The Irish standard., 1890-10-18
4 lE,lIg ED Las
OF, a orld " ide Chase
A STORY OF RETTsIBUT ION.
81 q by Nv WABASH
lcoPYRIoH1, 1901


no alternative but to wait. -
Very well, just as you say, mamma;
but ] am very anxious for change"
The last speaker was Armida Delaro.
Eleven years had elapsed since she, loft
the vineyards and blue skies OF the Pa
cifc slope and now she was grown into
one of tho most perfect of Gods Great
ures--a beautiful woman. The rich
Southern blood which she had inheri ted
from her parents tinged her cheeks
with a subdued flush of perfect health.
She was tall, graceful girl, and per-
feet type of Southern beauty; though
decided brunette she was not SO dark as
to be distinguished for it. With her
beauty she seemed to have inherited
also the sweet disposition of her mother,
together with the frank open-hear ted
ness of her father.
Mother and daughter were sitting in
. private parlor forming one of their
suite OF rooms at the West End Hotel,
Long Branch, where they had been
spending the summer. It was only dur
Ing the last two years that Mrs. Delaro
had enjoyed much of her daughters So
ciety, for they had necessarily been
thrown very much apart owing to the
mothers set determination to personal
" assist in the search for her husbands
murderer.
This employment, which had kept
her travelling all the time. combined
with the fact that Arrnida had been at
tending school at a convent near to
Paris gave then. very little opportunity
of being together.
Mrs Delaro really showed very little
sign OF the struggles she had undergone
in her features, though close observer
termiued expression which told with
out the aid OF words that she was q
woman living with purpose.
And indeed her purpose was stern as
ever, for as she sat on this bright Sep
tenn Der y, orniug talking to her daugh-
,taf, her thoughts were far away with
her two staunch friends, Joel Wilcox
and Percy Lowell, who had left her two
weeks before TO follow up a clew at New
Orleans. They had only written twice
since thoir departure, and even then
had given no particulars, so that She
was anxious and longed to know
whether or not they were meeting with
success.
Often and often had she waited like
this before, but her interest had never
tagged, nor her desire for vengeance
become less keen. When in converse
tion with her two loyal friends she al
ways spoke hopefully of the ultimate
success of her life work and had fire.
.quently intimat ted that she fully ex-
pected &c. SEQ Leon Velasqnez face to
face before death should call her to meet
her husband.
OF one thing she had been scrupu
lously careful, and tb at was to have no
word regarding her husbands cruel
death uttered in the hearing of her
daugh ter. Still. Armida knew OF the
manner in which her father had come TO
his sad end.
But to the girl the tragic affair had
never been so real and terrible as to her
mother and in recent years, as the mat
ter was never referred to in her pres
ence, the whole story, which so much
affected her entire life, was buried in
che oblivion of shadowy youthful menu
cries.
The conversation at the opening Of
this chapter might lead one to imagine
shat Armida was of a rather peeyish
temperament, but such was not the case.
She had just cause to complain, and was
literally bored to death. She had been
sought after by every unmarried wearer
of pan falcons and suspenders during
her stay at the Branch. Races one day,
garden party the next, then a ball,
followed by yachting excursions and a
hundred other inventions for killing
time.
At all such society events, her pres
ence was looked upon as positive
necessity, until at last the poor girl
was almost tired out. No wonder then
that she was anxious to get away from
1t all an1 seek that rest in Now York
which was absolutely impossibl at a
place like Long Branch.
Just as the concluding words fell from
Arrnida's lips, there was a knock on the
dpor; which was: answered by the maid,
Tho took a card from the bell-boy and
f5AtAuCSA k1SiE ~ uAAs7 A@'o@S'e'
81 Aemida glanced at it languidly and
shen turning TO her mother with a pite-
Gus gazston her sweet face said:
s5SS s Another infection
8 ,sWho is here now, my dear2"
q THAT horrid, vulgar Mr.. Blodger,
who is so fond Of saying: Ladies, Mr..
Stephen Blodger at your seryice. 6"
Here Ar niaa rose from her reclining
posture and gave an limitation OF that
gentleunar unique style of Introducing
Himself; then turning to her maid she
said:' ~. i..fs b: S5i=.s =5s...
AS 8 the boy to show him up.
the boy went away, sonnet hing
y Ike Cling litter sounded as IL com
saasssss from THAI progressive youth. In
less tharla mimi e the Her WIS at the
parlorSdoo which shove /. that he must
{ have sWa ited either outside or very
near the eleya tor, for he certainly did
haya time to come ffr ON the Office.
D he sitor was IA man weig hing some
in th eneig h borhooa of two hum
aged slndsi and: had . fade IS round