The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-21
BY FERGUS HUME,
copyrighted, 1sos. by Fergus Hume.

truth may be disCerned in the unuust-
worthy mass As a specimen Of how iron
OF fact intermingles with clay of false
hood, may be instanced the rumors re-
lative TO Prof. Carberry, mis- wife, and
young Mr. Vale Il was said-and with
good reason-that Carberry coveted Wales
celebrated mummy of the Xxx Dynasty
while Vale envied the professor his wife.
The Camford cvnics suggested an eX-
change as conducive to the happiness OF
all parties. sale, and the professor
would gain possession of the desired mum
my; a divorce, and Mrs. Carbery would
be free to become Mrs. Vale. But to the
proposed course there was one objection:
Vale was a poor man. ana could better
support a dried-up corpse, which had no
needs. than extravagant Mrs. Carberry,
who was said to have many. Into the
ostensible truth OF this latter assertion
creeps falsehood.
Despite outward evidence to the con-
trary. Lucy Carberry was not extrava-
giant. She had no chance of being so; for
her husband kept the purse and was mig
gardly in doing out its contents. He al
q
penses. n still smaller amount for clothes
betting the wife of a Camford University
professor and not a penny for pleasure
or relaxation. Out Of means barely sur
ficient for necessarits, Mrs. Carberry was
supposed to provide the miracle of a lay
ish table, and achieve the impossible of
a fashionable appearance. If the meals
were not dainty and plentiful, If the wife
was not dressed with taste and refine
(7qpbqrrU made / his business to
be disagreeable, and became so to the
point of Hl-treatment. 1t was a life of
blows in private smiles in public; and
poor pretty Lucy had wholesome dread
of her domestic tyrant.
Why, when, or where she married him
no one knew. one day the newly welded
pair Unexpectedly took up their abode in
Camford-of which scholastic town Car
berry was on old resident and a professor
of Mlchaefs College-and so great was
the contrast of her fair loveliness and
his dour blackness that they speedily be-
came known as Beauty and the Beast.
Carberry himself was a wien little man
with a large head and a lined yellow face,
suggestive of evil instincts kept under by
force of will. He had malicious black
eyes, a wisp of black moustache strag-
Cling over thin lips, and a lean small
wasted figure. straight and nervously
alert. His smile and speech were cynical,
his dress scrupulousy neat, and in every
way he was the antthesis of his pretty
soft girl-bride.
She, poor soul, was one of those delicate
timid women who require attention and
kindness to bring out their good qualities.
Lucy was flower which bloomed best in
sunshine; a tender blossom susceptible to
the least chill in the atmosphere. Pink
and white in complexion, blue-eyes and
golden-haired, she was emotional and
charming; at once angel and martyr
Carberry, grim realist as he was, did. rot
understand her in the least. He termed
her a sentimental fool and crushed her
innocent aspirations with sneering cynic-
ism, so that within a few months of her
marriage Lucy lost her angelic wings, and
became a domestic martyr whose daily
life was one of torture and silent endur-
ance. She had not even a child 10 comfort
her bruised heart, and the Carberry house
hold represented a sort of domestic hell,
wherein the wife was the damned, the
husband the devil. And alas-alas! God was
deaf TO the prayers of this tortured woman.
The Professor and his Vlctim-a more
appropriate name than wife-kept silent
as to their meeting, and wooing. and sub
sequent marriage. Only John Vale knew
the truth, and he gained his knowledge
first hand.
~ was solo, explained Mrs. Carberry,
to him. sold by my mother like any slave
III t4iS isdSts anu liAO Il NOlCE DOuQdES.
We lived at BournemOuth, mother and !.
Father had been dead three years, and we
supported ourselves by keeping boarding
house. Mr.. CaTberry came TO stay there
one summer and took fancy to me l
can't say that it was love" interpolated
Mrs. Carberry, FOR my husband does not
know what that word means. | hated him
from the first and refused his offers, but
mother was talked over by him, and she
forced me into the marriage. l was sold as
a slave to this learned Pasha, and a slave
he makes of me. Oh, l wish | We're dead.
/ do! l do!' and the wretched little wo-
man concluded the miserable story with a
burst of tears.
1t can be seen from this outburst that
20 the unhappy wife Vale was more than
an acquaintance. He was a friend ana il
the truth must be stated, his friendship
showed signs of developing into yet closer
relationship Vale had no idea to what
lengths this intimacy might go. but with
out intending anything definite, he had
permitted himeef-to drift into a some
what anomalous position. Friendship be-
tween young man and pretty woman is
The most dangerous of all relationships,
ana Vale was aware that Mrs. Carberry
claimed more of his time and thoughts
than was consistent with the attitude
morally and socially-he ought to preserve
towards her. Moreover the miserable life
she led with an exacting and tyranous
husband aroused his pity, and that pas
sion, according to Shakespeare, Is akin. to
love. one false step and the result night
be dangerous.
John Vale was the son of an enthusiast tic
Egyptologist. who had squapdered a large
fortune upon an archaeological collection.
lie had educated his son TO succeed TO
his treasures and labors but to his dis
gust John evinced distaste for mummies,
coins, tombs papri and such-hlIe Also he
cherished literary ambitions, and wished
20 make his mark as q novelist Vale
senior censured, urged, implored, com
mauded Vale Junior TO have done with
such trihing but the son was as obstinate
as the father, and The breach widened be-
tween them. Finally John took up journal
ism in Lonaon, and Mr. Vale remained az
Camtord sulking amid his antiquities In
due time the Psychologist died. and the
journalist returned TO learn that beyond
the house, and a mummy of the Xxx Dy-
nasty, he was heir to-nothing. Vale had
left his collection to the Camford museum
and John found himself a paupor He had
been cut off with "A mummy instead of the
proverbial shilling, in the nope" said