Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-10-16
AVENGED AT LAST; Or, a Worldwide Chase.
A STORY OF RETRlBUTIoN.

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 D | decided brunette she wUS not so dark as to be distinguished for it With her beauty she seemed to hnve inherited also the sweet disposition of her mother, together with tho frank opcn-hearted- ness of hor father.
 Mother and daughter were sitting in private parlor forming one of their suite of rooms at the West End Hotel, I Long Branch, where they had been l spending the summer. It. was only dur ing the last two vears that Mrs Delaro had enjoyed much of her dau;rlter's so- ciety, for they had necessarily been thrown very much apart owing to the mothers set determination to personal | ly assist in the search for her husbands s | murderer.
 | This employment. which had kept her travelling ali the time, combined with the fact that Armida had been at- | tending school at a convent near to Paris gavo them very little opportunity of being together
 Mrs. Dclaro really showed very little 1 sign of the struggles she hnd undergone in her features, though a close observer might have noticed scttled and de- tcrminod 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 tcmber morning talking to her daugh- ter, hcr thoughts wore far away with her two staunch friends, Joel Wilcox ! nuA 1rNFe weeks before to follow up a clew at New | Orleans. They had only written twice since their 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 l Tagged, nor her desire for vengeance become less keen. When in cOnvcrsa- tion with her two loyal friends she al- ways spoke hupefulv of tho ultimate success of her life work and had fre- quently intimated that she fully ex- pccted to soc Leon Velasquez face to face before doath should call her to meet her huSEand.
 Of ono thing she had been scrupu- lously careful. and that was to have no word regarding her husbands cruel death uttered in the hearing of her daughter Still, Armida knew of tho 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 reccnt years, as tho mat ter was never referred to in her pres once, the whole story, which so much affected her entire life. was buried in the oblivion of shadowy youthful mem- ories.
 Tho conversation at the opening of this chapter might lead one to imagine that Armida was of a rather peevish 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 pantaloons and suspenders during her stay at the Branch. Races one day, a 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 l ence was looked upon us a positive 3 necessity, until at last tho poor girl was almost tired out. No wonder then that she was anxious to get away from it all anG seek that rest in New York which was absolutely impossible at a place like Long Branch.
 Just as the concluding words fell from Armida's lips, there was a knocA on the door, which was answered by the maid, I who took a card from tho bell-boy and handed it to her young mistress.
 Armida glanced at it languidly and . then turning to her mother with pite- ous gaze on hcr sweet face said:
 Another infliction."
 "Who is hero now, my dear?'
 That horrid, vulgar Mir. Blodger, who Is so fond of saying: Ladies, MT. q Stephen Blodger at your servico."
 Here Armida rose from hor reclining posture and gave an imitation of that gentleman's unique style of introducing himself; then turning to her maid she said:
 Tell the boy to show him up." As the boy went away, something like gurgling litter sounded as if com ing from that progressive youth. lI s less than a minute the caller was at the 7. parlor door, which showed that he must have waited either outside, or very near the elevator, for he certainly did not have time to como from the office.
 Tho visitor was man weighing some l. thing in the neigh hborhood of two hun. ! dred pounds, and had face as round and as red as the setting sun on
 winters day. Step by step he hat risen from the lowest ranks, until he had finally attained the mighty distinc' l. tion of being a millionaire, said million. having been acquired by the practical application of the science of turning
 tallow into soap.
 In his carly days he had known Mir
 Wilcox intimately, and the acquaintance if had recently been renewed with pleas
 ureeon both sides. Consequently Mrs
 Delaro and her daughter felt it incum
 bent upon them to entertain the gentle
 man when he called.
 Since converting his soap-boiling busi ness into stock company and then sell
 ing out his interest at an enormou