The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1896-11-05
THE RECOVERED TREASURE.
By h1IY RANDOLFH

Helen Tracy's wistful blue eyes
were lifted to her husbands face as
he came into the sitting room, witt
his overcoat and muffier on He wa,
tall, stately looking man, with I
high forehead and clear brown eyes
and the pleasantest of smiling mouths
but Helen's face had a somewhat il
its blonde, oval beauty. that reminded
you Of the hunted fawn, or the wild
bird stricken down by the sportsman's
shot. She was fair as lily, with
hair of bright, rippled gold, and large
violet dark eyes-such a one as yOu
might fancy Saxon Rowena to have
been, in short
Yes, but | shall soon be home,
Nell, so don't worry about me. Harry
is asleep, see"
As he spoke he glanced towards q
cosy, velvet cushioned sofa, where a
beautiful child of scarcely three sum
mers old lay nesting in the flushed,
lovely sleep of infancy, with his dark
curls thrown back from the dimpled
cheeks. and one hand underneath the
forehead
Yes; he has been in the woods
nutting all the afternoon. and fell
asleep almost the minute ms nurse
/ brought him in
/ DR.. Tracy stood moment looking
down upon the child.
How pretty he grows. All, Nelly,
we have the most precious treasure
Goo ever gave to his children in this
boy"
Mrs. Tracy's lip quivered = the
dewy shadow crept into her eyes
oh, Harry, if | only had my little
Bertha, toow
Still brooding on your lost one,
Helen? My dearest, [ had hoped
that time was healing up that wound
! in your heart. Is it wise, is it dis
Greet thus to forget the bounries
Heaven has given you IN the one gift
it has withdrawn"
IF L could only be certain that she
was indeed lost, Henry sobbed the
! fair-haired woman If | could have
/ planted daisies above her grave, and
counted her growing years in Heaven
but | cannot, She NAV be in want
she may be sick or suffering, and
| so pOwerless to aid her"
There can be no doubt that she is
dead, Helen" soothed the husband.
Were it otherwise, your brother in
law would long since have commum-
Gated with you"
III | could only believe it-if /
could only ease this aching at my
heart reiterated Helen. Do not
think me ungrateful. Henry. but in
deed | cannot forget my little lost
Bertha"
At this moment Harry sat up on
the sofa, loudly claiming his mothcr's
attention, and DR.. Tracy went away
with the pleasant recollection that
Helen was smiling back at her boys
smiles. All. where was there ever
magnetism like the touch Of a child's
hand to sooth the ache of heart or
head
The flaming crimson belt of the
late sunset glowed sullenly above the
leafless October woods: the tall pine
trees that skirted the lonely mountain
road on either side, seemed to stand
/ like black rObed sentinelS while here
and there the intense scarlet of some
wild vine, painted by midnight frosts,
! flashed through the gray shadows
like fiery banners. DR.. Tracy button
ed his shaggy oyerc0at one or two
buttons higher as he drove through
the solitary highway, and felt the
raw, piercing chill of the evening air,
and all the time he was thinking of
Helen's words.
She had been Il widow when he
married her, this fair Saxon beauty
widow whom the death of her hand
some foreign rascal of a husband had
set free from bondage almost worse
than slavery. Francesca Petroni
died, but Paolo Petroni, his brother.
lived, dark, designing man Bertha
their infant child had been consigned
by FrancescO's desire, to his brother 5
care, during the illness that proved
fatal to him. All the widows subse-
| quent efforts to regain possession of
her little one were futile
''SOrella, mia" said the Italian to
her one day. when her appeals and
entreaties had been most persistent,
there is one way, and but one way,
for you to receive back Bertha"
And that is"
40 receive me also-as your hus
band~
Paolo Petroni never forgot nor for
gave the recOiling movement. the
look of horror with which the English
widow received his unwelcome pro
posal.
You will compel him to give my
little one to me, Henry" the poor
young mother had said. on the day
that made her for the second time a
wife. But when Henry Tracy, armed
with all the force of the law, came to
Milan to demand possession of his
little step daughter, 10, Paolo Petroni
had utterly disappeared, and Bertha
with him
Search, inquiry, investigation prov
ed equally vain. and from that day to
this period of full six years Meth
er DR.. Tracy nor his wife had ever
heard one word of the little Italian
infant whose smile had been the FIRST
gleam of light that had fallen across
the troubled tide of poor Helen Pesro
mis- foreign life.
1t was one of those strange mex
plicable romances of real life that we
sometimes encounter amid the most
prosaic and commonplace surround
ings, and supplied DR.. Tracy with
ample materials for thought as he
drove through the wild and aesolate
part of the country that lay beyond a
swampy belt of low land.
Not particularly pleasant spot
this at twilight" soiiloquized the
doctor, leaning f rward to catch a
glimpse of single ray of yellow
light that streamed from the one win
dow of a tumbla-5ouvr1 ola caI,;p n fav-