Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-06-07

sidered beyond the pale of respectable.
ity. Innocent the girl was. But who
would believe her protestations to that
effectP In the face of her apparent
guilt no one would do it.
"Its no use crying over split milk"
said the servant. "The master will be
kind and generous to you as long as he
likes you. But you will have to give
up such a notion as marrying SO rich
man as-he is Take my advice, and get
all you can out of him while you have
the chance. He'll soon fall In love
with somebody else"
Lucy's heartbroken threat to expose
her betrayor only provoked the de-
rision of the servant.
You would very likely get locked
up for attempted blacl1mailing," she
said. HE has been too careful for
such greenhorn as you to circumvent
him. He has never been here to sec
either you or the house except after
dark, and nobody would believe you If
you said Mr.. Maynard was Mr.. Collin
son. He is supposed to have nearly
broken his heart when his wife died
and If ever anybody was looked upon
by the world us pattern of virtue, it Il
the man whom you, a bit of shop
girl, expected to marry you You
would only get yourself laughed at and
despised So take my advice, and don't
be fool enough to fly in the face OF for
tune yet"
Even after these revelations, the
poor child could hardly believe in the
utter baseness of her hetrayer. But
in her next interview with him she was
soon convinced of the fact thatt he
man whom she, in common with the
rest of the world, regarded AS pattern
of virtue, was in reality, monster of
deceit and vice
That night she escaped from her
pretty home, and from then until
saved her from self destruction she hal
undergone all manner of rebuffs, dis.
appointments and privations, which
were enough to drive any other modest
girl to the refuge of the wretched.
found temporary home for Lucy
and promised to put an end to her
troubles in some way or other. Nor did
doubt my ability to do this. Lucy
believed an appeal or threat of expos.
ure TO be equally vain weapons to use
against Mr.. Collinson, but | was more
worldly wise and more sure of success.
saw that as yet the girl was not fit to
cope with the world, and determined
to make the Pattern of Virtue" pro.
vide for her comfort. In this determi-
nation Lucy's own guileless and simple
nature aided me. Though tenacious of
her honor she did not recoil from the
idea of compelling Mr. Collinson to pay
for his deception, as many girl of
more vigorous mind whose feelings had
been outraged would have done.
confess to feeling more than slight
ly malicious when went to interview
the great draper and clothier, who soon
found that he had a much more expe-
rienced woman than simple little Lucy
to deal with. His dsmay when l quiet
ly laid the whole array of facts before
him and proved the strength of my
position, was comical to witness At
first he tried to frighten me with his
bogie reputation as pattern of virtue.
But had several cards up my sleeve,
and as played them, one by one, he
realized that If | were to make public
exposure of only one-half the seedy
facts had been able, with the aid OF
my colleagues, to ral up against him,
the world would know him in all his
carnal hideousness, and a vast num-
Der of people would take their custom
elsewhere.
Before | had done with him l con-
vinced him of the expediency of provid-
ing literally for Lucy for at least five
years to come, and declined to be sat
isfled with less than three hundred per
annum for that period. 1t was bitter
pill for him to swallow, but he saw no
other way out of the embroglio into
which his scoundrelly nature had
brought him. and carried my point