Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-12-26

| cd 60 souls. At evening they passed the
| island where they had left the party of
slavers, but could see no sign of life upon
il and never learned whether the men
persisted or escaped. An hour later they
! encnmped for the night upon the bank Of
/ the river, and it was while they were sit
| ting around the fire at night that Juanna
/ told Leonard of the horrors that she had
undergone during her dreadful sojourn
with the slave caravan. She told him also
| how she had torn leaves from the Bible,
| which she CHANGED to have with her, and
fixed them upon reeds whenever she could
find an opportunity of 50 doing in the
hope that they might guide her father
| should he return and attempt her rescue.
1t is all like n nightmare, she said,
and, as for that hideous farce of marriage
with which it ended, 1 can scarcely bear
| to think of it,
Then Francisco, who had been sitting
| silent, spoke for the first time.
You speak, sonora" he said in his
subdued voice, ''of that hideous farce of
marriage, and 1 suppose you mean tho
ceremony which performed between you
and the Senior Outram, being forced to
the act by Pereira. 1t is my duty to tell
you both that, however irregular this mar
riage may have been, do not believe it to
be a farce. 1 believe that you arc lawful
ly man and wife until death part you
union, as he alone can do"
Nonsense, nonsense" said Leonard.
You forget that we arc OF another reli-
gion, and that the form was necessary to
our plot
THE church knows nothing of the rea-
sons which lead to the undertaking of
wedlock," Francisco answered mildly.
/ They arc various, and many of them
would not bear investigation. But you
were married without protest on your
part, on Portuguese territory, according
to Portuguese custom, and by n duly
qualified priest. The fact that you are OF
the Protestant religion and were united
by the Catholic ritual does not matter in
the least. For the purposes of the cere-
mony you accepted that ritual as when a
Catholic marries n Protestant, or vice
versa. 1t is disagreeable for me TO have
to tell You this, but the truth remains.
believe that you are man and wife In the
eyes OF God and the world
Here Juanna sprang to her feet, and
even in that light Leonard could SEQ that
her breast was hcaving and her eyes shonc
with anger.
"It is intolcrablc that should be force
to listen TO such falschoods,' - she said,
land If ever you repeat them in my hear
ing, Father Francisco, VIII not speak to
you again. l utterly rcpudiate this mar
Outram whispered to me TO go through
with the farce, and it was farce. Had
thought otherwise / should have taken
the poison. II there IS any truth in what
the father says, l have been deceived and
entrapped.' -
Pardon, sonora - said the priest. But
you should not speak angrily. The
Senior Outram and ! only did what We
were forced to do
''Supposing that Father Francisco is
right, which do not believe said Leon
ard, with sarcasm, do you think Miss
Rodd, that such n sudden undertaking
would be more to my liking than to yours:
Believe me, had wished to deceive and
cntrap you, / could not have done so with
out involving myself since II the mar
riagc is binding il is binding on both par
tics and even such humble individual
as am docs not take wife on the faith of
n five minutes acquaintance. To be frank,
l undertook your rescue for purposes far
other than those of matrimony."
Might l ask what they were?" replied
Juanna in n tone of equal accrbity.
Certainly, Miss Rodd. But first /
must explain that am no night GRANT
am an almost penniless ADVENTURE, and
for urgent reasons of my own l seek to
win fortune. Therefore when the woman
yonder," and he pointed to Soa, who was
SIlNlIlS MatNhlIB JASS ouS va Aohec
of the freight, came to me with n mar
velous tale of countless treasure of ru-
bies, which she promised to reveal to me
if / would undertake the little matter of
your rescue, and even paid down n speci
men stone of considerable value on ac-
count, having nothing better to do and
nowhere to go, being, in short, desperate,
consented. Indeed did more. l took
the precaution of reducing tho matter to
writing, 1 being one contracting party,
and SOa, acting on her own behalf and as
your attorney, being the other
Il have not the least idea to what you
allude nor did ever give Soa any author
ity to sign documents on my behalf but
may see this writing:'
Certainly, Leonard answered, and
rising he went tn the baggage, whence he
returned presently with a lantern and the
prayer book.
Juanna placed the lantern beside her
and opened the book The first thing that
she saw was n name on the title page,
''Janc Beach, and beneath it this in
scription. which had evidently been writ
ten by some one in great hurry: ITO dear
| est Leonard from Jane % JAM"
Turn over" he said hastily. The
document is on the other side
She was not slow to note both tho writ
| ing and the confusion which her perusal
| of it caused him. Who was Jane Beach,
she wondered, and why did she call Mr..
Outram dearest Leonardo" In mo-
ment, so strange are the hearts of women,
Juanna felt herself much prepossessed
| against her, whoever she might be. But
| she turned the leaf and read the agree
ment. 1t was n pretty sight to see her
bending over the cramped writing in the
circle of the lantern light, but when at
| length she had finished and looked up
| there was n smile upon her lovely face
/ which had more of scorn in it than was
| pleasant.
Come hither, Soa," she said, land tell
| me what all this nonsense is about rubies
and the People of the Mist, among whom
| am to play the part of n goddess, IL nee
/ essary.''
| '-Shepherdess, answered Soa, squatting
down on the ground before her. lit is not
| nonsense. The language that / taught
/ you when you were little is that of this
| people. 1t is a true tale, though hitherto
| / have hidden IL from you and your father,
| Mayoom, lest Mavoom should seek to win
| the precious stones and come to his death
through them. Listen, Shepherdess, and
she repeated the outlines Of the story with
which she had already made Leonard ac-
quainted, ending thus:
II told this tale to the white man, be-
cause / saw that he was greedy, after the
fashion of his race, and my strait was des-
| perate- For this reason 1 bribed him with
the red stone, and with the promise that
would lead him to the land of the People
of the Mist, for had not done so he would
never have used his wit or put out his
strength to rescue you from the Yellow
Devil. Therefore 1t was also that marked
this paper on your behalf and my own,
knowing well that had no right to speak
for you, and that by and by you could re-
fuse to abide by 1t, though am bound"
l. -~Nl Arl 80
himself What q solicitor the old lady
| would have madetf'