The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-07-12


t0 the c0rner-dfty;; It WaS part o3 kR6a
sum for which I had sold my appetitr;s
and on the table Kay the letter hotS
Messrs. Crackett and Charges invitfny
me to draw thirty pounds q month.
Then it was all true!
1 sat down, and, with my throbbing
temples and feverish pulse, tried 70
make it out. Everything became plain
except the name of the purchaser-Mr.
-Mr.-I remembered BOule-de-neige,
the house, the room, and the dinner,
but not the name of that arch-deceiver,
the whole Of whose villainy | was far
from realizing yet; and until it was
told me later on 1 never did remember
his name.
It was strange. Men are said to have
sold their souls to the devil for money,
bartering away an eternity of happi-
ness for a few years of pleasure; but as
for me. ! had exchanged, as it seemed
at first sight, nothing but the incon-
venience of a healthy appetite with
nothing to eat, for the means of living
comfortably without it. There could
be no sin in such a transaction; it was
on a different level altogether from
the bargain made by Faust. And
there We're the broad, the benevolent
facts, so to speak-by pockets full of
s%overeigns; and. the letter instructing
me to call at an office for thirty pounds
monthly.
Benevolent facts I thought them. You
shall see. You think, as l Thought,
that 40 sin could be laid to my door
for the transaction. You shall judge.
You think, as l thought, that no harm
could follow so simple a piece of bust
ness. You shall read. On my way II
| met5the landlady, who gave me notice
to quit at the end of the week.
Il thought you were a quiet and
sober young man." she said. "Ah, new
er will l trust to good looks again. Me
and the dodgers kept awake till two in
the morning with your singing and
dancing, let alone banging the floor
with the chairs! Not another hour af-
ter your weeks up, if you was to pray
on your knees, shall you stay. And
next door threatening the constables;
and me a quiet oma for twenty
years!!"
My heart sank again. But, after all,
perhaps it was l myself, not the good
old gentleman, my kind patron and
benefactor ait all, who was the cause
OF this disturbance. 1t was undoubted-
ly true that l had taken a great guam
tity of wine with my splendid dinner.
| begged her pardon humbly and pass
ed out.
1t was now nearly 1 o'clock, but I
felt no desire for breakfast. That was
an experience quite novel to me. Still,
| went to a coffee house, according to
habit, and ordered some tea and 4
rasher. When they came l discovered,
with a horrid foreboding of worse mis-
fortune behind, that my taste was
gone. Except that one thing was solid
an9. the other liquid, 1 distinguished
nothing. Nor did my sense Of smell
assist me; as l found later, my nose
wa affected agreeably or ~disagreeably,
but it lost all its discriminating and
eted hydrogen gas and tobacco offend
ed my nose, tea and claret pleased me,
but I was unable to distinguish between
them. Not only could = not taste them,
but | had no qualification in eating
them. l ate and drang mechanically,
because l knew that the body must be
kept going on something.
All this knowledge, however, and
more, came by degrees. After making
a forced breakfast, I bent my steps to
the lawyers who had an Office in Lin
coins Inn Fields. @
The letter was received by ~a.concedt-
ed young clerk an shiny black habit
ments, a turned-up nose, and a self
satisfied manner
"Haw! he said, 81 thought you would
500 come round to us after the letter.
Sign that. You haven't been long.
None of them are"
1t was a receipt, and l was on the
point of asking the question if it was to
be signed in blood when he settled It
by giving me the ink.
'eThere, Luke Lucraft, across the
eight-penny stamp. I'm not allowa6
to answer any questions you may put,
Mr.. Lucraft, nor to ask you any; SO
take your money, and good morning to
you. l suppose, like the rest of them,
you don't know the name of your bene-
factor and would like to-yes; but you
needn't ask me; and I've orders not to
admit you to see either Mr.. Charges
or Mr.. Crackett. They'd trouble enough
with the last but one. He broke into
their Office once, drunk, and laid about
him with the ruler"
I burst into a cold dew Of terror.
However, Mr.. Lucraft, I hope yoX
will be fortunate than your pre-
decessor."
where are. they. Who n they?
81 do not know where they are, not
for a certainty he replied with a grin.
But we may guess. Dead and buried
they are, all of them. Gone to kingdom
come; all died of the same thing, too
d. 7. Delicious Trimmings killed them.
Poor old gentleman! He's too good for