The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-09-14

"Raise Jour sneak's eyes"
telegraph me TO leave my business and come
down here on yours come, ask the bust
ness, you say Find me this theft Well,
find him; say There he isr You need not
like it, but you have no manner or right to
take otfense."
"Well," returned the doctor, ~ grant that;
l will even thank you for your mistaken zeal.
But your hypothesis was so extravagantly
monstrous"-
Look here" interrupted Casimir; twas it
you or Stasie!"
"Certainly not" answered the doctor
"Very well; then it was the boy. Say no
more about it, said the brother-in-aw, and
he produced his cigar case.
81 will say this much more" returned Des-
pref: eff that boy came and told me so him
self should not believe him; and if l did be-
lieve him, SO implicit is my trust l should
conclude that he had acted for the best"
"Well WE'LL" said Casimir, indulgently.
"Have you lights Imust be going. And,
by the way, l wish you would let me sell
your Turks for you I always told you it
meant smash l tell you so again. Indeed,
it was partly that that brought me down.
You never acknowledge my letters-a most
objectionable habit"
"My good brother" replied the doctor
blandly. II have never denied your ability in
business; but l can perceive your limita-
| tons"
.'Egad, my friend, I can return the compli-
ment," observed the man of business. "Your
limitation is to be downright irrational"
"Observe the relative position" returned
the doctor with smile. ut is your attitude
to believe through thick and thin in one
mans jldgment-your own. l follow the
same opinion, but critically and with open
eyes. Which is the more irrational? leave
it to yourself"
'Oh my dear fellow" cried Casimir, "stick
to your Turks stick to your stable boy, go to
the devil in general in your own way and be
done with it. But don't ratiocinate with
mel cannot bear it. And so, ia ia. l
might as well have stayed away for any good
I've DONE Say good-by from me to Stasie
and to the sullen hang dog of a stable boy, If
you insist on it, I'm off"
And Casimir departed. The doctor that
night dissected his character before Anasta-
sic. Zone thing, my beautiful" he said, she
has learned one thing from his live long
acquaintance with your husband: the word
ratiocinate 1t shines in his vocabulary like
jewel in muck heap. And, even so, he
continually msapplies it. For you must
have observed he uses it as sort of taunt, in
the case of to ergotise, implying, as it were
the poor, dear fellow!-a vein of sophistry.
As to his cruelty to Jean Marie, it must be
forgiven HINT is not his nature, it is the
nature Of his life. A man who deals with
money, my DEAR is man lost"
! With Jean Marie the process of renoaNiliaA
ton had been somewhat slow. At first he
was inconsolable, insisted on leaving the
family, went from paroxysm to paroxysm Of
tears; and it was only after Anastasie had
been closeted for an hour with him, alone,
that she came forth, sought out the doctor,
and, with tears in her eyes, acquainted that
gentleman with what had passed.
cat first my husband, he would hear Of
nothing" she said. Imagine! if he had left
u.s. what would the treasure be to thats
Horrible treasure, it has brought all this
about At last, after he has sobbed his very
heart out, he agrees to stay on condition
we are not to mention this matter, this infa-
nous suspicion, not even to mention the roo
berry. On that agreement only, the poor,
cruel boy will consent to remain among his
friends"
"But this inhibition" said the doctor, ''this
embargo-it cannot possibly apply to me9"
ITO all of u.s. Anastasie assured him.
"My cherished one," Desprez protested
ssyou must have misunderstood. 1t cannot
apply to me- He would naturally come to
me-
Henri" she said, sit does; swear to you
it does"
''This is a painful, very painful circum-
stance" the doctor said, looking a little
black. II cannot affect, Anastasie, to be
anything but justly wounded. feel this, I
feel it, my wife, acutely."
II knew you would" she said. "But if
you had seen his distress! We must make
allowances, we must sacrifice our feelings"
81 trust, my dear, you have never found
me averse to sacrifices" returned the doctor
very stifiiy.
"And you will let me go and tell him that
YOU have agreed! 1t will he like your noble
nature" she cried.
So it would, he perceived-it would be like
his noble nature! Up jumped his spirits,
triumphant at the thought. go, darling"
he said nobly, treasure him. The subject
is buried; more-I make an effort, have
accustomed my will to these exertions-and
it is forgotten"
A little after, but still with swollen eyes
and looking MORALLY sheepish, Jean-Marie
reappeared and went ostentatiously about
his business He was the only unhappy men,
Der of the party that sat down that night to
supper. As for the doctor, he was radiant.
He thus sang the requiem of the treasure:
''This has been, on the whole, a most anus
ing episode" he said. 1--WE are not penny
the worse-nay, we are immensely gamers
Our philosophy has been exercised; some Of
the turtle is still left-the most wholesome of
delicacies; | have my staff; Anastasie has
her new dress; Jean Marie is the proud pos
SCISSOR of fashionable kept Besides, we
had glass of Hermitage last night; the glow
still suffuses my memory. l was growing
positively niggardly with that Hermitage
positively niggardly. Let me take the hint
We had one bottle to celebrate the appear
ance of our visionary fortune; let us have a
second to console us for its occultation. The
third hereby dedicate to jean aries we'd
ding breakfast.
CHAPTER VII.
| THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DESPREZ.