Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-04-01

Valentine. Meanwhile, Valentines Lon
! done xtravagances were not suspected by
/ the girl, and she believed him to be pos
sessed of a comfortable fortune of some
thing like twenty thousand pounds-a
sum not much in excess, to be sure, of
what he would have had, had he invested
his money to advantage and lived within
his income.
i She was handsome girl, of about the
same age as Valentine, and with man
ner and temperament. exceedingly allur-
ing to young fellow whose blood flows
warmly in his veins, and who finds the
interminable leisure of voyage to the
antipodes hang very heavy on his hands
She permitted him to acquire the convic-
ton that he was anything but Indifferent
to her; in fact, to use the colloquial
phrase, she set her cap at him; and Val
entine, who spoke of himself without re-
serve as poor man, and who was not
aware that she disbelieved all his asser-
tions on that head, and interpreted them
as polite attempts to conceal his real
wealth and spects-Valentine was
completely fascinated by the charm Of
her person and conversation, and so far
committed himself with her, that by the
time the voyage was ended he felt that
he could not do less than offer her mar
riage.
She consented, and the ceremony was
performed on their reaching New Zea
land But she stipulated that the mar
riage was to remain for the time being a
secret; for she had come on to visit some
relatives of hers and was unwilling, fol
reasons satisfactory to herself, that they
should know anything of the hope she
privately entertained of becoming Lady
Martin. Valentine, on his side, offered
no objection to this arrangement; he had
his place to make in the colony, and the
necessity of providing a suitable home
for his wife at the outset would have
seriously hampered him. She went to
her relatives in Napier, and he, as has
been already related, cast in his lot with
his friend Brown, and visited her in town
whenever opportunity served.
Now that she was his wife, however,
she no longer felt any necessity of con-
cealing from him her real belief as to
the extent of his means; she proceeded
from yelled intimations to plain speech,
and he became aware for the first time
that she had married him, not fer him
self, but for something that he did not
possess. Her plain speech led to explana-
tions on his part equally plain, and thus
they speedily arrived at a perfectly clear
understanding of their mutual attitude.
The consequence was bitter quarrel
and recriminations. The woman APP
peared in her true colors, which were
not engaging; she called him variety of
hard names, and if he had refrained
from retorting in kind it was not because
there was any lack of suitable express
sions waiting behind his Ups But they
were still husband and wife, and the
bond between them could not be severed.
AS their marriage was secret, however,
there was no difficulty about a sepaTa-
ton; and Valentine agreed to whatever
pecuniary conditions she chose to die
tate. In case Of his brothers death she
would come in for her share of the in
heritance; but here he stipulated that
she should receive the money only on
condition that she forbore to assume the
title, or allow her relation to him to he
known. She at first demurred to this;
but on his offering to hand over every
thing except the real estate and lands
an offer extremely advantageous to her
from a pecuniary point Of view-she
finally consented, probably rejecting
that it would be difficult or impossible to
make such a contract legally binding and
that when the time came-if it ever
should come-she would be able to repu-
diate it with impunity.
This affair produced bad effect on
Valentine; he became reckless and in
different to his business interests, and i'll
fortune attended him He welcomed the
Maori revolt as an opportunity Of Kidding
himself of his troubles by stopping bull
let; but though he stopped the bullet, the
bullet failed to stop him. and the legacy
that he received changed considerably
the complexion Of affairs He placed |
half the sum in the bank at Napier for
the benefit of his wife, and sailed for
San Francisco with the rest. He had |
had no settled plan in leaving New Zea-
land, except to appease his restless desire
for change and excitement The future
could hold nothing good for him, be-
cause, however good in itself it might be,
it would be defled by the chronic and
necessity of sharing it with
that wife of his-for what is the greatest
blessing, stimulus and joy, to man hap
PLY married, is the dreariest of miseries
to the man mismated.
One misfortune, however, he did not
look for; one danger he did not fear;
one emotion of all others he was con-
fident he could not feel. And yet
this emotion, this danger, this misfor
tune were precisely those to which he
was destined to fall victim. He could
not foresee the meeting with Pauline
Nolen, nor the effect that she would pro-
duce on him. Up to that time his I'M
happiness had been chiefly negative-the
ordinary disappointment and disillusion;
now he had to deal with a positive pain
the impossibility of being united to
the only woman he had ever loved. 1t
was like tantalizins a prisoner for life
with scenes of freedom and felicity.