Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-01-04
LOVE
wILKIE COLLINS.
CHATTER Lat LoUvAIy.

aAh ~ As
Not many English tourists go out OF
1T has a Hotel de VIZ surprising even
of Brussels itself. and though one
can get there In an hour from that city OF
youth and pleasure. Aud there are no
English residents ut all in the place-at
least, none in evidence, though perhaps
there may be some who have gone there
for the same reasons which led Mr.. Will
fam Linville aud his wife to choose this
spot-in order to be private and secluded.
There are many more people than we
know of who desire, above all things, Sc
clusion and retirement, and dread nothing
so much ms a chance meeting with an old
friend.
Mr.. William Linyillc took q small house,
furnished. like the cottage ut Passy, and,
also like that little villa, standing In Its
own garden. Here, with a cook aud n
maid, Iris set up her mo lest mendge. To
ask whether she was happy would be alb
surd. At no time since her marriage had
she been happy: TO live under the condi-
ton OF perpetual concealrnent Ia not in it.
self likely 10 make "A woman any the hap
pier. Fortunately she had no time to eX-
perience the full bitterness Of the plan
proposed by her husband.
Consider. Had their scheme actually
been carried out quite success ally. this
pair, still young. would have pdnd them
selves condemned 10 transportation for
life. That was the first thing. Next, they
could never make any friends among their
own couDtrymen or cOuntrywOmen for
fear OF discovery. Iris could never again
speak To an English lady. II they mad
children the risk would appear ten times
more terrible, tue cOusequ fences ten times
more awful. The children themselves
would have 10 grow up without family
and without friends. The husband. cut
OFF from intercourse with other men,
would he thrown back npDn himself.
Husband and wife. with mis- horrible load
laid upon them, would inevitably grow to
loathe aud hate the sight OF each other.
The man would almost certainly take to
drink: the womIn-Du we must not fol
low this liue any further. the situation
lasted oniy so lou9 a to give the wife "A
glimpse OF what IL might become in The
future.
They took their house, aud sat down in
II. They were very silent. Lord Harry,
his greaf coup successfully carried 50 fs7.
sat taciturn and gium. lie stayed indoors
all .ay, only veuturing out after dark.
For a mau who's whole idea OF life was
motion, society AMI action, this promised
I'll.
The monotony was first broken by the
arrival Of liugh's lettar which was sent
in with other dUcumeI's from PaSsy. Iris
read il; she g 1t again, trying TO un ler-
stand exactly what IL meant. Then she
tore X mp. III he only Knew" she SAT-,
she would not have taken the trouble
even TO write this letter. There is no am
swer. Hugh. There can be none-aow.
Act by your advice, Henceforth, | must
act by order. am "a con.plrator."
Two days afterwards came Il letter from
the doctor. He did no think it necessary
to SAY anything about Fanny appearance
or her journey TO Berne. Everything
ne wrote, has SO far gon well. The
world knows, through the papers, that
Lord Harry is dead. There will be now
only the business Of claiming the money.
For this purpose, as his widow is the sole
heiress ana eXecutrix. IL will be necessary
for her To place the will and the policies
of insurance ia the hands OF her husbands
lawyers. 50 that the viii may be proved
IN the claims duly made. Forms will
have 10 be signed. The medical certificate
OF death and the forms attcsting the burial
are already in the lawyers hands. The
sooner the widow goes 10 London the bet
ter. SIT should write to her
arrival, II she should write from Paris
as II she had been staying there after her
husbands death.
81 have only 10 remind you, my dear
Linville, that YOU are indebted to me ia
the sum Of 5000 Of course, / shall be
very pleased to receive a check for this
sum IN full rs soon Is YOU have touched
the amount due to YOU. | shall be in
Paris, at the Hotel Continental, where you
may address me. Naturally. there is no
desire for conceaiment, and If the lnsur.