The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-09-14

also in that ship. Was not the infer
ence as clear as the MONDAY sun?
A black cloud fell upon my soul. All
goodness, all purity, was blotted out
OF the world for eve and ever!
Through all my trouble and misery
| had chung, with strong, yearning
hands, to the rock of my wife's faith
fulness. Whatever of sweetness came
into my life (Heaven knows there was
little enough!) after the last inter
view with my mother, came TO me
through the light of this belief in
Mabefs innocence and purity. But for
that my soul would have been wrecked
many years ago. Better if it had been:
better if l had fallen; better if L had
died! For now the rock to which 1
had chung, and on which grew flowers
which had brought a sad, SWEEP con-
ISOLATION to me, crumbled away to rot
tenness at the sight of a dead mans
race; ~henceforth truth and virtue were
lying symbols. The waters round
about that rock had hitherto been
clear and bright, and in their depths
- vi IAO oIdlulCSS SOuI
OF a pure woman, bringing to me a Wis
ion of heaven in the future. Now the
waters We're black and turbid. and
nothing but deflement and treachery
were there.
l pressed my hands upon my eyes
and forehead to prevent myself from
going mad. Before that occurred, 1
must look once more upon the face of
my enemy.
1t lay before me, gray and sinful
even in death. I had seen the face not
more than six times in my life, and
each time it had brought a blight upon
me; but it had been more pow
ertul for evil than now, when the
treacherous eyes lacked light, and the
lying tongue was dumb. AS I gazed
at it, faith, hope, religion, died utterly
away, and left me a reckless, despair
ing man. What could my wife have
seen in this villain to cause her to be
false to me? The basest and meanest
qualities in human nature never had
a more fitting shell than the carcass
of this man; and as I spurned it with
my foot, I reflected with bitterness that
| had not even the satisfaction of re-
venge. For l doubted not that if /
had met him alive 1 should have killed
him, and I experienced no feeling of
gratefulness that 1 had been spared
the crime.
AS I disturbed the body, a piece of
glittering metal on the ground at
tracted me. I picked it up; it was a
sovereign; and my attention was
drawn to the circumstance that the
earth upon which the body lay had
been newly turned over. I pushed the
;nanimate clay aside, and, scratching
the earth with my nails / came upon
a treasure in gold. I dug it up, and
calculated that the weight altogether,
in rough nuggets and sovereigns,
could not be less than thirty pounds.
1t was for this my wife had betrayed
me; this was the virtue she saw in
him. My dear old mother was right.
Mabel's heart was as good as gold;
no better: and such a poor thing as
love faded in it's glitter. AS I ran my
fingers through the pile, / derived a
savage pleasure from the reflection
that the worthless heap was mine, and
indeed a great part of it really did be-
long to me. Had not the villain stol-
en- it from me on the gold-fields? l
removed it, and buried in in a secret
spot; and then, moodily, and with a
changed heart. I walked to the camp,
where my comrades were. Pearl, see
ing me approach, ran toward Inc, with
a glad look in her eyes, and raised her
face for the expected kiss. From the
impulse of habit, more than from any
feeling Of affection, l stopped, and was
about to embrace her, when the like
ness in her to my false wife so Jared
upon me that I pushed her aside rough
ly, with something like a curse upon
my lips. Fair face, like Mabel's; fair
hair, like Mabel's; blue eyes, as hers
were. Had the girl been black and
ugly l might have tolerated her, al
though l felt I was no longer capable
of love; but her beauty made me Ioathe
her. Heaven forgive me for my
thoughts at that time! My heart was
filled with hatred toward all man
kind.
| strobe toward my companions.
"a man lies dead yonder," l said, in
q tore SO hard and morose that they
stared at me in wonder and dismay.
Tom Wren will show you his body. l
suppose you will choose to bury him,
though by rights he should be left to
rot where he lies. But there's no such
thing as justice in this world, nor in