Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-01-03
A MARRIAGE OF VENGEANCE

among Staeg applicants. was one whom
| viii cal john Lock lie was snii a
young man. his age being not more
than thirty-three, and he had been
convic ted of the serious offense OF at
tempting to poison his wife and con-
demned TO ten years penal SerYitude.
He was certified as well educated,v
and in prison he had earned all that
was possible in the way OF good-con-
duct money. He was willing to under
take any kind of work by which he
might get an honest living. and he was
told TO cali again on the following
Saturday. On that day | chanced 60
look in at the Office again, and shortly
afterward John Lock appeared. He
was much altered, and looked az
though he had been much frightened
Recognizing the Secretary at his desk.
he hastily remarked: beg your
pardon, sir. / can't take a job i'm Lon
don. ! wish 10 he sent away, if YOU
please ITO be sent where ?''
Anywhere, answered John Lock,
desperately. " so that it is far enough
far away as the money due to me viii
pay passage to. don't want any
other clothes. sir; these l have on viii
do. | only want to get away" . To
get away from whom ~ From my
wife, sir. She might have been dead
for all / know to the contrary, but she
came to me in the street sudden as
ghost not two hours since, and she has
opened my ewes. | wouldn't have he
Iieved that woman could have so
much of the devil In her. The fact
is.p remarked the Secretary. you have
been looking for your wife and have
found her and you wish her to live
with You again, and she refuses"
Live with her again y the man eX-
claimed with hor or. What after
all she has revealed to me Good
Lord, no! ! shall kill her If 7 remain
where she can put herself in my way.
She is mad, / believe, though she does
not look or speak like it. She wishes
me to kill her. She swears that she
will haunt and harass me until do it.
so that ! shall end my life on the gal,
lows And so il will be. | feel sure ard
certain of it, if am not able to put the
sea wide Letween US, SO that we cannot
come together again. For the good
Lords sake, gentlemenr' aud he
clasped his hands together and spoke as
beseechingly as man begging for his
life, don't refuse me what | am ask
ing" There were no more prisoners to
be attended to at the offie that morn
ing, anil | believe more to CRAFTY me
than that he himself felt particularly
curious in the matter, Mr.. Secretary
remarked, " You will have first to make
out that yours was case for unexcep-
tional treatment To what do you
attribute your wife's bitter resentful-
ness ?' think she must be mad,
ger.tlemen,v returned John Lock.
Then, after few moments Of ponder
ing wheih,r he sh aid Speak mt, and,
if so, r. what exc ! ho promptly ~
solved to tell the whole story. /" Can-
not account for it in any other way,
but if YOU will kindly have patience to
listen to me you win he able to Judge
for yourselves.
81 will be as brief as I can, but I
must go back to the time when we
were both single, and when she-my
wife, | mean-was sweethearting with
a fellow-clerk of mine in the same
office, young fellow named Taplow,
and we were much OF an age. Caroline
Speed was my wife's maiden name.
and we were all three members Of
the - Mechanics Institute, and that
is how we made acquaintance. | was
in love with Garry from the first time
] saw her. [ am not of very bold
disposition. and l kept my feelings to
myself for long time, and until
thought that might speak and when
/ did she laughed in disdainful sort
of way. and said that she must refer
me to Seth Taplow, my fellow-elerk.
/ never for a moment dreamed that
there was anything between them. but
when asked Taplow he informed me
VI. l.
company in a quiet way, he told me,
for six months or more, and ii was set
tied that they should get married as
soon as he had saved money to make a
decent home for her. He was getting
only so pound sterling year. and my
salary was 120 pounds sterling. and
feeling, perhaps. a little spiteful of
what he had told me, remarked 4
hope you are in no hurry, Seth. How
long do you think it will take you to
save enough to buy a decent home.
when at the outside you can't put up
more than ten shillings a week ?
Well said he j have let You into
one secret, Jack. and | will tell you
another, but you must promise to keep
it dark. for it would be the sack at a
moments notice if it came to the gov
ernOr's ears. | have been doing bit
of betting on horse-races. and I've
been lucky at it. But you mustn't sup
pose that | am such fool as to believe
in it as means of increasing ones in
come. | have won a few pounds
already, and / mean to give them a
chance to win little more at all
events. But never no morev after
we are married, / promise You that
Well, gentlemen" continued Jack
Lock. moistening his dry lips with his
tongue-tip. and with anything but a
nice look in his eyes, g knowing me
only as what appear as on your books,
you may not believe what am going
TO say | admit that I felt the dis
appointment cruelty. and none the less.
you may depend, because it was one
whom / might call my bosom friend
who had Occasi0ned IL. But I felt
more on account Of the second secret
Seth had confided to me. / said moth
ing about it to him at the time, but
that same night / wcote him q letter,
begging and imploFzng 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 so close as I
had promised to. / went frank and
disinterested to Miss Speed and told
her about It. / showed her the letter
Seth had sent me in reply to mine, and
IN which be said it was too late for me
to preach for that week anyhow. as he
| had put 3 pound sterling on horse for