Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-06-25

"Fell? fell?' I asked in amazement'
'What do you mean, girl?'
"Fell, sir; fell down stairs and hurt
herself
where is she?' 1 asked, pushing past
her to seek my wife.
"I hope you'll bear up, sir-but
missus have gone. Gone, sir-left
the house, the servant added, seeing
my look of ipcredulity. | was up
stairs, cleanin' of myself for dinner the
girl continued, when l heard somethln'
fall on the stairs, and I heard missus
scream. l went and helped her up, for
she had fell and hurt her forehead. She
went to her room cryin' very much, and
wouldn't let us do nothin' for her. she
put on her things, sir, and went out al
most directly afterwards, sayin' she had
left note for you, sir. She was sobbln'
very much when she left
"Seriously agitated about my Wlte, ran
up stairs, and found on Laura's dressing
table the following note
"DEAREsT PEN,-Forgive my leaving
you thus. | have suffered much from de-
ceiving you so long, but never thought it
would come to this. Do not follow me !;
my peace depends upon it. You will soon
know all. My father will know of my
| going. LAURA.
"Cool, upon my word. Was this the
woman whom had loved, and cherished,
and adored, and kept no secret from p
that is, nothing worth mentioning,-to go
and own to a systematic course of decep-
tion? And her father a base accomplice
too! he knew of her going. Clasping my
hands franticaly to my forehead, 90
woman, woman look upon the wreck you
have made!' exclaimed The emotion
was too powerful, for my glass eye fell out
with the force of the blow, and shivered
itself to fragments at my feet. On second
thoughts, l was glad she could not look
upon the wreck she had made.
Yet could / believe Laura false !?
Then the demon of jealousy whispered to
me about the letters, and the present
from friend l hardly dared to think
about the agitation she had invariably be-
trayed when l had referred to this subject
At least would 60 to her father, Mr..
Tredgold, go and wiring the truth from
him, deceitful impostor that he Was,--and
know the worst.
But stay. 1t was utterly impossible
| to go as was-without my eye. | had
been accustomed to keep spare eye
| against emergencies in my desk at the in
| spector's office. / had broken that a
month ago, and though I had written for
| new one to be addressed to the office, it
had not yet arrived. Delay was agoniz-
| ing; but could certainly do nothing till
[ had been to London and got my vision
repaired
"Holding my handkerchief TO my face,
set off Immediately to the railway sta
| tion, telling all the inquiring friends who
stopped me, that something had blown in
my eye, (this was no tib, for gunpowder
had, years beforeD Arrived there, ea-
gerly inquired if my wife had been seen
to leave She had, the station master told
me; she had in fact LIFT by the previous
train, with ticket for London-apparent-
ly much distressed in mind-dressed in
travelling costume, with thick black veil
On. Evidently for the purpose of avoid
ing recognition as much as possible, de-
cided. was therefore on the very road
to overtake her, while, as my train was
express, should be in London within an
hour of the time at which she could ar
rive.
"On reaching London, after few un-
successful inquiries at the Waterloo ter
minus respecting lady answering the de-
me to Mr.. Bernotti's, the opticians, in Re-
gent Street.
"Will you walk into a private room,
and wait, sir, for few minutes? Mr.
Bernotti is engaged just now
However, presently, Mr.. Bernotti ap-
peared. A pleasant little man, with
twinkliL & eyes, a buoyant disposition, and
cork-leg, which always seemed restive,
| and not properly broken init never
went well with the other leg it was too
fast for it; and it appeared to impress the
natural leg with hopeless conviction of
inferiority.
"After profuse apologies for keeping
me waiting, and several conciliatory
fiourishes which his cork-leg seemed to
get up independently of him, and entirely
on its own account, Mr.. Bernotti said
This is your size, see by my books
No. 1913 Hazel, taking one from case
of several hundreds and a very neat eye
it is. Shall put you up an off eye for
spare use? Thank you, sir. Am I doing
pretty well in eyes? Thank you, yes;
nothing to complain Of You would
hardly have thought it !? No; probably
not-few persons would, in tact. You see
that the triumph of art is so perfect, one
does not really know who has glass eyes
and who has not. Scores of people, in
every town, wear them who are never sus-
| pected of such thing, the illusion is so
perfect. Yours, am proud to own, is a
very successful case There are others no
less so. Among the list of persons who
have obtained respectable damages from
various railway companies for the loss OF
an eye, and even pensions from govern
ment, could point to at least few in
stances in which the eye so damaged has
| been one of my make. No one has been
the wiser. In fact, only the other day, |
was deceived myself. A French gentle
man was introduced to me by 8 friend as
requiring an eye. This is his eye, sir
No. 81 Gray. Well, sir, after carefully
matching the artificial eye by the real one,
I directed his attention to the extreme
lightness of our manufacture, and begged
him to hold it up to the light and observe
its transparency. If you will believe me,
sir, that gentleman's other eye, which l
took for real, was glass. He was blind as
bat. | never knew it till he told me-
with renewed apologies, Mr.. Bernotti
followed his leg, which flourished off,
down stairs. Having wished him good
afternoon, set out to prosecute my search
after my wife.
"I need not detail the particular steps
by which sought to carry out this pur
pose; but may state that drove to every
metropolitan railway station, and made
most careful inquiries Next day, after
fruitless search, determined to return to
the Waterloo terminus, and endeavor to
elicit something which might guide me in
| freah investigations L found waiting