The story
“Williamson and his wife, Elise, are very happy—until she is obliged to go abroad to the bedside of her dying mother, and the ship is lost. Mrs. Williamson is not reported among the few survivors. In settling his wife’s affairs, Williamson goes through her desk—and is deeply touched to find the letters he had written her during their engagement. But a shock comes when he also discovers another package of love letters, addressed to ‘sweetheart’ and signed ‘Henry.’ For the sake of their little girl, Williamson decides he will never breathe to anyone a word about his wife’s other lover. Shortly after, Mrs. Williamson is found at sea, clinging, with two others from the shipwreck, to an open boat. She returns home—and at first the shock of joy eclipses everything else in her husband’s thoughts—then, the memory of the secret letters comes between him and her. He is on the point of leaving her forever—when she discovers the whole trouble, and proves conclusively that the letters were written to an old school friend, and given to her for safe keeping. She forgives her husband his suspicions, first for the sake of their child—and, later, freely out of the love she bears for him.”
Summary from Reel Life · 17 January 1914
