpromase. j Mr. Hayes explained that by May, 1910 the parties were making preparations foi the marriage. In the summer defendanl went away on a holiday, and wrote frorr , Rothesay that Scotland was an ideal spo; | for a honeymoon. i Defendant's salary had been 35s a week but in the autumn of .1910 he obtained ; new position, with an increase in salary of £1 a week, in, addition to which he wai working on commission, and had a con siderable sum saved. Early in 1911 plain j tiff noticed a coolness in defendant's man ! ner, and wrote: "If you like another, o: if you feel you do not like to be tied to nil l any longer, say so." His reply was: 1" My Darling Kitty, You ought to bi Ihere with me now," and later. "Sweet ■ heart, have no doubt I love you .as muci as ever I did, and still think and hope w< shall reach happiness eventually." At length, however, the lady wrote oi May 25, 1912, to test defendant's love am affection : V "My ©ear Boy—lt's not the slightes use going on like this. I feel bound t write for the last time and say good-bye It is far better that I should suffer for ; week or eo now. I am absolutely tirei of waiting for you- Last year I though it would be this year. This year it is t be next; and so it goes on." Defendant went to see plaintiff tha night, and having expressed his 6orrow they made it up, and he confirmed the in ■ terview with a letter. On April 18, 1915 however, he wrote, asking to be release

, ; from his engagement, .giving as his reason his home affairs. She answered in a ' letter, in which she .said : , "My Darling,— you did' not love roe I would say no more, but I firmly believe 1 you will want me some day, and I will ; wait. ... I love you with all my ' heart, and no other man can take your f place. ... I want you, and evervl thing may go as long as I can have you." J Defendant replied that she was making ! it far harder for both than should be neces- ' ' sa-ry. On New Year's Day he told her i that he did not want her any more, and ; ' four days Liter, when out for a walk, he • said he did not love her. 3 At the close of counsel's opening the J bearing was adjourned, his Lordship sug- ' geeting that it was a case in which both 1 parties might reasonably compromise.