From 1898, this page is dedicated nearly in its entirety to a man’s confession about the lengths to which jealousy drove him. It’s not called “My Sin” for nothing! The whole dramatic tale is worth a read, but here’s the cliffnotes version, (or should I say “clip” notes?)
First, the narrator falls in love.
The situation is complicated by the arrival of a good-looking stranger.
Belle and Arnold’s marriage seems imminent, much to the displeasure of our still-besotted narrator. He begins to have jealous thoughts, and does petty things to annoy the couple. Soon he overhears a bit of information about Arnold’s past: his horse’s aversion to artists under white umbrellas.
This is where the story takes an unexpected turn. One day he is wandering the fields and cursing “Handsome Arnold”—
His words draw the artist to a spot where Arnold, passing on his horse, happens to see it. The horse reacts…but not as our narrator intended.
Arnold lives, and becomes strong again in time. But “no one would ever call him handsome Arnold any more.” In the aftermath of the accident, Arnold felt that he was no longer worthy of Belle’s love. He asks our narrator to take a letter to Belle and prepares to leave town. The guilt-ridden narrator goes to Belle at once.
Love prevails! The couple are as much in love as ever, and our heart-broken narrator leaves them to their happiness.
All’s well that ends well, as they say.
Find more like this with a search on Newspapers.com or by browsing the collection. You never know what stories you might find!