Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-11-07

.You have saved me from ruin, Alan.
I can not forget that, said Dorian, simply.
As soon as Campbell had left he went up
stairs. There vas a horrible smell Of
chemicals in the room. But the thing that
had been sitting at the table was gone.
CHAPTER XIII.
"There is no good telling me you are 60
ing TO be good. Dorian cried Lord Henry,
dipping his white fingers into a red copper
bowl filed with rose water. "You are
perfect. Pray don't change"
Dorian shook his head. mo, Harry, I
have lone too many dreadful things in my
life. am not going TO do any more. / be-
gan my good actions yesterday"
"Where were you yesterdays"
SIN the country, Harry. I was staying at
Q little inn by myself"
my dear boy, said Lord Henry, smiling,
anybody can be good In the country. There
are no temptations there. That Is the
reason why people who live out OF town are
so uncivilized. There are only two ways,
as you know OF becoming civilized. One is
being cultured, the other Is being corrupt.
Country people have no opportunity Of be-
Ing either, so they stagnate."
Culture and corruption" murmured
Dorian. II have known something Of both.
II seems TO me curious now that they should
ever be found together. For ] have a new
ideal, Harry. am going to alter. ! think
/ have altered"
"You AVE not told me yet what your good
action was. Or did you say you had done
more than onei"
II can tell you, Harry. 1t is not a story
l could tell 10 any one else. i spared some
body. II sounds vain, but you understand
what ] mean. She was quite beautiful, and
wonderful like Sibyl vane. / think it was
that which first attracted me to her. You
remember Sibyl, don't youi How long ago
that seemsl Well, Hetty was not one OF
our own class, OF course. She was simply
a girl in a village. But l really loved her.
I am quite sure that / loved her. All dur
ing this wonderful May that we have been
having, l used TO run down and see her two
or three times a week. Yesterday she met
me in a little orchard. The apple blossoms
kept tumbling down on her hair, and she
was laughing. We were 10 have gone away
together this morning at dawn. Suddenly
/ determined TO leave her as fiower-like as
had found her,
~ should think the novelty Of the emotion
must have given you a thrill Of real pleas
urA, Dorian" interrupted Lord Henry.
but / can finish your idyl for you. You
gave her good advice, and broke her heart.
That was the beginning Of your reforma-
tion.r
Hurry, you are horriblel You mustn't
say these dreadful things. Hetty's heart is
not broken. or course she cried, and all
that. But there is no disgrace upon her.
She can live, like Perdita, in her garden"
'And weep over a fsithless F1orizel, !"
said Lord Henry, laughing. my dear
Dorian, you nave the most curious boyish
moods. Do you think this girl will ever be
really contented now with any one Of her
ranki suppose she will be married some
day 10 a rough carter or "A grinning plow-
man. Well. having met you, and loved you,
will teach her 10 despise her husband, and
she will be wretched. From a moral point
Of view / really don't think much OF your
great remuneration. Even as a beginning,
II is poor. Besides, how do you know that
Hetty isn't floating at the present moment
In some mill-pond, with water-lilies round
her, like Ophelial"
al can't bear this, Harry! You mock at
everything, and then suggest the most
serious tragedies. I am sorry I told you
now. don't care what you say to me, !
know I was right in acting as l did. Poor
Hetty! As l rode past the farm this morn
ing. i saw her white face at the window,
like a spray Of jasmine. Don't let me talk
about il any more, and don't try TO persuade
me that the first good action l have lone foi
years, the first little bit Of self-sacrifce
have ever known, is really a sort of sin.
want TO be better. Tell me something
about yourself. What is going on in town
I have not been TO the club for days"
1.-THE people are still discussing poo
l Rasils disappaaraneeAn
OF that by this time, said Dorian, pourin
himself out some wine, and frownin
slightly.
my dear boy, they have only been tall
ing about II for six weeks, and the publ
are really not equal to the mental strain o
having more than one topic every tire
months. They have been very fortunate
lately. however. They have had my divorc,
case, and Alan Campbell's suicide. Nov
they have got the mysterious Disappearance,
Of an artist. Scotland yard still insiSs tina
the man in the gray ulster who left Victoria
by the midnight train on the It'll OF Novem
Der was poor Basil, and the French police
declare that Basil never arrived in Paris a,
all. / suppose in about q fortnight we will
be told that he has been seen in San Fran.
cisco. IL Is an odd thing, but every one
who disappears is said to be seen at San
Francisco. 1t must be a delightful city,
and possesses all the attractions Of the mex,
world"
What do you think has happened to
Basil 7" asked Dorian, holding up his Bur
gundy against the light, and wondering
how it was that he could discuss the matter
20 calmly.
81 nave not the slightest idea. II Basil
chooses TO hide himself it is no business OF
mine. If he is dead, ! don't want to think
about him. Death is the only thing tina,
aver t~erriies me. hate it. One can sur.
vive everything nowadays except that.
Death and vulgarity are the only two facts
in the nineteenth century that one can not
explain away. Let US have our coffee In
the mushroom, Dorian. You must play
Chopin to me. The man with whom my
wife ran away played Chopin exquisitely.
Poor Victoria! i was very fond Of her. The
house is rather lonely without her"
Dorian said nothing, but rose from the
table, and passing into the mex room, sat
down to the piano and let his fingers stray
across the keys. After the coffee had been
brought in, he stopped. and, looking over at
Lord Henry, said, Harry, did it ever 90
cur TO you that Basil was murderedi"
Lord Henry yawned. Basil had no
enersies, and always wore q Waterbury
watch. Why should he be murderedi He
was not clever enough to have enemies. OF
course he had a wonderful genius for paint
ing. But a mar can paint like Velasquez
and yet be as dull as possible. Basil was
really rather dull. He only Interested me
once, and that was when he told me, years
ago. that he had a wild alteration for you"
II was very fond of Basil" said Dorian,
with a sad look in his eyes. But don't
people say that he was murderedt"
'Oh, some Of the papers do. 1t does not
eem To be probable. ] know there are
dreadful place, in Paris. but Basil was not
the sort of man to have Como TO them. He
had no curiosity. It was his chief defect
Play me q noc.urne, Dorian, and, as you
play, tell me, in a low voice, how you have
kept your youth. You must hav some
secret am only ten years older than you
are, and I am wrinkled, and bald, and
yellow. You are really wonderful, Dorian.
You have never looked moro charming