The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-09-21

a happy couple.
LAS you will; but | am sure / heard
some one stirring in that conservatory.
But no matter. You ask me what |
think of Your husbands conduct in re-
fusing to allow q superannuated nurse
of yours more than forty pounds a year?
Don't think me heartless ruffian, if |
tell you that l 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 Gents. Now,
suppose-mind, | haven't the least rea-
son to suppose that such thing has
ever happened, but for the sake of put
ting a case-suppose Henry Dalton, as
clever and enterprising man of business,
should have been tempted to speculate
with some of your money!
Without consulting me?"
Without consulting you. Decidedly.
What do women know of speculationr'
Mr. Margrave, if Henry Dalton has
done this, he is no longer a miser, but
he ia 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 Margraye, 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 christencd
gambling? Do you know what he feels,
this man who hazards his wife's 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 cOntiding employer, on the green
cloth of 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
gameH is multiplied by 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 quadruple 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 | 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 quarter of q
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 a winning horse.
This is the great madness of gaming;
that is the terrible witchcraft of the
gambliug-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 unu-
sual to him, and he sank into a chair,
half-exhausted with his unwonted vehe.
mence.
" | would rather think the man, who
| am forced to call my husband, amiser,
than a cheat, Mr.. Margrave," Ellinol
said. coldly; and | am sorry to learn
that if he were, indeed, capable of such
dishonOr, his crime would find an advo.
cate in YOU
" You are pitiless, Mrs. Dalton" said
Horace Margrave, after pause, Heav.
en- help the man who dares TO wrong
you"
do not let US speak of Henry Dial
ton any longer, Mr.. Margrave. l tolC
you that if he should refuse this favor
this-right, had decided on wha
course to take"
You did; and now, may | ask what
that course is?'
Ito leave him"
leave him!" he exclaimed, anxious
| ly.
Eyes; leave him in the posse ;;i,a O
| this fortune which he holds so t'-!''
or which, surprising him TO be tie "a,
full wretch You think he may have been
he has specialized with, and lost. Leave
him. He can never have cared for me
He has denied my every request, frGs
trated my every wish, devoted every
hour of his life, not to me, but to his be
loved profession. My aunt will receive
me. shall leave this place tomorrow
morning"
but, Ellinor, the world
LET the world Judge between US
What can the world say of me? / shall
live with my aunt, as l did before thi
cruel fortune was bequeathed to me
Mr.. Margrave- guardian will &c
company me to Paris, will you not?
am so inexperienced in all these sort o
things, so little used to help myself
that dare not take this journey alone
You will accompany me?''
Il, Ellinor?" Again the dark eye
lashes SILVER over the gloomy brown
eyes.
Yes; who so fit to protect me as you
to whom with his dying lips my fathe
committed my guardianship? For hi
sake, you will do me this service, will
you notp''
is it service, EllinorP Can b
doing you service in taking you ava,
from your husbandPi''
$50 be it, them" she said scornful
ly. "You refuse to help me; l will g
alone"
Alone?'