Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-11-11

u.
eha Come to Washington at once Carmen
de Haro.'n
Thatcher started, blushed like a girl, and
hurriedly reached for the paper.
Nonsense. That's mistake A dispatch
Imislaid in the envelope"
Il see" said the lawyer dryly.
u thought / had torn it up,n continued
Thatcher after an awkward pause regret
to say that mere that usually truthful man
elaborated fiction. He had consulted it a
dozen times day on the journey, and it was
quite worn in its enfoldings. Harlowe's quick
eye had noticed this, but he speedily became
interested and absorbed in the other papers
Thatcher lapsed into contemplation of the fire.
"Well,' said Harlowe, finally turning to his
client, 'here's enough to unseat Gashwiler, or
close his mouth. As to the rest, it's good
reading-but needn't tell you-no legal evil
dence. But it's proof enough to stop them
from ever trying it again-when the exist
ence of this record is made known. Bribery is
hard thing to fix on a man; the only witness
is naturally particeps criminis but it would
not be easy for them to explain away this ras-
calls record. One or two things don't under
stand: What's this opposite the Hon. KS
name, Took the medicine nicely, and feels
betterp and here, just in the margin, after US,
Must be labored withpn
Il suppose our California slang borrows
largely from the medical and spiritual pro-
fession," returned Thatcher. "But isn't it
odd that man should keep a conscientious
record of his own villainy2"
Harlowe, a little abashed at his want of
knowledge of American metaphor, now felt
himself at home. swell, no. It's not un-
usual. In one of those books yonder there
Is the record of a case where a man,
who had committed q series of nameless
atrocities, extending over period of years,
absolutely kept memorandum of them in
his pocket diary. 1t was produced in court.
Why, my dear fellow, one half of our bust
ness arises from the fact that men and
women are in the habit of keeping letters and
documents that they might Il don't say,
you know, that they ought that's question
of sentiment or ethics-but that they might
destroy"
Thatcher half mechanically took the tele-
gram of poor Carmen and threw it in the
fire. Harlowe noticed the act and smiled
I'm venture to say, however, that there's
nothing in the bag that you lost that need
give you a moments uneasiness. It's only
your rascal or fool who carries with him that
which makes him his own detective"
Il had friend continued Harlowe. "a
clever fellow enough, but who was so foolish
as to seriously complicate himself with
woman. He was himself tho soul of honor.
and at the beginning of their correspondence
he proposed that they should each return the
others letters with their answer. They did
SO for years, but it cost him ten thousand
dollars and no en- Of trouble after ALL"
"Why" asked Thatcher simply.
Because he was such an egotistical ass as
to keep the letter proposing it, which she had
duly returned, among his papers as senti-
mental record OF course somebody eventu-
ally found it."
"Good night" said Thatcher, rising
abruptly. IF l stayed here much longer |
should begin to disbelieve my own mother"
II have known of such hereditary traits
you must not go without the champagne"
He led the way to the adjacent room, which
proved to be only the ante-chamber of
another, on the threshold of which Thatcher
stopped with genuine surprise, 1t was an
elegantly furnished library.
"Sybarite! Why was l never here beforep
Because you came as q client; tonight
you are my guest. All who enter here leave
their business, with their hats, in the hall
Look; there isn't law book on those shelves:
that table never was defaced by title
deed or parchment. You look puzzleds
Well, it was whim of mine to put my resi-
dence and my workshop under the same roof,
yet so distinct that they would never inter-
fere with each other You know the house
above is let out to dodgers l occupy the first
floor with my mother and sister, and this is
my parlor. l do my work in that severe
room that fronts the street; here is where I
play. A man must have something else in
full and expensive to have my pleasure here"
Thatcher had sunk modify in the embrac-
ing arms of an easy chair He was thinking
deeply; he was fond of books, too, and, like
all men who have Jared hard and led wander
ing lives, he knew the value of cultivated re-
pose. Like all men who have been obliged
to sleep under blankets and in the open air,
he appreciated the Injuries of linen sheets
and frescoed roof 1t is, by the way, only
your sick city clerk or you dyspeptic clergy
man, who fancy that they have found in the
bad bread, fried steaks, and frowzy fiannels
of mountain picnicing the true art of
living. And it is somewhat notable fact
that your true mountaineer or your gentle
man who has been obliged to honestly trough
1t" does not, as general thing, write books
about its advantages, or implore their fellow
mortals to come and share their solitude and
their discomforts
Thoroughly approaching the taste and COM
fort of Harlowes library, yet half envious of
its owner. and half suspicious that his own
earnest life for the past few years might have
been different, Thatcher suddenly started from
his seat and walked towards parlor easel,
wherein stood a picture. 1t was Carmen de
Haro's first sketch of the furnace and the mine.
II see you are taken with that picture,
said Harlowe, pausing with the champagne
bottle in his hand. "You show your good
taste. It's been much admired Observe
how splendidly that freight plays over the
sleeping face of that figure, yet brings out by
very contrast its almost deathlike repose.
Those rocks are powerfully handled; what a
suggestion of mystery in those shadows!
You know the painterp
Thatcher murmured, miss De Haro," with
a new and rather odd self-consciousness in
speaking her name.
"Yes. And you know the story of the pic
ture, of course?"
Thatcher thought he didn't. Well, no; in
fact he did not remember
"Why, this recumbent figure was an old
Spanish lover of hers, whom she believed to
have been murdered there. It's q CHASTITY
fancy, isn't it,"
Two things annoyed Thatcher; first the
epithet 'lover,' as applied to Concho by
another man; second, that the picture be
longed to him; and what the d. did she
mean by
EYES," he broke out finally; "but how did
you get its'
sob, | bought it of her. I've been sort OF
patron of her ever since found out how she
stood towards US. As she was quite alone
here in Washington, my mother and sister
have taken her up, and have been doing the
social thing"
How long SINGER asked Thatcher.
"Oh, not long The day she telegraphed