Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-12-08
THE F|NCER-END.


WHAT A POOR MISERABLE O AM"
"CuTIBERT,-My own darling-lIeaven
help me, but | must call You so. For, oh, !
dO love YOU, still mOre-more than | ever
did in that cruel past that is dead and gone.
Gone and forgotten by most of the world
perhaps by YOU. Yes, by You! On, my
darlington l must call YOU 50, although |
think-I know | am nothing to you. Can
YOU suppose, if YOU waste a moment reflect
ing upon the subject, that this life can last?s
| was silent at first, and as patient as could
be. Although that first day when You pass
ed me as though | had been a stranger-one
who had never known YOU, had never sui
fered III your account, | said 10 myself, III
is. perhaps. for the best. and will be silent
not long after that. by accident | learnt all.
/ learnt that | was indeed a thing Of the
past. that You ~loved-and this time really
lOved-onc far, far above m. On, what Il
loor miserable fool | am. How | loaihcand
despise myself. Why should | care for you?
| ought 10 hate You with a hatred that
should end only with your life or mine. Let
il then be mine, and let me, il | can, Gle
with words of love upon my lips in spite Of
all that is gone and past irreyocably never
10 be recalled by prayers, however passion
ate, by tears, however bitter. But what
cruel fate brought me tothiS dreadful place?
What have | ever done that | should suffer
SOP And that l should unknowingly have
chosen this roof to shelter me which also
shelters You and the lady You adore; and
that lady the wife Ct the man whose servant
You are as much as |, 4 poor mental, am my.
self! l can write no more. May Heaven
forgive you! ! have been a fool. | must
end all tonight. HESTER"
CHASTITY white and trembling violently,
Fordyce crushed the paper conyulsiyely in
his long thin fingers.
Its falsev' he gasped ont at last. whats
1t mean? 1t is impossible"
We'll, no. said G%reengraves quietly.
Its quite within the limits of possibility, L
I'M sorry to say. You will pardon mel
hope you will pardon me ii i speak too
plainly, but all | do | do in your interest.
According to your own showing you are
not on very good terms with Lady Fordyce."
you do not know her. cried the other
impaticntly. She is Of the coolest, most
icy temperament"
GreengraveS smiled.
MANY women seem to be so-are so, In
deed, to some men, whilst TO otherS-well,
they are different. Besides, if her jealousy
were aroused by your friendship with Mdlle.
al the opera?'
Sir Richard turned towards him with a
terrified look, and his lips paled, but he ut
tered no word.
"All things considered" said Greengraves,
won't it be best TO keep things quiet, and
avoid anything like a public scandal?'
"Who do you suppose stole the diamond?
Was il the oma who is dead? Had this
scoundrel Craven any hand in it" asked Sir
Richard abruptly, and rising as he spoke he
crossed the room and looked out Of the win
dow.
'IIe may have had, but she had not. /
have another theory"
"Well?"
at was Lady Fordyce herself"
The detective had not time to complete
the sentence. AT the third word Sir Rich
srd had turned quickly. At the fifth, stimuli
~t&ucouSly with the crash Of glass behind
SIN, he flung up his arms with 4 cry of
n.9pny, and fell Hat upon his face, DEAF.
~a@reengraNcs cent over him, and saw Hlood
triCkliny through his white hair on the car
pet, then turning TO the window saw the
foreigner he had met at the door standing
m0tionless, whilst the hall-portcr and Il
policeman rushed forward and seized him.
When, a few moments later, Greengrayes,
having summoned assistance, hurried down
stairs and joined the crowd, he found that
the story OF the crime. and the scandal at
tached 10 it, was already public property.
The foreigner was the husband of the
famous d%dHsCuSc, Il half mailman, from
whom she had separated a year or SO ago i'm
her VA country. Her husband, who had
tracked his beautiful wife from one Euro
pean city to another, vainly imploring her
to return to him, and who at last, when the
existence of her intrigue with Fordyce
reached his knowledge, crazy with jealous
rage, had thus blindly wreaked his venge-
ancc on the infatuated dupe Of a wholly bad
and healtlesS woman.