Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1894-11-22

READY ron THE WORST
June roses were opening in the Hover
rarden at Davenant, and Gilbert SIN
clair had been leading life OF the
purest domesticity for the last three
weeks. 1t hung rather heavily upon
him. that domestic life, fot, though he
loved his wife after his own i&Alon,
he was not fond of home joys or eXclu'
sively feminine society. But what
will not a Jealous man endure wheh
once his suspicious are aroused? ia
tent as the spider watching his prey,
he waits for the unguarded moment
which shall tetray the horrid secret
he fears yet longs to discover.
Except to see Goblin win the Derby
e.. a feat which that estimable animal
performed with honor TO himself and
satisfaction to every one save the book
men Gilbert had not been away from
Davenant since the Two Thousand. He
had been told to look for treaChery at
home, and he was there ready to seize
the traitor. No mOuchard in the secret
service of the Partisan police was ever
u closer spy than the husband who
doubts yet dotes, suspects yet fondly
loves.
That he had seen nothing in all this
time to confirm his doubts was not
enough to convince Mr.. Sinclair that
those doubts were baseless. He was
willing to imagine profoundest hypoc-
risy in the wife Of his bosom, brazen
front under the semblance of pure
and Innocent brow Even the devotion
to her child might be u cover for q
guiltier love. Her happiness, her
tranquility, gave him new ground for
suspicion. Was there not some secret
well-spring of contentment, some hid
den tource OF delight, masked behind
this fair show OF maternal affection?
These were the doubts which Gilbert
Sinclair was perpetually revolving in
his mind during this period OF domes-
tic bliss, and this was the aspect of at
fairs up to June Is. Ascot races were
to begin on the l6th and Goblin was to
fulfill his third great engagement,
This was an occasion before which even
a husbands jealous fears must give
way, and Gilbert had made up his mind
TO see the horse run, He had not car
ried out his idea of selling Goblin after
the Derby. Jackson, the trainer, had
protested vehemently against such a
breach OF faith with him, who had
made the horse.
That there 'oss is to win the Leger,"
said the indignant Jackson, IF he
don't I'll eat him, pig-skin and all. "
Gilbert felt that to part with such a
horse for ever so high price would be
to cut up the goose that laid the golden
eggs.
"A horse can't 90 on winning great
races forever, though. There must
come q turn in the tide, suggested
Gilbert, sagely. "We should get pot
Of money for him now.
"A gentleman couldn't sell 'oss
that had Just won him the blue ribbon
of the turf, replied Jackson, with a
burst of chivalrous feeling. 1T would
be too mean.
Gilbert gave way to the finer feel
ngs of his trainer, AID took no step
toward cutting short his career on the
turf. Things were l1oking livelier in
the coal-pit district, he told himself,
and a few thousand q year moe or
less could not hurt him, He would
carry out his original idea, take a
place somewhere near Newmarket,
and establish his wife and--the child
there
Under ordinary circumstances he
woNld have taken house at Ascot dur
inc the race week for the accommoda'
ton OF himself and q selection OF
choice spirits with sporting tastes
where the nights might have been en-
livened by blind hockey, or poker, OF
some equally enlightened lee cation
But on this occasion Mr., Sinclair
made no such comfortable arrange
ment, and determined to sleep at his
hotel in town on the night after the
race.
He was smoking his after dinner
cigar on the evening of the 10th
pac ng slowly up and down the terrace
in front OF the open drawing-room
windows, when a servant brought him
his letters.
The first opened was from his train
err, who was In high spirits about Cob.
lin. The next two or three were bust.
ness letters of no Importance The
last was in a strange hand a mig Iling,
scratchy little hand which, if thel {
be any expression in penmanship, wa
suggestive VI " llleuu anu crafty uuu
ure in the writer.
Gilbert tore open the envelope, eX.
lecting to find some insinuating "tip'
from a gentleman of the genus tout,
but the letter was not even so homes
as tip; it was that snake in the grass
an anonymous warning:
"If Mr.. Sinclaire is away to-mort
mite he vii mis- an oportunitie to learl
sumthing he ouht to kno. If he want
to kno secret let i'm watch the bal
COME of is wits room betwin tenn ant
leven to-moro mite. A FRIEND"
Such a letter falling into the hand
of a generous-minded man would hav
aroused only contempt; but coming t.
man who had given himself up as
prey to suspicion and jealousy, VIII
had long been on the watch for dc
nestle treachely, even this venomou
fcrawl became significant as the voic
OF Fate-an oracle to be obeyed at an
cost.
She has taken advantage Of my in
tended absence already, and has mad
an appointment with her lover,
thought Gilbert Sinclair. This war;
ing comes from one of my servants,
dare say, some scullery-maid who ha
found out nv wiea's infamv and Mite