Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1890-09-05

This letter, with the document, was
despatched to Brussels that night. Anc
this is the trouble which Iris brought upon
herself by answering Fanny's advertise
ment
CHAPTER IIv.-oS TIE EVE o. 4 cHASGE.
Iris returned to Louvain by way Of
Paris She had to Settle up with the doc
tor.
her at her hotel.
well. my lady" he began in his gross,
voice, rubbing his hands and laughing. ''ii
has come OF, after all, hasn't III"
II do not desire, DR.. Vimpany, to dis
cuss anything with you. We will pro
coed TO settle what business We have TO
gether."
ITO think that your ladyship should
actually fall in!' he replied. Now con
fess that this was to me the really Difficult;
part Of the job. 1t II quite easy to pretenu
that a man is dead, but not 10 easy &c
touch his money. really do not see no"
sUas y ~ I Ssd
difficulty; Of course"
None at all"
II am to have half"
81 am instructed to give you $4,000. J
have the money hero for you"
Il hope you consider that deserve this
| hudIC!
u think, Dr. vimpany. that whateve;
you get in tho future or the present yot
will richly deserve. You have dragged b
man dc dSwn to o,, your y , SUn level"
"a woman. tool You reward will come
"if Il always takes the form OF bank
notes I care not how great the reward may
be- You will doubtless, as good Chris
tian, expect your own reward-tor him AM
II have mine already, J" she replied sadlr.
snow. DR.. vimpany, let me pay you. AM
get rid of your company"
He counted the money carefully ana
put it in the bankers bag, in his coat
pocket.
changed compliments enough over th'1
II hope| pray-that we may never set
eyes on you again."
II cannot say. People rxa up agains;
each other in the strangest manner. esPe
ciaily people who have done shady thinC.
and have got to keep IN the background
"TSe BACKGROUND OF the world Is yer
"a place, assure you. It Is full Of inter.
estinS people. The society has piquancy
which YOU will find, hope, quite charm
ing. Yon will be known by another name,
of course"
81 shall not tell you by what name"
'Tut-tuti / shall soon find out. The
background gets narrower when you fall
into misery"
what do you meant"
| 81 mean, Lady Harry, that your husband
has no idea whatever as to the value OF
money. The two thousand that you are
taking him will vanish in a year or tive
w hat will you do them AS for myself,
know the value of money so well that am
always buying the most precious and de
| lightful things with it. l enjoy them i'm
mensely. Never any man enjoyed good
/ things so mnch as do. But the delight
full things cost money. Let US be under no
| illusions. Your ladyship and your noble
husband and l all belong to the back
ground; and in year or two we shall be-
long to the needy background. Idare say
that very soon after that the world will
learn that we all belong to the criminal
background. l wish your ladyship jog.
full reunion with your husband"
He Withdrew, aud Iris set eyes on him
no more. But the prophecy with which
he departed remained with her, and it
was with heart forboding fresh sorrows
that she left Paris and started for Lou
vain.
Here began the new life-that Of conceal
ment and false pretense, Iris put of her
| without thick veil. Her husband. dis
covering that English visitors sometimes
ran over from Brussels to see the Hotel de
Vile, never ventured out at all till even
ing. They had no friends and no society
of any kind.
The house, which stood secluded behind
high wall in its garden, was in the quiet
est part of this quiet old city: no sound o.
| life and work reached it; the pair who
lived there seldom spoke to each other
Except Mt the midday breakfast and the
dinner they did not meet. Iris sat in her
own room, silent; Lord Harry sat in his, or
paced the garden walks for hours.
Thus the days went on monotouously
The clock licked; the hours struck: they
took meals: they slept; they rose and dress
| ed: they took meals again-this was all
their life. This was all that they could
| expect for the future.
| The weeks went on. For three months
her from the outer world: her husband had
even forgotten the first necessary of mod
ern life-the newspaper. 1t was not the
Ideal life or love. apart from the world
where the two make for themselves Gar
| den Of Eden: it was prison. in which two
| were confined together who were kept
apart by their guilty secret.
They ceased altogether to speak; their
very meals were taken in silencs. The
husband saw continual reprOach in his
wife's eyes; her sad and heavy look spoke
more plainly than any words-''It is to
this that you have brought me-"
| One morning Iris was idly turning over
| the papers in her desk. There were old
letters, old photographs, all kinds Of tri-
| ding treasures that reminded her of the
| pasta woman keeps everything; the lit
| tie mementoes of her C ldhood. her first
| governess, her first school, her school
! riendships-everything. As Iris turned
| over these things her mind wandered
! back to the old days. She became again u
young girl-innOcent, fancy free: she grew
| up-she was . woman innocent still.
Then her mind jumped at one leap to
| the present. and she saw herself as she
was-innocent no longer. degraded and
guilty. the vile accompliee OF . vile con.
| spiracy.
Then; as one who has been wearing col
ored glasses puts them OF and sees things
| in their own true col0rs, she saw how sue
had been pulled down by blind infatua-
ton to the level of the man who had held
her In his fascination; she saw him as he
was-reckless. unstable. careless OF name
and honor. Then for the first time che
realized the depths into which she was
| plunged and the life which she was hence
| forth doomed to lead. The blind love fell
| from her-it was dead at last: but it left
her bound to the man by . chain which
nothing could break; she was in her right
senses; she saw things as they were; but
the knowledge came too late.
Her husband made no ATTEMPT to bridge
1ver the estranSement which had thus
| grown up between them: it became wider
| every day: he lived apart and alone; he
sat in his own room, smoking more cigars,
drinking more brandy and water than
was good for him: sometimes he paced the
gravel walks ia the garden: in the evening
after dinner hs went cut and walked about
tho empty streets of ti.e quiet city. Once
Or twice he ventureh into q cafe. sitting
In Q corner. his hat drnwn over his eyes:
but that was dangerous. For the most
part he kept In the STR cts and he spoke to
no one.
Meantime the autumn had given place
| to winter, which began in wet and dreary
| fashion. Day ana night the rain fell. max
ing the gravel walks too wet and the
streets impossible. Then Lord Harry sat
In his room and smoked all day long. And
still the melancholy Of the one increased
and the boredom Of the other,
He spoke at last It was after break
fast.
Iris. !" he said. show long Is this to con-
tipue?"
"This-what?"
This life-this miserable solitude and
silence"
Till we die" she replied. what else
do you expecti You have sold our freedom
and We must pay the price"