As soon as it was known that the Ashers were at home there came letters from many quarters.  One of these was from Mrs. Easterfield.  She would be at Broadstone as soon as she could get her children started from the seashore.  She longed to take Olive to her heart, but whether this was in commiseration or commendation was not quite plain to Olive.  The letter concluded with this sentence:  “There is something behind all this, and when I come you must tell me.”

Then there was one from her father in which he bemoaned what had happened.  “That such a thing should have come to my daughter!” he wrote.  “To my daughter!” There was a great deal more of it, but he said nothing about coming with his young wife to the toll-gate, and Olive’s countenance was almost stern when she handed this letter to her uncle.

Claude Locker wrote: 

“How I long, how I rage to write to you, or to go to you!  But if I should write, it would be sure to give you pain, and if I should go to you I should also go crazy.  Therefore, I will merely state that I love you madly; more now than ever before; and that I shall continue to do so for the rest of my life, no matter what happens to you, or to me, or to anybody.

    “Ever turned toward you,

    “CLAUDE LOCKER.

    “How I wish I had been there with a sledgehammer!”

And then there were the newspapers.  Many of these the captain had ordered by the Glenford bookseller, and a number were sent by friends, and some even by strangers.  And so they learned what was thought of them over a wide range of country, and this publicity Olive found very hard to bear.  It was even worse than the deed she was forced to do, and which gave rise to all this disagreeable publicity.  That deed was done in the twinkling of an eye, and was the only thing that could be done; but all this was prolonged torture.  Of course, the newspapers were not responsible for this.  The transaction was a public one in as public a place as could possibly be selected, and it was clearly their duty to give the public full information in regard to it.  They knew what had happened, and how could they possibly know what had not happened?  Nor could they guess that this was of more importance than the happening.  And so they all viewed the action from the point of view that a young woman had blown out a man’s brains on the steps of the Treasury.  It was a most unusual, exciting, and tragic incident, and in a measure, incomprehensible; and coming at a time when there was a dearth of news, it was naturally much exploited.  Many of the papers recognized the fact that Miss Asher had done this deed to save her uncle’s life, and applauded it, and praised her quick-wittedness and courage; but all this was spoiled for Olive by the tone of commiseration for her in which it was all stated.  She did not see why she should be pitied.  Rather should she be congratulated that she was, fortunately, on the spot.