The Western advance., 1874-07-18

"Wcll, what is it, them" she asked
coaxingly, twining her arm in his.
Its pain" he exclaimed, vexed b,
her light way, when his trouble was Sc
great" it's pain and perplexity, and
sword hanging over my hcad!' And ht
turned about and left the room hurriedly
sure that the next moment she would bt
saying, Il do believe Mr.. Rothcly is los
ing his mind!' and the moment after be
singing the last tune to which she ha(
waltzcd, yawning and going off gayly tt
bed.
But what Mrs. Rothely was really say
ing was: wonder what it means. Die
| DO anything to tease him? Iwonder il
he is displeascd that I go out withou,
him. I'm sure I had world rather he
went too. I don't know. lie hardly
ever comes to talk with me now; he
never tells me anything he couldn't tell
somebody else's wife. l wonder Oh
it couldn't be, it couldn't possibly be that
he is tired OF me! Pshaw! what a fool
am to be incoming this way over busy
man."
But when Mr. Rothcly went to bed,
just before daybreak, after taking an
other turn with his papers, his wife was
sleeping the sleep of the just, rosy
dcwy, lovely sleep, over which he hung
a moment idolatrously before he turned
away, half-indignantly for all, to think
She could take 50 easily what was tor
mcnt to him; and then, laughing little
grim]y to himself, he compared himself
to the peasant who one moment prays to
| his little wooden image and the next mo-
mcnt cuffs it roundly for not answering
the prayer.
lie had gone over his papers again, as
was said, and had thought that he might
worry through, as he called it, without
the open shame of failure and disgrace
OF bankruptcy-for shame and dis grace
it seemed to him-if he could only law
his hands on Il certain sum of ready
| money, sum that was not large one
tor man that was accustomed to the
| figures that Mr.. Rotlcly was, but some
thing over hundred thousand dollars.
The open shame of failure was great
deal to Mr.. Rothely, for his pride was a
trait that everything, so far, had foS<
tered: and the apprehension of the loss
his failure would entail on others was
still more to him, for he always felt him
self an honest man, and had believed
ished integrity, his pride had some reason
stone, he was fond of saying, "Hcrc
lies an honest man," Whether he was
abstractly and intrinsically an honest
man, from whom deceit and untruth
shrank as from the daylight, it never
occurred to him to question; he had
never been tested. "Show me the man
::hom have ever wronged of any
thing" he would have replied, if tic
doubt had been suggested, and would
have considered it fully answered. "a
hundred thousand dollars ready monev!"
he was saying now to himself; and as he
said it his eye rested inadvertently on the
door of the little iron safe let into the
wall where his wife's jewels were kept,
and which, in her fatigue, and in that
carclcssness which with her was half a
charm, she had that night left ajar And
a little devil began whispering in his ear:
"There is more than a hundred thousand
dollars ready money thcrc!'
0 yes, he knew that very we'll. Those
great square cmeralds and their alternate
diamonds as large had cost him very
much more than that some years ago,
and now cmeralds were in fashion, and
worth an added price Fine emeralds
they were, too, every one picked stone,
not a doublet among them, and lookin q
at them, one looked into the wells of soft
green light, the very essence of sunshine
in the heart of forests, of pools in mossy
beds, and of the great sea- depths. And
then, as for the diamonds, they too were
perfect specimens, not purely white per-
haps, but the more lustrous for that, as
their slightly yellow tinge at night be-
came only added luminousncss, each one
Of them all il stone with Il history before
it had the honor Of being in Mrs. Rothe-
ly's possession, each one of them all
worth its thousands. For Mr. Rothcly,
in his pride regarding his wife, had law
ished on her a fortune that few absolute
millionaircs would think of spending,
and fine and sumptuous as all her sur
rOundlngs were, there were no finer jcW-
els in the ownership of any one woman
in the country. 0 yes, there was no
doubt that IL hundred thousand dollars
ready money could easily be raised on
| Mrs. Rothely's emeralds, necklace and
tiara and StOmaCher and bracelets, and
| the less valuable accessories, if anybody
wanted to raise it. However, they were
Mrs. Rothclys jewels, not his; it was
only passing thought, that in reference
| to their value; he had not yet fallen SO
low as to think seriously of selling his
wifc's pretty foldcrols, he hoped.
But If it were a passing thought it was
one that came back again-camc back as
he lay awake turning this way and that
for some escape from his dicmma-came
back to stay. It was a strange thing fol
a husband to he burning his brain with
distracting search for means to keep his
name atloat while his wife had those
very means lying idle in her jcwcl-Safe
he said in his thoughts, and repeated it q
little angrily. And what if he did think
Of selling them? he said. Better men
had come to a worse pass. He bOugh,
them! What if he did think of selling
them now? 1t would be only to make
himself able to buy them back-to buy
better If he did sell them he would buy
better; there shouldn't be Il lady off tho
thrones covered one-half so resplcndentl,
with gems us his wife should be. Le
him once tide over these cruel breakers
she should be as radiant as whole con
stellation, if she wished All at once Mr.
Rothcly shuddercd. He had. then
really and seriously, been thinking O
taking his wifc's jewels to carry hin
through his difficulties!
Well, why not he Said, presently. LIE
him look at the thing squarely. Woul,
his wife be more hurt or more benefited
by his doing so? Hurt for season, Ger
tainly yet not so much hurt as he woul'
be under the necessity of doing it; bu
| benefited in the end to. an immeasurabl
extent, since, unless he could be carried
through, not only jewels, but estate
cquipagc, servants and all would have t.
go to satisfy the demands of creditor
who would not wait for sentiment
But only let him get through this strait
and with q hundred thousand dollar