Free The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin by Robert J. Begiebing Page B

Coffin laid the book on the table and pushed it toward him, Browne noticed a gold clasp or locking device on the book.
    â€œI have here,” Coffin said, “a curious little book that may answer many of your questions. You may take it up; it is for your study.”
    Browne picked up the book and caressed the soft red leather. Coffin handed him the clasp key, which was strung upon a delicate necklace.
    â€œBy giving this to you, Mr. Browne, I indicate that I will have no more to say upon the matter of Mistress Coffin’s death. All I know of the matter is in that book. It does not reveal all the mysterious circumstances of her tragic misfortune. But you shall learn more from it, from her, than from any other source.
    â€œThis book,” he continued after a pause, “I found in a locked cabinet after I buried Kathrin. Martha and I were clearing her belongings out of the house. Such reminders weigh too heavily on my soul.” He looked up at Browne carefully. “This was her private journal.”
    â€œYou wish me to read this?” Browne asked.
    â€œIt will answer many questions. I trust you to keep its contents confidential. Except for confidential Court records, should you judge it new and significant evidence.”
    â€œThat I can promise. Unless by your leave.”
    Coffin sat down slowly, indicated Browne’s chair with his hand, and said, as if to himself: “She seems to have required some expression of her secret thoughts, her private experiences. Though such a tendency is not uncommon among men in our day, it is unusual in women, wouldn’t you agree? And you may find an urgency and frankness that suggests something more.”
    He paused and looked at Browne again. As Browne was about to speak, Coffin added: “Perhaps I failed as a husband. If not in my outward duties toward her, in the ways of the heart, Mr. Browne. I think you will see quite clearly that in her eyes I did fail. And I cannot quarrel with her on that point.”
    â€œHad she never shared her private thoughts with you?”
    â€œWere you to have asked me that two years ago, I would have answered yes. But since finding Kathrin’s journal, I cannot say that she did. Oh, we shared private memories and meanings, mental sympathies and the like, as married people, even in a bad marriage, do.”
    â€œDoes this journal implicate anyone in her death?”
    â€œNo more than I have told you myself. But that is for you to decide, or the Courts, should you deem this confidential evidence worthy of a Court of law, of renewed action before the bar. I hope that you will not find it so. However, I do not ask you to cross your integrity.
    â€œFor myself,” Coffin continued, “I cleanse myself of further anxiousness over justice in this matter. My personal failures I will bear myself. I am no longer a man who can view his life a moderate success.” He stopped to look Browne in the eye. “You hold in your hands not only her secret soul, but mine as well, in a sense. I would be in your debt if you were to treat us with tenderness. But you must do what is your duty and follow justice and conscience.”
    â€œI am honored, Mr. Coffin, by your trust and frankness with me. We shall speak again after I have studied this document.”
    â€œI think not. You’re still a young man, but knowledgeable about the world and certain niceties of the law. Moreover, Mr. Browne, you are a man of understanding and education, and have none of the narrow prejudgments of those who have lived in this remote settlement. That, I take it, is the foundation of Mr. Cole’s faith in you as well. You will achieve things in this New World, I am sure of it. As a partial resolution to your investigations, this little book may increase your opportunity to look after your own affairs. And, as I myself did, you too may learn useful truths from its contents.
    â€œDuring the initial inquiries I showed this book