The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-07-06

on account of the second secret Seth had con
fided to me. 1 said nothing about it to him at
the time, but that same night wrote him let
ter, begging and imploring him to abandon
gambling, which would be sure, sooner or later,
to end in his ruin. Nor did think it my duty
to keep the horse-betting secret quite close as
l had promised to. l went frank and disinter-
ested to Miss Speed and told her about it. l
showed her the letter Seth had sent me in reply
to mine, and in which he said it was too late for
me to preach for that week, anyhow, as he had
put f3 on horse for the st. Leger, and hoped
to win f3O by it. l pointed out to her the risk
she was running in marrying such man. She
always was quick tempered. l was cowardly,
mean, and the rest of it, and she would tell Seth
that had betrayed him. That was too much
for my patience, and ! told her that the infor-
nation | had given her was in friendliness
and confidence, and that if she tried to make
ill-blood between me and Seth, worse than she
imagined might come of it. So she kept still
tongue. But worse came of it for all that.
Seth's luck at betting took bad turn, as he
himself told me, and he lost more than he had
won, and he was strongly tempted to a crime
l feel sure he would not otherwise have COM
mitted or even thought Of Three f5 notes, the
property of the firm, were missing from my
for me, and had to do all could to clear my
self from suspicion. l suspected no one, least
of all Seth, but when l was closely questioned
by the principal as to what knew of the habits
of my felow-clerk, 1 was compelled to tell the
truth, and mentioned what knew about Taylor
betting horse races and his having lost
money lately. He was questioned, and the re-
suit was that police officer was called in, and
on search being made the stolen notes were
discovered in Seth Taylors cigar case, and he
was tried for the robbery, and sent to prison for
eighteen months. l was very near getting dis
charged for not making the firm aware that Seth
was engaged in gambling, but, fortunately, the
letter in which l had begged him to break off
from the dangerous habit was found, and that,
| of course, was In my favor Seth, Of course,
| declal ed that he was innocent, and went so far
as to declare that somebody who had private
spite against him had placed the notes where
they were discovered, and Carry Speed, who
| volunteered as a witness, related in court what
| transpired at the private interview had with
| her, and how had threatened that il she made
known to Seth what l had told her, worse
would happen to him.. But the judge said
| that it was monstrous to endeavor to put a false
complexion on a perfectly innocent remark
made by an intimate friend of the prisoner, and
one who, as shown by the letter already men
| toned had proved himself to be good adviser.
But it didn't matter much about Taylor's SEN
tence being such severe one. He fretted him
self to death in prison, and only lived five
months after his conviction.
81 had not seen Carry Speed once during the
| whole of that five months. l had no animosity
against her, but did not care to meet her again
after the base insinuation she had made against
me at the trial. But, to my surprise, shortly
after Seth Taylor's death, she wrote to me- 1t
was all over now, she said; but her mind could
get no rest until she had begged my forgiveness
for what she had done, since the longer she re-
| Elected on it the more she was convinced that
she had misjudged me. There was lot more
in her letter to the same effect, and with which
l need not trouble YOU You will easily under
stand that l was very much surprised and
pleased as we'll. | made it my business to see
her and tell her so. All my old love for her
came back when we met, and she was no longer
disdainful l was beside myself almost with
delight at the prospect of winning her after all.
OF course, never dreamt of such thing after
what had happened, and least of all did dream
of the horrible trap that was being laid for me.
| When, a few weeks after our reconciliation, |
asked her to be my wife, in the quiet way that
| now seemed natural TO ner. she accepted my
offer, and we were married.
''She was not the fond and cheerful wife ex-
pected to find her. but no woman could have
been more patient and obedient or more de-
voted to my interests. A long time before l
had insured my life for 9300. Nothing would
satisfy my wife but that l should insure her life
as well, and for twice as much as my policy
stood for, and | made no objection. This was
when we had been married not more than four
months. A month after the insurance had been
made her health was not so good as it had been
previously She would be i'll for a day or
two, and be we'll again for perhaps week, and
then she would relapse. We lived in apart
ments and had no servants, and when she was
i'll | waited on her, and never made trouble of
it, for if ever a man loved woman loved her.
She gradually grew to be more frequently un-
well, and the doctor we called in seemed puz-
zled to make out what was the matter with her.
A girl who was employed by our landlady came
in at odd times and gave her medicine, and pre-
pared anything she fancied in the way of food.
The landady was paid extra for this, but she
gave the servant girl no more than her ordinary
wages, so that what the latter did was not done
willingly; and one day my wife asked me if
thought it possible that the girl could be
wicked enough to tamper with her food out OF
spite. She had had some broth that day, she
said, and she thought it tasted strangely !
ridiculed the idea as a sick woman's fancy, but
from the office, the messenger bringing the