Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-23


 and slipped generous gift of the queens coin into his hand he smiled vaguely and was willing 10 do what he was bidden. Had he been Q Jesuit, who is sworn to poverty and more often than not man of birth and education, he might have influenced Frank Ar mour and prevented the notable mishap and scandal As it was. Armour took more brandy.
 Then he went down to Eye-of-th Moons lodge, A few hours afterward the missionary met him there. The next morning Lali, the daughter of Eye-of- the-Moon and the chieftainess of DOT. tion of her fathers tribe, whose grand father had been white man, was in- troduced to the Hudson bay country as Mrs Frank Armour. But that was not all. Indeed as it stood it was very little. He had only made his comedy possible as yet. Now the play itself was to come He had carried his scheme through boldly so far. He would not finch in carrying it out to the last letter. He brought his wife down to the great lakes immediately, scarcely resting night or day. There he engaged an ordinary but reliable woman, to whom he gave in- Structions, and sent the pair to the coast. He instructed his solicitor at Montreal to procure passages for Mrs. Francis Armour and maid for Liverpool Then by letters he instructed his solic- itor in London to meet Mrs. Francis Ar mour and maid at Liverpool and take them to Greyhope in HertfordShire- that is, if General Armour and Mrs. Ar mour or some representative of the fam lily did not meet them when they landed from the steamship.
 Presently he sat down and wrote to his father and mother and asked them to meet his wife and her maid when they arrived by the steamer Aphrodite. He did not explain to them ill precise detail his feelings on Miss Julia Sher- woods marriage, nor did he go into full particulars as to the personality of Mrs. Frank Armour, but he did say that because he knew they were anxious that he should marry ''acceptably" he had married into aristocracy, the oldest aristOcracy of America, and because he also knew they wished him to marry wealth he sent them n wife rich in vir- tues-native, unspoiled virtues.
 He hoped that they would take her to their hearts and cherish her. He knew their firm principles of honor, and that he could trust them to be kind to his wife until he returned to share the affection which he was sure would be given to her, It was not his inten- tion to return to England for some time yet. He had work to do ill connection with his proposed colony, and a wife, even native wife, could not well be a companion ill the circumstances Be- sides Lali-hi. wife's name was Lali- would be better occupied in learning the peculiarities of the life in which her fu- ture would hc cast. Itwas possible they would find her an apt pupil. Of this they could not complain that she was untraveled fer she had ridden a horse, bareback, half across the continent. They could not cavil at her education, for she knew several languages-abo- riginal languages-oft the north She had merely to learn-the dialect of English society and how to carry with acccpta- ble form the costumes of the race to which she was going. Her own costume was picturesque. but it might appear unusual in London society. Still they sou!d use their own judgment about that
 Then. when she was gone beyond re- call, he chanced one day to put on the coat he woro when the letters and pa- per declaring his misfortune came to hirp He found his brothers letter; he opened it and read il. It was the letter of q man who knew how to appreciate at their proper value the misfortunes as the fortunes of life. While Frank Ar. mour read he came to feel for tho first time that his brother Richard had suf- fered, maybe, from some such misery as had come to him through Julia Sher- wood. It was a dispassionate, manly letter. relieved by q gentle wit and limiting with careful kindness that sudden blow was better for man than a lifelong thorn in his side. Of Julia Sherwood ho had nothing particularly bitter to say. He delicatoly suggested that she acted according to her nature, and that in the seesaw of life Frank had had a sore blow, but this was to be borne
  did not magnify the difficulty It did not appreciate it. It did not even direct ly counsel. It was wholesomely, tender ly judicial. Indirectly it dwelt upon the steadiness and manliness of Franks character. Directly, lightly and with out rhetoric it enlarged upon their own comradeship. It ran over pleasantly the days of their boyhood when they were hardly ever separated. It made distinct yet with no obvious purpose, how good were friendship and Contidence-which might be the most unselfish thing in the world-betwcen two men. With the letter before him Frank Armour saw his act in a new light.
 As we said, it is possible if he had read it on the day when his trouble came to him he had not married Lali nor sent her to England on this-to her involuntary mission of revenge. It is possible also that there came to him the first vague conception of tho wrong he had done this Indian girl, who un- doubtedly married him because she cared for him after her heathen fashion, while he had married her for nothing that was commendable, not even for passion, which may be pardoned, nor for vanity, which has its virtues. He had had his hour with circumstance. Circumstance would have its hour with him in duo time. Yet there was no ex- traordinary revulsion. He was still an gry, cynical and very sore. He would see the play out with Q consistent firm ness He almost managed a smile when letter was handed to him some weeks later, bearing his solicitors assurance that Mrs. Frank Armour and her maid had been safely bestowed on the Aphro- dite for England. This was the first act in his tragic comedy.
 CHAPTER II.
 When Mrs Eranl, Armnnr ar-rivnd at