The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-08-02

played nervously with her teaspoon and
Lawrence, with an affectation OF ease, struck
o match and lit a cigarette.
"You see, Theo, 1t is tremendous leg-up
for me. No end of business to be done with
all those swells And, after all, fellow must
settle down some time or other-eh2"
She looked at him hard through her narrow
eyes, and the look made him feel extremely
uncomfortable "By the bye,n she said pres
emily, rising and reaching for her wrap, ''are
you sure you must 90 tomorrow r' "Quite
sure; by the first train. Butyou're not going?
Why it's quite early-we can still do the third
act of the play"
"Thanks, It's impossible. You forget that
L, too, am woman Of business; L have lots
to do tonight. You must tell me when may
send your wedding present. Goodbye, good
bye"
few minutes more and Mrs. Winch, pale
with rage and modification, was being rapidly
driven home alone. Not for worlds would
she have let him know that she was suffering;
but for every pang that Theodore Winch en-
dured that night she swore he should pay
hundred-fold. Why, she could prevent this
marriage altogether. There were half dozen
ways In which she could ruin him; and Lady
Sarah, she knew perfectly, would not tolerate
penniless lover. q Late into the
night Mrs. Winch was at work In her study
with complicated calculations and Stock Ex-
change lists. Before dawn she had completed
her plan.
Two days later the smart young clerk who
represented the firm OF Shoddyson & Co. on
the Stock Exchange (the Co., bye the bye, was
purely fctitious) was discussing the odds on
the Derby with confrere, when he was
handed Paris telegram. The firm had many
wires from the French capital, but this one
was somewhat startling: "Sell 1OO, 900 Ell Do
radios per cent carefully;' while the sigma
ture was that of great financial house in
Paris, the Brothers Sidonia, with whom Shod-
dyson occasionally did business. Running as
fast as he could, the smart young clerk made
his way to the restaurant close by, where
Lawrence Shoddys0n, with party Of friends,
was celebrating his engagement. which had
that very morning been announced In the daily
papers. The stockbroker instantly arose,
made his excuses to the lunch-party, and
fastened into the market to execute his large
order.
There was soon a sensation in the house.
Shoddyson & Co. were selling Ell Dorados like
wildfre, and huge crowd gathered in the Ell
Dorado market, while Lady Sarah's iance
continued to offer the stock. For two hours
El Dorados went on dropping by points; and
it was not until the whole transaction was
nearly completed that he was able to wire to
the Brothers Sidonia the execution of their
order. Half an hour later the smart young
clerk was handed still more startling tele-
gram: "We don't understand your wire.
Have passed no order for selling Ell Dorados.
You must be the victim of fraud:
''SIDoNIA FREREs.''
The news got out at once, for several Lon
don stockholders had been warned during the
last hour by their Paris agents that a fraud
had been perpetrsted on London firm, with
the result that Ell Dorados, which had fallen
10 per cent. during the day, recovered their
original prices at bound. At the end of the
day Shoddyson was liable for some 920, 900.
A large firm could have withstood the shock
or borrowed the money, but to him the thing
was ruin. The morrow was account day, and
at such short notice he was unable to meet
the large difference So Shoddyson & Co.
were duly declared defaulters and underwent
the process of being "hammered'' In the
House.
The morning after there appeared an au-
thoritative denial in the morning papers that
any marriage had been arranged between
Lady Sarah Hardman and Mr.. Lawrence
Shoddyson, which, to be sure, was only what
people expected. The unfortunate fnancier
who, it would seem, was born to be the sport
of the less amiable members of the female
sex, more than half suspects the hand that
dealt him this blow. But he has never been
able to prove it; nor have the Partisan police,
though they have made every inquiry, been
able to discover the perpetrator of the great
telegraphic fraud.
Mrs. Winch is becoming more pinched,
more copper-haired and more acidulous day
by day. You may see her on any fine after
noon driving alone toward the Alleedes Aca-
cias. She has had her revenge. Is she salts
feds Who knows?