The Hartford herald., 1875-04-28

ekillfully dealt with ana renewed by the
application of strips of plaster, | found
myself at his lodgingsin Halfmoon Street,
sitting in an easy chair, smoking a cigar,
and drinking temperant mixture of
brandy and water. Until then / had
never really known where Stericker
lived.
"And you saw her throw down the
opera-gIass?" he said, returning to the
subject of the accident / had seen no
such thing. But he did not pay much
attention to what / said.
sand how did she look2 Handsome, of
course, She was always that though
she certainly is not now nearly so young
as when first met her-and loved her
For what could | do then but love her?
Have you ever been in loye, old fellowf"
he demanded, abruptly.
said thought had. For felt at
the moment that it was not thing man
could be quite certain about, and rather
objected to the question, and on that mo.
ment preferred to give somewhat eva
sive answer. Ibid not wish painful memo
ries to be awakened; they had been asleep
and very still for good many years.
"If you doubt about it, why, then, you
never have" said Stericker, oraculary.
There can be no mistake about an attack
OF love any more than about fit of gout.
i have suffered from both Affections. In
my time have loved good deal. and
/ have, in return. been loved very much
indeed. l say it without vanity"
But be said it with vanity, and it was
to that / objected. He outstretched bis
right arm, bringing an expanse Of wrist-
band into view, and raised his hand to his
head as though about to pass his fingers
through his hair and crest it up. after the
invariable manner of the self-satisfed and
vain-glorious For the moment he had
forgotten how bald he was! He had for.
gotten, too, the strip Of plaster that cross
barred his crown! In discovering anew
these inirmities he had evidently expert
enced considerable modification.
Ihai heard Stericker described as hand
some. but that had never been my opin-
ion of him No, he was never, be never
could have been handsome. He was al
ways well-dressed. although inclined to
make an excessive, aud, therefore, a rath-
er vulgar, display of the jewelry he pos
sessed. His teeth, it is true, were superb;
but was never quite convinced that they
were the natural products Of his own gums;
and his nose was Of that large, feshy, Ro-
man form which has always obtained, to
my thinking. an extravagant measure of
admiration from the world in general
my own nose. may mention. is altogeth-
er of smaller dimensions, and of a totally
different pattern.) Then he was very up
right, carrying before him his protruding
waistcoat with considerable dignity. More
over, there was something imposing about
his aspect and manner, arising, think,
from his imperturbable and deeply-rooted
selfconfidence. and his fixed resolution to
exact from others, or enforce upon them,
if he possibly could, his own estimate Of
himself Still there was something deci-
dedly sinister about the expression Of
Stericker's face, and especially when he
smiled. II was singularly wicked smile,
that wrinkled his nose curiously, produc>
ed strange dints and dark flush upon his
forehead, aud brought down the inner COR
ners of his eyebrows close to his eyes, af-
ter decidedly ominous fashion.
81 have loved and been loved" he re-
peated, land, don't mind owning, have
in my time Tilted and been Tilted" He
said this with morbid Don Giovanni air,
that thought particularly Objectionable.
"Arabella Tilted me-" he resumed, land
has never forgiven herself for it, nor me
either. How fair she was in those days.!
She's fair still, for that matter, though she
uses more pearl powder now than she did.
Fair but false. Women are often that,
you know. Shall l say always2"
deprecated such an assertion. Accord
ing to my experience, it was tar too sweep
ing. He conceded that was right, pos
sibly. Yet 1t seemed to me that be des-
pissed me for my moderation.
"You remarked this studY' He produc-
ed the stud we had searched for at his re-
quest, and found in the lobby of the opera
house. "It would have panied me very
much if had lost it. regard it as a
precious relic. 1t belonged to Arabells
once. In fact-why should disguise the
truth from you?-tbat stud is formed out
of one Of Arabella's front teethl"
His smile as he said this was not pleas
ant to contemplate. His confession had
certainly startled me- There was some-
thing dreadful about it, and he had the
air of an Indian brave exhibiting a scalp
He gloried in the possession of Arabella's
front toothl How had he obtained it2
ventured to demand. Was it a pledge oil
affection? Could they possibly have ex-
changed teeth as ordinary lovers exchange
locks of hair? hardly knew what was
saying, or Of what was thinking.
IL was dentist in those days." he said
What he had been before that, and since
what profession he followed at the mo-
ment of his addressing me, really had
no idea sand Arabella was one of my
patients. But she was no ordinary patient
She was something more, much more thar
that She was for awhile my affianced
bride loved her and she loved me-a
least we thought that we loved each
other"
"And you didn'tr'
swell, we didn't, as it happened, Low,
each other quite as much as we thought
we did In fact, both were disappointed
and perhaps trifie deceived. She though
/ had money; hadn't. l had been tolC
that che was an heiress. Well, she wa,
nothing of the kind. Still, am man o
integrity, though you may not think it =
had promised marriage; fully purposet
to be as good as my word. The idea o
terminating our engagement did not com,
from me. But Arabella's temper was inn
perfect; she was far from patient she wa
ambitious, and, l must add, avariciou
and deceitful. She trifed with me- Sh,
still held me enchained, but she encour
aged the addresses of another and veal
thier suitor. She designed to employ M