The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-04-23

tomary grip of the left hand in the
name. Then out he rode into the sun
shine, Brown Dick bounding with
eagerncss to search for and rcjoin his
stable mate; and then with every stride
as he tore away over the mesa Randy
felt the cobwebs brushing from his
brain, and hope and determination
squirting him on. you have broken
your word and gone to your old love-"
was the stern message of Florcnce's
brief letter. Il will he no mans fool, no
faithless husbands wife. You need not
look for me nor follow, for will never
come to you again.
Another time pride, anger and sense
OF wrong might have held his hand, but
not now. And before that hnlf-crazcd,
half-cringing woman could give the
alarm, Randy Merriam was riding fast
and furious to join the pursuit, think
ing only of her suffering and her sor-
row, all ignorant, mercifully, of The
new peril that involved his precious
wife.
It was vain for DIR. I.cavitt to heap inn
precation on the head of that hapless
Chinaman. Implicit obedience to the
will of his master was the only creed
Hop Ling observed. "Mellium say
Gless and cntcl,um saddle and flask and
lunch"-thut was enough. "Mellium
shy Tide an catchum Missec Mellium."
and Hop Ling wasn't fool enough to in
terfere.
But if DIR. Leavitt had lost one pa
tient, Fate had provided him with an
other. He was needed ut once at Graf
tons, and, tarrying only long enough
toreport TO Buxton the escape of Lieut..
Merriam, he fastened to the bedside of
Mrs. McLane, now in sore need of med
ical attention.
Harriet Grafton has been heard to saw
that that afternoon and the night that
followed made her ten years older, but
her looks do not warrant the statement.
Unquestionably she had hard time,
md might have had much harder hut
for the opportune arrival at the post.
Just before shutdown, of the lately
blockadcd lawyer, Mr.. Edward Parry,
Of Chicago.
Meantime, utterly broken down and
NoV OAA bo"p All I14S AL 81 lIIuc Sl1lCS uCr
marriage, from the soothing and COM
fort of the pcrilous drug to the use of
which she had become welded almost
from the hour that she met McLane.
poor self-absorbed Fanny was pouring
out her story and her secret in almost
lncohercnt rawlings to her hostess. DR..
Leavitt, who had suspected the cause Of
her vagaries before, was confident of it
when he was called in to prescribe, and
quickly found the dainty little case that
Grafton had discovered the day before.
It was hours before she could be even
measurably quieted, and meantime
what a tale of shame and woe had she
not poured into Harrict's astonishcd
ears!
Strained from its rawlings and inco-
kerencies and Strengthened out in
chronological order, the story resolved
itself into this: John Harold McLane
was southern sympatlizcr as u young
man, and went to California during tho
war, provided with liberal allowance
and an opportunity of clnbarking in
business. At Sacramento he fell into
the clutches of Il notorious household.
"Old man Perkins" had thrce handsome
daughters and IL scheming wife. Tho
mothers aim was to marry those girls
to wealthy men, and she had succeeded
as to two Of them, and McLane fell a
victim to the plot and was married to
the third. "A son, John H., Jr., was born
to them in June, 'G7, and trouble of
every kind followed. The sisters had
quarreled with their respective lords,
enc of whom had abandoned his wife
and gone to japan, while tho other,
even more desperate, had gone, self-di-
rected. to his grave. McLanc's homo
people refused to recognize any of the
Perkins stock and cut off the young
fellows allowance. Old man Perkins,
therefore, had three married daughters
md one son-in-law on his hands and
pandenonillln reigned within his gatcs
He had to order the eldest daughter out
of the house, and she rcvenged herself
byeloping with man who deserted wife
and children 10 run away with this
inagnificcntly handsome creature, a
thing he mourncd in snckcloth and
ashes until, his money vanishing, she
oA VII with alioIuCl flClllll uuu IeIG
him poor indeed, yet vastly better OFF
than when he had her.
McLnne's wife was the best of the
three in disposition, but that was say
ing little, and when all his money was
gone they fairly kicked him out of
doors, and he, in desperation, drifted
to Nevada and the mines, just in tho
days when colossal fortunes were be-
ing made by men who were welding
pick and shovel. At the very time old
Perkins people were trying to get
divorce, alleging desertion and failure
to support, McLane doomed up at Vir-
ginia City as part owner of lode that
paid like the Co'nstocls, and his Sacra-
mento wife, who was believed to be
deeply in love with steamboat on
gincer, proved that she wasn't by jour-
neying to Virginia City with her little
boy and rcclaining her now prosperous
husband. There they lived in style, and
the Perkins household camo to visit
them and remained indefinitely, until
the pickering drove McLanc mad and
he Skipped to Frisco" where every
deal he made in the stock market went
his way, and he became a millionaire
before he was 80. Again his pretty
but low-brcd wife followed, and again
he honestly tried to make the best OF
his bargain; but her mad extravaganza
and the ccasclcss incursions OF mother