The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-07-14

L
.Is. as you suggested it might be, 9
refusal"
"a refusalr' He elevates his dark,
arched eyebrows family, but seem:
very little surprised a: tie intelligence.
"Yes; refusal. He dares not even
attempt an excuse, or invent a reason
for his conduct. Forty pounds year
he says, will be comfortable compe'
tence for an old woman in the north of
Scotland, where very few ministers OF
the Presbyterian Church have larger
income. That sum he will settle on hel
Immediately, and he sends me check
for the first half-year. But he will set.
tie no more, nor will he endeavor to
explain motives which are always mis-.
construed. What do you think of bis
conduct?''
AS she spoke, the glass door, which
separated the tiny boudoir from the
conservatory, swung backwards and
forwards in the autumn breeze, which
blew in through the outer door of the
conservatory; for the day having been
unusually warm for the season OF year,
this door had been left open.
"My dear Ellinor," said Horace Mar
grave, eff any one should come into the
conservatory, they might hear us talking
of your husband"
Everyone is dressing" she an
swered, carelessly. Besides, if any
one were there, they would scarcely be
surprised to hear me declare my con-
tempt for Henry Dalton. The world
does not, 1 hope, giveus credit for being
happy couple"
las you will; but am sure l heard
some one stirring in that conservatory.
But no matter. You ask me what /
think of your husbands conduct in re-
fusing to allow superannuated nurse
of yours more than forty pounds yearP
Dom think me a heartless ruffian, if 1
tell you that 1 think he is perfectly
right"
"But to withhold from me my own
money! To fetter my aims giving! To
control my very charities! [ might for
give him, if he refused me diamond
necklace, or pair of ponies; but in this
matter, in which my affection is con-
cerned. to let his economy step in to
Illustrate my earnestly-expressed wishes
it is too cruel"
"My dear Mrs. Dalton, like all very
impetuous and warm-hearted people,
you are rather given to jump at conclu.
sions. Mr.. Dalton, you say, withholds
your own money from you. Now. your
own money, with the exception of the
Arden estate, which he sold on your
marriage, happens to have been invested
entirely in the Three Per Cents. Now,
suppose-mind, l haven't the least rea-
son to suppose that such thing has
ever happened, but for the sake of put
ting a case-supposeH Henry Dalton, as
clever and enterprising man of business,
should have been tempted to speculate
with some of your moneys"
without consulting me?''
without consulting you. Decidedly.
What do women know of speculation?'
''Mr. Margrave, if Henry Dalton has
done this, he is no longer miser, but
he is-a cheat. The money left to me
by my uncle's will was mine. To be
shared with him, it is true, but still
mine. No sophistry. no lawyers quib-
BILE, could ever have made it his. If,
then, he has, without my consent or
knowledge, specialized with that money,
no longer despise him as miser, but
detest him as a dishonest man. All!
Horace Margrave, you with noble blood
in your veins; you gentleman, an
honorable man; what would you think
of Henry Dalton, if this were possible?"
"Ellinor Dalton, have you ever heard
of the madness men have christened
gambling? Do you know what he feels,
this man who hazards his wife fortune,
his widowed mothers slender pittance,
his helpless children's inheritance, the
money that should pay for his eldest
sons education, his daughters dowry,
the hundreds that is due to his trusting
creditors, or the gold intrusted to him
by a confiding employer, ON the green
cloth of a West-end gaming-table? Do
you think that at that mad moment,
when the gas-lamp dazzles his eyes, and
the piles of gold heave up and down
upon the restless green baize, and the
croupier's voice, crying: Make your
game!' is multiplied by a million, and
deafens his bewildered ear like the
clamor of all the fiends; do you think at
that moment that he ever supposes that
he is going to lose this money which is
not honestly his? No; he is going to
double, to treble, to quadrupIe it; to
multiply every glistening guinea by a
hundred, and to take it back to the
starving wife or the anxious children,
and cry: WAS l so much to blame, aft
er ALP Have you ever stood upon the
Grand Stand at EPSON, and seen the
white faces of the betting men, and
heard the noise of the eager voices
upon the final rush to the winning
post? Every man upon that crowded
stand, every creature upon that crowded
course, from the great magnate of the
turf, who stands to win a quarter of a
million to the wretched apprentice lad,
who has stolen half crown from the
till to put it upon the favorite, believes
that he has backed winning horse
This is the great madness of gaming;
that is the terrible witchcraft of the
gambling-house and the ring; and that
is the miserable hallucination of the
man who speculates with the fortune of
another. Pity him. Ellinor. If the dis
honest are ever worthy of the pity of the
good, that man deserves your pity"
He had spoken with an energy unA-
sual to him, and he sank into a chair,
with his unwonted vehe-
mence.
81 would rather think the man, who