Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-12-13

the difficult problem. By degrees light seemed to come to her The difficulties became less and less, and with the early dawn she sank into light sleep, having resolved on a course of action which, although attend ed with much trouble and q considerable degree of danger, might avert the trou- ble which stared them all in the face. She was so sure of her own singleness of purpose that it did not even occur to her that in her contemplated action there was to herself certain danger of having her motives misunderstood in case aIS- | premature discovery of her plans should | take place.
 What she had resolved was as follows: She would go at the first opportunity she might have without risk of casual dis covery to tho place where the money was hidden, take it away so as to pre- vent the temptation to her husband of stealing it and hide it somewhere else until she should have good oppor- 1 tunity of restoring it to her father with out betraying her husband.
 When she woke in the morning from her troubled sleep, she could hardly real ize that the events of the night were actualities and not hideous dreams. However, she set herself bravely to work, not to let any one suspect that she had secret to keep. Her mother mo- ticed the dark rings under her eyes and | concerned herself about her, but she begged her quietly not to notice her and went on with her work preparing the morning meal
 i Her great concern was to avoid giving Robert m opportunity of going alone to the Coppice, and to this purpose she never let him go out of her sight. He was ill at ease and evidently wanted to get away, but as he was afraid that any sus- picion would of course defeat his object he had to constrain himself to fall in with her purposes whenever and however she might express them. It taxed all her woman's ingenuity to find suitable ex- cuses for keeping him by her side, and once or twice she felt the hysterical lump rising in her throat to such a degree that it took the greatest effort in her power to control herself-in fact. had it not been for the gravity of the occasion and the issue at stake she would have given way.
 Little do men know of the fierce bat ties which women have to fight with themselves on behalf of those whom they love and to fight them all alone, un- cheered by any sympathy and without even the meager consolation that in time those for whom the effort is made will know and appreciate the magnitude of the present sacrifice.
 By and by Robert, realizing that he was not likely to have q fit opportunity for looking after the buried money, de- termined to give it mp for the present and for the day to enjoy himself after l., ,1 1,., strolled away to join the other idlers at the wine shop. which was also the gen eral and only shop in the place.
 When she found herself alone, Marie had to decide at what time she would make the attempt. She felt that it must, if it was to be of any use, be made at the earliest possible moment, for she could see that Robert was bent on the evil work being done as soon as he could ac- complish it.
 She decided that whatever was to be done ought to be done at once. As soon as she found a moment when she could escape her mothers eye he took a spade and ran to the copse where the money was hidden. She did not lose moment, but began to dig and very shortly turned up a piece of canvas tied into 8 bag. Hastily she unrolled it and took out the money, which she placed in her pocket, for she thought her wisest plan to pre- vent the risk of discovery would be to wait for favorable opportunity of hid ing it in some other place.
 Her heart was so full of glad exulta- tion that she had SO far been enabled to save Ter husband from his contemplated crime that she had not taken any heed whatever of the possible consequences of her own act. It was not until shC had placed back the canvas in the hole and filled in the earth again and smoothed it over so that its recent disturbance would not be apparent that it struck her that the labor was not yet complete. She paused in her running, for she was by , this time hurrying back to the house, and a sudden impulse took her to replace the money at all hazards. Just then. how ever, she heard her mother calling her, so } she had to abandon the impulse. She re turned to the house with a weight on her mind which seemed to drag her down. , Her conscience began to torture her with doubts as to the propriety of her &C., ton.
 "Mightitnot be possible" she thought, "that she had entirely misconstrued the motives of her husbandf If so, what a terrible plight she was in! Not only had she wronged the man whom she loved-- her own husband. whom she had sworn to honor-with q base suspicion, but she had actually robbed her own father and was even now in the actual possession oi the stolen money"
 The thought was Il horrible one and al most bore her down with fear.
 But there was no time to lose. TG show any signs of disturbance was tc court inquiry, and inquiry meant dan
 ger-danger not only to herself, but tC her husband.
 So with sick heart she went about her household work, fearing something new and more dreadful than the last at every sound that smote on her ear.
 That day seemed to be of endles;
 length. All the time she was possessed
 of an absorbing desire to get away by
 herself, even for few minutes, bu
 each time she made the effort some hor rid fate seemed to thwart her purpose
 At one time it was her mother wanted assistance, at another it was that sh' had to prepare the dinner for her fathel and her husband, then neighbor drop ped in to gossip, and she dared not tr, to get rid of her lest an action so unusua 8 on her part should invite suspicion. g If illdoers only knew at the first wha
 misery there is to one and all who com d in touch with their crime, there would e perhaps be less i'll done in the world! l d is a part, and large part. too, of tn
 devils opportunity that the conse e |. ouences-remote as well as immediate