Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-08-24
CHATTER l1.-cont,uued.

asked IN lear.
l suppose l looked wild and terrible
enough.
II am going to seek her OUT" I said.
"She says t at she is to marry this
man. I want to know that it is So"
Then I went up stairs, changed my
clothes, put al the money l had into
my pocket, ard packed a handbag for
my Quincy. l heard my mother NOV
ing below, lighting the fire and getting
thu meal ready: for whether q woman
had broken he. sons heart or no he
should not starve; of that she was de-
termined. Before l went down l laid
the shawl l had bought for Moa care
fully away in the chest in which l kept
my treasures, and Us | smoothed the
folds a great sob rose in my breast,
and q passion of tears overlook me.
But I composed myself soon and rose
and went GOWN stairs.
Early the next day I was en- my jour-
ney. l had something else in my breast
besides my money. 1t was the gold
chain with the coral locket attached
10 it that | had given to Moa. l found
where it had lain ali night. The chain
was broken, as if she had torn it rough
" from her neck and cast it from her
in breaking the last link of the fetter
that had bound her to me. Although
my first impulse ives to set my heel
upon it and grind it to powder. it ended
in my taking it with me. Try as l
would. l could net hate her all at once
In New York l first spent two days
in 1t learning that there was no theatre
cal manager named Mercer. Not even
the smallest variety show was on
Quoted by such a man. OF Moa l could
g t no trace I frequented the tn a
t.r:, l searched in public bathrooms.
in lower place; still. l n.ver rested,
seeking night and day for months.
streets. She was poorly dressed. and
a the yellow gaslight fell full upon
her face, something in its look made
me tremb 9. l followed her. blindlv,
Ing way it seemed. Strangers spoke
to her once or twice, but she only
tur1.ed her face upon them for an in-
slant and glided on, like a ghost. 1
thought. Resentment seemed dead in
me. I kept my revenge for Mercer.
Only q great wide pity filled my
heart for the woman who had be-
trayed me. We went on and on,
through the gas-lit streets. listened
not long after that we were in the
Bowery, and then, still following
closely behind her, We wers upon the
wonderful bridge that crosses the East
River. with the long lines of lamps
stretching before us until they seemed
to meet in a point of fire at the Brook
lyn end. The black sky of midnight
was overhead. The stars we're few and
PALE. Beneath our feet the great river
ebbed far below the enormous span o
of the suspended bridge. Moa leaned
on the railing, and peer,d down
through the network of iron into the
dark water. Suddenly she leaped upon
the balustrade. l seized her before
she could take the leap. She fought like
T, q wildcat. but I would not let her go
AT last when l dragged her back, and
thu light shone full upon my face, she
cried, albert. Albert" and fell at my
feet like n struck dead.
,os shs lay ya ~ or an mi many ny Day days ,sa at my my
landlady. When she recovered her
senses she knew me and wept, and bv
degrees I learned the whole story-a
common, ugly story enough. He had
tired of his handsome toy. and left it
to the world to break, in few months.
He was no theatrical manager. He
bore q vel known name, although a
black sheep in his family flock. He
had married Moa, not with ceremony,
but with formality sufficient to be
binding in law, probably. That point
has never been tested. I brought her
back to Hoosac. OF the sad past no
mi spoke to her. / thought of e as
Q man thinks of q woman whom he has
loved and whom he can love no more.
But I was mistaken about that. In
hopelessness, her evident despair and
her physical wreck of former self, I
loved her al much as ever.
A year pas ed, and then something
happened that you must promise t.
keep a secret. tell it to you because
you are a wise man-an experienced
mana man tit to advise a halt-dls-
tracted fellow. I want to gain your
confidence by intru ting to yau what
has until now been known to only three
Iersons-Moa, Mercerand myself. The
belief that Mercer would seek her out.
eventually left her. I nursed
the desire of vengeance still, but 1 let
1t slumber. A time would come when
1t Won d wake. One day q stranger
got off a train at this station and in
rios. IS :. atterward; learned, his
errand was to obtain some papers
which Mercer had intrusted to Moa,
and which she had brou yht away from
New York. They had become vitality
important to him, and he wished to
recover them. by force or fraud. BY
the strangers threats she was UNI
moved. to his offered brides insensible,
to his eloquent pleading she only an
swe.ed in few words:
"The papers are mine. They were
given to me by the man himself. Let
him come for them himself If he wishes
to have 'them!"
The stranger went away detected,
and returned in a few days. They CON
ferred together in low voices, ard he
went away satisfied. Mercer was com.
ing then! l went about my work as
usual, but Moa saw something in nv
face that had not besn there before
and beckoned me aside and said:
You are thinking of revenge. Its
right of you, for i am only q woman
and cannot avenge myself. But you
mu t let me see him first-alone! He
is to meet ma at the Snow Hole to-mor-
row, when there is no one about.
When he leaves ma. IN vO,r will Vo,