Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-17
son why he should have been 20 ;n,er-.

nally sly over itp l should. have spoke
to her months before l did, but I never
dreamt of him being in my way. When
| did speak to her, st%raightfor' ard and,
honest and well meaning, she don't
know which way to look or what to say,
and when she does speak it is to tell me
if l will ask Herbert he will be better
able to explain why she is obliged to re-
fuse me. l saw it all in a flash then.
How felt when she told me is nothing
to the purpose. I didn't show it. any
how. l made light of it to her. There's
1 says. Words with him would do US
no good, and might hurt him, and, con-
sequently, you. I've had my say, and
I've got my answer, and there's an end
of it, And a very lucky thing it was"
continued Mr.. Jowlary. speaking as a
man whose mouth is dry, though an
instant before he had drank some of his
ale, ga very lucky thing [ didn't speak
to him or have words with him, or it
might have been said that l had a spite
against him. Nothing of the sort. If
l kept a watchful eye on him it was
only to satisfy myself that she had
grounds for what she had limited at. l
found out more than I had bargained
for. By my watching l discovered that
after working-hours and on Sundays he
took her here and there, spending far
more money than his wages warranted;
and how could he get it unless he was
robbing me, as he had lots of chances
Of doing? But | wasn't most sorry on
my own account; l will take my bible
oofh Nf %,of - 1a continued 1111-;,, r..
steadily in my face, .'if it was the last
words l was speaking afore 1 died. l
was most sorry on her account; yet,
mind you. | was going on loving her
a deceitful hussy-all the time. If he's
a scamp to me, after all I've trusted him
with, [ thinks to myself, what'u he
be to her, who likewise is trusting himp
But I wanted to be quite sure before
l did anything, not wishing to do him
any injustice. since, dye see, l
might have suspected him wrongfully
after all. But unfortunately for hinA
it wasn't SO. 1 caught him. said Mr..
Jowlary, with his face hard set, and still
looking steadily at me, 'frst time, and
put his honesty to test. Ihad q detec-
tive watching, and marked money put in
the desk was found in his pockets. Had
it been only my affair, do you know
what 1 should have done? Ishould have
taken him by the shoulders and showed
him out. But 1 had consideration for
her, like the weak-minded fool that l
was. and never dreaming that she would
turn out the treacherous cat that she
showed herself. 1t was his v%illainy TO-
ward her that troubled me, 80 l pros
ecuted him, and he got three months
hard labor" Here Jowlary paused to
take a drink out of his glass, furtively
regarding me over the rim of the meas
ure the while, and then he continued:
''You'd hardly think of it, but I've been
called windictive. Them what at one
time pretended to be my best friends
have told me so to my face. | ask you,
as a stranger who has no leaning lords
n side or the other, if 1 had felt win
dictive shouldn't I have acted a sort of
triumph owe the woman who had re-
fused me for a fellow who very likely
was a thief at the time? Shouldn't +
have gone to her and said, Apretty
mess you've made of it, and it serves
you right and p'r'aps discharged her
then and there from her workp But
what did [ do? 1 wait 'spectful like
till she'd got a bit over her trouble, and
then goes to her, and l make my offer
to her again. No matter for what's
past, I says to her, Il love you better
than anybody else in the world, and I'll
make you my wife. You can't have
him now, of course says 1; no respect
able young woman would marry a con-
victed thief She wasn't near so much
took back as l expected to find her.
You see she had laid herplans, her!
No. she says, 4 can't marry him now.
He wouldn't have me. He told me so
when l went to see him in prison. II
would ooner die" he said, than have
you coupled with the infamy with
which l am branded."' Then let us
make a match of it, 1 says, and forget
all about him. Il couldn't promise
that were her words in answer, but
I'll marry you OF one condition. You
must make over to me all your saved
up money. Only that will convince me
that you love me, as you say you do,
better than anything else in the world
Well, sir, l was that settled and deep in
love with her-I could choke myself
with these fingers when 1 think of it
did it. l made over to her all legal and
proper, the eight hundred and forty
pounds sterling that was in the bank
made it hers for her sole and separate
use-on the morning when I married
her. Well, sir, in less than a week she
was missing from the pretty home l got
for her. She wrote me, saying that She
couldn't live with me; that there was
that atwixt us that set her heart against
me, try how she might, and we was best
apart. Now, what about marrying me
for malice and vengeance? She'd goi
my money, remember; but that wasn't
the worst of it. For soon as he comes
out of prison he sets up in a hourishing
way of business-in my line, of course.
and what with his lies and his false
representations he's got the best of my
old customers to deal with him. And
I'm going down lower every day."
"But what has your wife to do with
your late foreman's prosperity" 1
asked him. "That," and lie brought
his great fist with q sounding smack
down on to the palm of his other hand,
sis what I should like to find out and
prove against her. But she's too cum
ninr cir J,va watched bor o,I xo;J