The Magnolia gazette., 1883-11-08
HER LIFE'S SECRET.

cHArTER XXI.-covrIvrED.

Guess foc oc.i ttc.
CHAPTER XXI-CoNrlxrEn.
"You see ! had heard the stories
about his infatnaton for La June and
wus Jealous; bat he swore to me that
her reign was over, that the attraction.
which drew him 50 constantly 10
NaricEs was only the fatal gamblers
passion which held him in iron chains.
She had not even aroused that in him;
thc habit was q confirmed one before he
tel INTO Narick's hands He told me
himself that he did not believe She
could have saved him; he was beyond
saving. | did not believe il. How
could | when he was SO gentle and low
ing aud Welding when with mep | had
fond dreams OF his reforming for my
sake. He layished gifts upon me,
against my will. 1t is hard to believe,
Is II not but | was not SO wise then rs /
have grown TO be now. lie had one
answer for my remonstrances, it was
better TO eNpend his money on me than
to let it slip away ut the gambling
table He wanted TO place sum in
bank 70 my credit, but that would not
permit. And three weeks afterward he
had lost il all, and in n fit of melan-
Choly despair at his utter ruin, not
through disappointed love, he put that
pistol to his head and blew out his
brains,
"That is the true story. Mignon AL
mont was no more responsible for his
death than was; and he left note for
me saving that if any woman could have
saved him, surely would | have it
yet along with a half-dozen others, all
] ever had from him. I've wondered
often why kept them so long; we out
live such sentimental fancies in these
days; but ! suppose fate had something
todo with it in reserving them for this
occasion. I'll send my maid for the
packet and you shall have it before
you 80.
" Am right in my surmises, and have
played the part Of fairy godmother to
you2 Better, ! dare say, than should
have the part of step-mamma which |
once expected to take. You never knew
il, and yet your grandmother might
have told you. | went to her, / thought
had right TO mourn for him, too. l
knew how bitter she was against La
june, and ! went to set her right; and
instead Of mingling her tears with mine,
she turned on me.
:" You, too, Y She said. Then
between the two of you, you have be-
reaved me Of the dearest son mother
ever had,
swell, don't bear her any ill-will.
do bear You very genuine kind
feelings for your fathers sake, and /
suppose after tonight it won't matter
70 you whether we ever meet again"
What answer he MAJ o. Launt could
never aftelward tell. How he made
his excuse and got away was always a
blank TO him, but madame had been rs
good as her word. She had slipped
that little packet Of letters in his hand
when they parted.
In his own room he read them, and
the idol he had worshiped all his life
was crushed. He saw the young father
whom he had been taught to revere in
Ills true light at last. The man who
had written these letters was weak.
unstable, changeable as the wind. His
best resolutions We're wavering inn
pulses. Ii was not in him to have a
true or lasting affection for any one.
In one breath he was ready to rive up
all the world for his darling Florine; in
the next, there was not u charm on
earth for one so bldse as he.
And it was for man like this that
the happiness of two lives had been
wrecked.
Launt slept none that night. He was
at his grandmothar's house ia the sub
urbs of the city by the time the sun had
well risen in the morning. She came
10 him, after an interval, with some
untold anxiety gnawing inwardly, and
he referred briefly TO the story he had
heard.
And you knew this,n was his one
reproach. "You knew, and you reared
me to believe him the noblest of men,
most basely betrayed by the woman he
loved. .
The stern old face, haggard with suf-
fering, lit with defiant blaze.
And it was true. She lured him
away first; if she had not treated him
cruelty he would never have turned to
that Florine. He never cared for her as
1he cared for La June She was the
guilty one; she led hirl, directly or in
directly, to his doom. to his death. Oh,
Launt, don't quarrel with me because l
eate her for it"