St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-18
THE BRASS BOUND BOX.

marry me?-me of all people i'll the
world? | hadn't money, and you might
have married in your own set if you'd
wanted to. Tell me, dear, why did
King Cophetua wed with the Beggar
Maid?"
Its a funny thing, Hetty," said his
iordship with a smile of affection. THAT
Bluebeard'S wife is always hankering
after the key of the blue closet, and, as
the advertisement says, won't be happy
till she gets it. I'll tell you why | mar
ried you, little Hetty. married you as
duty, dear. and because | was a proud
and miserable man, hopeless and child
less, the last of my line. | didn't want
The Bargemon title to die out; and L
married you, Hetty, because you were
the prettieSt, WhOleSOmeSt. healthieSt,
zffoneSteSt little maid | had clapped eyes
upon, ard because there was no nom
sense and nothing morbid about you.
l wasn't in love with you, Hetty, when
| married YOU; | don't mind confesSing
tina [ did it as duty; but Eve learned
to love you; you have healed my
wounds, and-Well, you're CaSterton's
mother. And you agreed TO marry me
out of pity; know you did"
"But | was in love with you, Jack,
all the same; for pity, we know, is akin
10 love; and | know you do love me,
Jack, and dearly: and it's because you
DO love me that you're going TO tell me
all about her."
And then Lord Bargemont sighed.
'lf | must tell you l must" he said :;
land when have told you, Hetty, you
will pity me all the more. | came into
The Bargemont title when | was boy
of fifteen; the court of chancery took
Of I hadn't n roaI fpia116 n
the wide world. | went to Oxford; | was
toadied, caressed and flattered, because
l was lord and rich. Then | went
into the Guards. and [ saw life.
drained the cup Of pleasure to the
dIegS, and was a blaze man Of the
world at five and twenty. People looked
upon me Just as a big fish that had to
be caught at any price. Willy mothers
and chaperOus threw their flies i'll vain.
l was absolutely heart whole: and
though they tried their most killing
baits-though husbands and uncles
stood by with gatf or landing net ready
TO do their duty-yet the Skillful fishers,
men and women, failed TO hook me.
But | met my fate at last.
''She was very beautiful to all mems
eyes-cleVer, accomplished and am
bilious, well born and we'll bred, an
only daughter, ready to do her duty
and to sell herself to the highest
bidder. She was magnificent animal.
/ don't believe she had heart, but her
imperial beauty attracted me: she was
the cyn0sure of every eye. / proposed
to Lady Blanche Middleton, was ac-
Cepted, and we were married. For a
month was happy-happy as a Child
III the possession of new and eX-
penSive toy: then discovered that my
handsome wife did not love me. But she
gave me no cause for jealousy,
though | became very anxious on
her account. She took no interest
in anything; she was subject to Sc
we're headaches, so she told me; she eX-
hibited great dislike to society and
was accustomed to shut herself up with
her maid in her private apartments for
hours together She grew mOroSe and
melancholy, strange in her manner, and
more and more inclined for solitude.
Her appetite failed, and her beauty
faded before my very eyes. One day |
came into her b0udOir suddenly. She
was sitting with mahogany brass
bound box open on the table before her.
When she saw me she closed the box
and locked it with key which she wore
upon her watch chain.
MY curiosity was aroused. What
on earth have you got i'll that box,
Blanche? | said. She laid her hand
upon it jealonsly, and With an angry
look in her magnificent eyes-Which,
though we were not year married,
had already grown dull and Iackluster-
she said, i hate impertinent curiosity
in man, BargemOnt. This little box
is where | keep my secrets-the secrets
l prize best in all the world she
added.
''And you won't let me see the con-
tents?' | said.
II was angry at her want Of conf
dence, and, I'm ashamed to add, | was
Jealous. too.
"'Pd rather die first said my wife
81 turned Oh my heel and left the
room, for | could not trust myself
From that day we quarreled. | dis
dained to seek further explanation from
a woman who denied me her conf
dence.
Several months went by, and Lady
Bargemont's conduct became more and
more eccentric. 1t attracted the atten-
ton of the neighborS and the servants.
The neighbors said that Lord Barge
m0nt'S wife was going melancholy mad.
lone day my Wife's maid rushed into
NY ICOlil, HCl tSe IS uCdlIy SldI llHo lIuul
her head with horror. MY Lord?' she
cried, i can't get into Lady Barge
montS room she doesn't answer me.
don't know what TO think
81 and the maid hurried to my Wife'S
room. We hammered at the door for
admission.
''There was no answer.
''Theu | burst the door open. and
dreadful sight met our eyes,
There lay my wife, fully dressed.
upon the bed: her eyes were closed, as
though in sleep: but when | looked into
her face and saw what [ saw there, |
knew that she was dead. Her hand
still grasped strengthening instru-
ment of bamboo, mounted in silver, on
one end OF which was a curious disk of
porous clay. Upon the little table at
the bedside lay the braSS-bound box
wide open, portable spirit lamp which
was still burning, and what appeared to
be travelling inkStand open. The
room was filled with heavy. strange,
and SiCkly odor, which almost over
powered me.
My wife, Hetty, was an opium
smoker; she learned the habit from
friend as a cure for neuralgia, to which
she was subject. Those little brassT
bound boxes. with the dainty apparatus
for carrying out the hideouS Eastern
vice, are still sold and advertised with
impunity here in London. Hundreds
of men and women, even now, are de-
llberately smoking themselves from this
world into the next. Those who know
of the hideous thing say nothing; and
when the victims die by running their
constitutions. OF as in my wretched
wife's case. by an overdose of the &C
cursed thing, sometimes there is an in
quest and verdict of death by miSad-
venture, as in her case.
Men and Wome with morbid tastes,
signing for forgetfulness or unknown
Joys, or stimulated by the glowing de-
scriptiOnS of the great writer who flew
TO this awful vice as arefuge from phys
ical pain, try it and lake to it.
land now you know all about it,
HettY, and why it was that, when you
married me. yon found me miserable
man. There is nothing morbid about
you. little woman, anyhow" And then
the door was flung wide open, and a
blue-eyed boy, some three years of age,
rushed into the room. The child was
picture of health and strength and hap
piness.
"And there's nothing morbid about