Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-12-18
Mi.
A NEW

According to promise we met in lawyer
VS. office, where my arrival was
soon followed by hers. As she entered
the room an Undesirable something in
her manner caught my attention. After
thanking me for the offered chair, she
commenced by saying, ''For the time be-
ing sir, | shall throw aside the mask so
long worn, and during this interview be-
come once more myself" Her meaning
and its expression, caused me to doubt my
own senses. Noticing my wonder she
continued. at would be very strange in
deed were you not much surprised at my
changed manner of expression, an explain
alton for which you shall receive as [ pro-
coed 1t is true | I'M James MacLeod's
niece. My father was the eldest, james
the youngest of the family. My mother
died when | was three years Old. | was
ten years old when my father died and
left me in care of Uncle James then a
young man Of about t~wenty-four. One
year after my fathers death James went
to California, leaving me- with grandmoth-
er Macleod, who was both kind and care
full with me. | was still at school at fifteen
when formed the acquaintance Of ayoung
man from Cuba. Grandmother disliked
him and forbade me to keep his company;
this / promised to do, but being fascinated
by his pleasing manners, interested in his
descriptions OF his tropical island home,
allured By his supposed riches | persisted
in meeting him clandestinely, and at last
infatuated by his p%icturing OF a roseate
and summer tinted future, agreed to elope
with him and become his wife. | had
not the slightest doubt. but that when once
married and surrounded with all the lux
uries promised me, it would only be nee
essary to write to grandmother and obtain
her God bless YOU and Uncle James
forgiveness. During my grandmother's
absence Of half a day on a visit to an old
and gathering together my garments and
a few trinkets we sailed for Cuba. In due
time we arrived at Havana where instead
of the home he had promised me, We be-
came guests at a hotel. To my every in
quirv as to when we were to be married
and go home to his parents, his answer
was, Don't be in such a hurry or Plenty
Of time my dear
II shall not consume your time with nor
ask your attention to details. Alas when
too late | discovered our marriage a mok-
cry and that he whom / claimed as hus-
band was a blackleg %advsnturer and a vii
lain.
When my child was born, he called her
"a pale brat and wished me Joy of the
puny thing Wit hin two years of our
elopenent he deserted me, then my baby
died. Starvation was staring me in the
the face, in my poverty and shame knew
not where to turn, when the manager of an
opera troupe advertised for fifty young la
dies. | applied and was accepted. The
bare pittance this brought me, kept the
wolf from the door of the miserable quar-
tiers which sheltered me. One of the MEM
bers of the company took a fancy to my
still pretty face, helped me forward with
the manager, and when the season was
over in Havana [ went with the troupe to
Brazil assuming my benefactor's name.
In Rio the company disbanded and we re-
turned northward. The wal was over, we
went to New Orleans. There my betrayer
saw me, was a handsomer woman than
ever, he made o%vertures to me, rejected
them. He sought out my protector and
shot him, then disappeared. The papers
got the affair, exaggerated in some details,
distorted in others I became a woman of
notoriety, yet the world had not obtained
but part of my history or secret.
"Nhile in Kansas City afterwar d in a
Variety theatre I met Beckett. He was
amused and interested by the ease and
naturalness with which / initiated the pro-
vincialisms Of speech and action of the
~rougher people of the southeast. It had
become second nature to me, and required
no effort to express myself in the phrase
ology heard every day about me, SO that