Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-16

will have it, our old house is to let. saw
bill in the window yesterday.
''Yes," he said, "you can So back as soor
as you like"
"And can we keep a carriage?"
"No, not yet; am doing well, but no
we'll enough for that. Next year, if live
YOU will be able to have carriage. Dom
begin to grumble, HonorIa. have got e15t
to snare. and ii YOU care to come round t
jewelers. you can spend it on what yor
like"
"oh, you delightful personP' said hi
wife.
So they went round to the jewelers. and
| Lady Honoria bought ornaments to thu
value of e150, and carried them home and
hung over them, as another class of woman
might hang over her frst-born child, admir-
ing them with a tender ecstacy. Whenever
he had a sum of money that he could afford
to part with, Goeffrey would take her thu:
to jewelers. or dressmaker's ard stand
by coldly while she bought things to its
value. Lady Houoria was delighted. II
never entered into her mind that in a sense
he was taking a revenge upon her, and tnat
every resh exhibition of her rejoicings over
the good things thus provided added to his
contempt for her.
Those were happy days for Lady Hon
oria- She rejo;ced in the return of wealth
like schoolboy at the coming of the holi-
DAYS, or a half-irozen wanderer at the rising
| of the sun. She had been miserable,
| as miserable as her nature admitted
OF, during all this night of poverty; now she
was happy again, as she understood happi-
ness. For Lady Honoria, bred, educated.
civilized-what you Without of the more
human passions, had replaced them by this
idol worship of wealth, or rather of what
wealth brings. 1t gave her positive phys
ical satisfaction; her beauty, which had be-
gun to fade, came back to her; sne looked
| five wears younger. And all the while Geof-
! frev watched her with an ever-growing
| scorn.
Once it broke out. The Bolton street
| house had been furnished; he had given her
81, 500 TO do it, and with what things they
already owned, she managed very well on
that. They moved into it, and Honoria had
set herself up with a sufficient supply of
! grand dresses and jewelry, suitable to her
recovered position. One day, however, it
occurred to her that Effie was a child of re-
markable beauty, who, if properly dressed,
would look very nice in the drawing-room
at tea time. So she ordered a lovely cos
tune for her-this deponeut is not able to
describe it, but it consisted largely of velvet
and lace. Geotfrey heard nothing OF this
dress, but, coming home rather early one
afternoon-it was on Saturday-be found
the child being shown off to a room full of
visitors and dressed in strange and wonder
| full attire, with which, not unnaturallv, she
was vastly pleased. He said nothing at the
time, but when at length the dropping fire
of callers had ceased he asked who had put
Efie into that dress.
II did, said Lady Honoria, "and pretty
penny it has cost, L can tell you. But 1
can't have the child come down so poorly
clothed; it does not look we'll"
Then she can stay upstairs" said Geof-
frey, frowning.
'What do YOU mean?" asked his wife.
81 mean that will not have her decked
out in those fine clothes. They are quite un-
suitable to her age. There is plenty of time
for her to take to vanity"
Il really don't understand you, Geofrey.
! Why should not the child be handsomely
dressed?"
"Why notl Great heaven, Honoria, do
you suppose that want to see Effie grow up
like you to lead a life of empty pleasure
seeking idleness and make god OF luxury?
1 had rather see her"-he was going to add,
dead first" but checked himself and said
shave to work for her living. Dress your
self up as much as you like, but leave the
child alone"
Lady Honoria was furious, but she was
also q little frightened. She had never
heard her husband speak quite like this
before, and there was something underneath
his words that she did not quite understand.
Still less did she understand when on the
Monday Geofrey suddenly told her that he
had ESQ for her to spend as she liked; then
accompanied her to a mantle shop, and
stood patiently by, smiling coldly while she
invested it in lace and embroideries Hon.
oria thought that he was making reparation
for his sharp words, and so he was, but to
himself, and in another sense. Every time
he gave her money in this fashion, Geotfrey
fel: like man who had paid off q debt of
honor. She had taunted him again and
again with her poverty-the poverty she
said that he had brought on her; for every
taunt he would heap upon her all those
things in which her soul delighted. He
would glut her with wealth as, in her hour
of victory, Queen Tomyris glutted dead
Cyrus with the blood of men.
1t was an odd way OF taking a revenge,
and one that suited Lady Honoria admlra-
blv; but though its victim felt no sting, it
gave Geoffrey much secret relief. Also he
was curious; he wished to see if there was
any bottom to such woman's desire for
luxury, if it would not bring safety with it,
But Lady Honoria was very bad subject
for such an experiment. She never showed
the least sign of being satiated, either with
fine things, with pleasures or with social de-
lights. They were her natural element
and he might as soon have expected fish to
weary Of the water, or an eagle OF the rush.
ing air.
The winter wore away and the spring
came. One day, it was in April, Geoffrey,
who was moderate Liberal by persuasion,
casually announced at dinner that he was
going to stand for Parliament in the
Unionist interest. The representation of
one of the few metropolitan divisions which
had then returned Home Ruler had fallen
vacant. AS it CHANGED be knew the head
Unionist whip very well. They had been
old friends since they were lads at school TO-
gether, and this gentleman, having heard
Godfrey make brilliant speech in court,
was suddenly struck with the idea that he
was the very man to lead forlorn hope.
The upshot of it was that Geoffrev was
asked if he would stand, and replied that
he must have two DAYS to think it over.
What he really wanted the two days for was
to enable him to write to Beatrice and re-
ceive an answer from her. He had an al
most superstitious faith in her Judgment,
and did not like to act without it. After
faith ully weighing the pros and cons, his
own view was that he should do well to
stand. Probably he would be defeated, and
it might cost him e5UO. On the other hand
it would certainly make his name know as
politician, and be was now in a fair way to
earn so large an income that he could well
afford to risk the money. The only great
objection which he saw was tnat if be hap
pened to get in it must mean that he would
have to work all day and all night too.
Well, he was strong and the more work he
did the better-it kept him from thinking.
In dino