Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-16
MY BET.

drunk more than three glasses of wine Ill all. But 1 have been q temperate man throughout my life, and possibly even this moderate indulgence made me uuwontedly rash.
 Perhaps my uuStrung nerves had . good deal to do with the matter aS well I had fled from the home of a tyrannic | stcpfathcr hcrc i'll New York about six wears ago, when tn" mCreSt boy. just after my mothers death. Count ls>S hardshipS had bcSct mc since then, but now 1 had gained i'll the far west ;.J least hopeful scmblanCc of prosper Itv. l had conc back with only single IurpnS,-to find my twin sister. Ruth -A,LE,rl,y, and bring her to dwell out th.rc i'll Kansas with myself and my b,luvvd young wife.
 Fearful, yet striving 10 smile through hCr tears, Clara had biiden me gOodby. Its dreadful to have you go alone, Frank. - she faltercd. "Still, you know. you owe it to your sister. You never wrote to tell her where you were for long time after you driven your tent stakes here into Ashbyvillc."
 T know-I knOw, Clara. It was my jealousy, l sunpo>e'-
 Jealousy of q stcpfather! And of sGrL a >hUcl,s3l-; de>pot :5 you paint him t0n! And h3w csu!d Ruth have run ;.N;v with yuu ;,s ycu proposed i'll your E.:sdlv b yi,ll fashion: And ;;$ for her n0t ;lu>yv, r1u-: ;hC letters you 'vc writ tyu her sil.c"r, l:.ur~c has begun to prick yuu-why. t., rc i~n't a doubt that StlG E..v"r received them. Her stopfatkcr's !.g,h.:bly mOvysl ;,v-ay from where he u-,d tn live, or il may he that hes dict. aal''-
 That Ruth'; dead. toe, h-oko ill d;>na.Iv, ''or driven out into the bit t.r world by that same brute who drove Ino thcrv!"
 Twas destined to learn on my arrival i'll New York that my stcpfathcr had ,li,rl over two y,ulS ago. Concerning Ruth no one coull tell me. Our former home held nvw tenants. l made count less inquiries and even put advertise mcnt> into nvNv>paporS. My stepfather | Lad left all his money, l discovered (nO great sum either. tO certain relations III Baltimore. Th,>". answering my let tCrS regarding the whereabouts uf Ruth, could only tell Fl" that she had left her 5tcPfaThcra gu,I while before his death, and that shty believed some kind of quarrel had caused the separation. some kind of quarrrl!'' l forlornly mu<,d Oh. how horrible to think that the sister once SO dearly cherished may ue i'll want and suffering! But uf one thing am certain. Ruth could never go wrong. no matter what hateful crisis ! overlook her Sine was and will always 1 stay purity anI refinement to her finger | tips. Our. dear dcad mother taught her that and gave it to her as we'll as the strange and sweet saTctity of inherit | auCc.
 Iwrote to my wife several sad letters, and cnr was 50 desperately repentant in its tenor that she answered it with (. l kind uf sweet savagCry.
 ''Huw dare you say, Frank, that you i feel as if you had killed Ruth:' ran her 1 r,STrrn<c If you want to make my lonrlinvSs, which am trying to bear as brlvcly as 1 c;n, still more distressing to mc, yOu will Hot write again i'll a i mood both 90 morbid and SD absurd. ''
 That evening. when I dincd at the Brunswick with Alec Bradford and John Hathaway, two friends whom l had made in the west. and who were in
 
 different from mv uwm. l felt far more 1 wrCtchcdly hopeless than l cared tO re- veal.
 At the end of dinner, while We were drinking our coffee and smoking ouI cigars, Bradford advanced his little theory. born If some converse We had held about the wickcdncs> and dcpravity of darker Sew York.
 II believe could do just what yor say can't" came my words after [ little furry of discussion.
 John Hathaway was rather flushed with champagne He knocked his Es against tho table and said, merrily, ye seriously:
 Make him take your bet, then, Alec We'll all go summing together, a, they call it.
 The bet," I said, gives me bil odds Ten dollars from myself to SlO' from Alec that nothing will happen [, us if I go with both of you whereve you shall direct and ill each place mak it known that I carry on my person tn sum of S. 0OO,'
 Never mind. laughed Bradford il his breezy, staccatO way. ''I'll stick | my bet" He turned to Hathaway Jack. you'll hold the stakes:''
 ''Oh, yes" came Jack s reply. "W may all get ourselves murdered, so propose to raise my courage with brandy and soda
 While the waiter obcved his order Hathaway received my SIO and Alec $lOO. Tken two little paper roll were constructed. each ensheathed in greenback. These I was to carry ill ei ther inrcr breast pocket The season wn June, and the night a bland one; henc neither of us wore an overcoat. Whsl all was arranged, I resumed my argu uent about the safety of going unprc tected into quarters of the lowest class es- But did not tell why there ha lately come upon me this bOldness an security. I did not choose openly { avow that in seeking my poor lost siste
 "everywhere" 1 had not neglecte haunts of poverty and sorrow.
 Of course it was all a mad kind ( venture. If Bradford and Hathawa } had not both been in that devil ma care mood which sometimes comes visitors in a great city after dinin rather too well, I would readily enoug have thrown our whole plan to tn winds But presently we had entered cab, and in half an hour or so we wer over in the east side of the town, anon streets many of whose names l ha scarcely heard. Then we dismissed ou cab and went into horrid fiaring de of place, with electrics in its window