San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-06

thu6uerous. 1 felt for that chaplain
Then he collapsed miserably. ''Ths
sapphires will have to be produced, iden-
titled, revalued. How shall / come out
of it? Think of the disgrace, the ripping
up of old scandalsi Even if were to
compound with Lady Carwitchet, the
sum she limited at was too monstrous.
She wants more than my money. Help
| me, Mr.. Acton! For the sake of your
own family interests, help mel"
81 beg your pardon-family interests1
don't understand"
| eff my daughter is childless, her next
of kin is poor Marmaduke Panton, who
is dying at Cannes, not married or likely
to marry; and failing him, Your nephew,
Sir Thomas Acton, succeeds"
! My nephew Tom! Leta, or Leta's
baby, might come to be the possible in
heritor of the great Valdez sapphirei
The blood rushed to my head as looked
| at the great shining swindle before me.
"What diabolic jugglery was at work
when the exchange was nader de-
manded fiercely.
SIT must have been on the last occa-
sion of her wearing the sapphires in Lon
don. l ought never to have left her out
| of my sight"
"You must put stop to Miss Panton's
marriage in the first place, pronounced
as automatically as he could have done
himself.
'Not to be thought Of" he admitted
helplessly. mira has my force of char
acter. She knows her rights and she
will have her jewels. l want you to
take charge of the-thing for me. If
it's in the house she'll make me produce
it. She'll inquire at the bankers. IL
you have it we can gain time, if but for
day or two" He broke off. Carriage
wheels We're crashing on the gravel out
side. We looked at each other in con-
sternation. Flight was imperative. I
hurried him down stairs and out of the
conservatory just as the doorbell rang.
think we both lost our heads in the
confusion. He showed the case into my
hands and pocketed it, without q
thought of the awful responsibility I
vas mourning, and saw him disappear
INTO the shelter of the friendly night.
When think of what my feelings were
that evening--of my murderous hatred
of that Sinking, testing Jezebel who sat
opposite to me at dinner, my wrathful
Indignation at the thought of the poor
little expected heir, defrauded ere his
birth; of the crushing contempt felt for
myself and the bishop as pair of wit
less idiots unable to see our way out OF
the dilemma; all this boiling and surging
through my soul | can only wonder
Domenico having given himself holt
day, and the kitchen maid doing her
worst and wickedest-that govt or jaun-
dice did not put an end to this story at
once.
"Uncle Paulv Leta was looking her
sweetest when she tripped into my
room next morning. "Tve news for you.
She," pointing a delicate forefnger
in the direction of the corridor, sis go
ing! Her Bokums have reached Paris at
last and sent for her to join them at the
Grand hotel"
| Twas thunderstruck. The longed for
deliverance had but come to remove
hopelessly and forever out of my reach
Lady Carwitchet and the great Valdex
sapphire.
| "Why, aren't you overjoyed. am.
/ We are going to celebrate the event by
dinner party. Toms hospitable soul il
vexed by the lack of entertainment we
had provided her. We must ask tho
Brownleys some day or other, and they
will be delighted to meet anything in
the way of q ladyship, or such smart
folks as the Duberly- Parkers. Then we
may as well have the Blomfelds, and
air that awful modern Sevres dessert
service she gave us when we were mar
RED" had no objections to make, and
she went on, rubbing her soft cheek
against my shoulder like the purring
little cat she was: "Now, want You to
do something to please me-and Mrs
Bloomfield. She has set her heart on see
ing your rubies, and, though / know you
hate her about as much as you do that
Sevres china
"Whatl Wear my rubies with thatl
won't. I'll tell you what / will do
though I've got some carbuncles as
big as prize gooseberries, whole set.
Then You have only to put those Bohe-
milan glass vases and candelebra on the
table, and let your gardener do his
worst with his great forced, scentless,
vulgar blooms, and we shall all be in
keeping" Leta pouted. An idea struck
me. ''Or, I'll do as you wish, on one
condition. You get Lady Carwitchet
to wear her big sapphire and don't tell
her | wish it,"
lived through the next few days as
one in some evil dream. The sapphires,