Iron County register., 1900-02-15
The Sailing Of the Esperalza
By G.. Cunningham Terry.

Y Il iN1NG men, aSSayerS and the Hk
III will deride and hoot at you i
YOU mildly hint to them that theirs i
a very romantic" business, with it
big chances pro and con, its lack o
cut-and-driedness and so on. And the,
may be in the right, for all one knows
But there was one case wherein ro
nance, mining and assaying made
very homogeneous miX-that of tht
great ''Esperanza Gold Miners, Limit
ed" in which the principal actors were
Mr.. John Simpson, assayer and ore
buyer, and Richard HadIey-Benton, NJ
p, representing an English borough
and something like quarter of a mil
lion pounds sterling, which, on hi:
say-so, was invested in the "Esper
anza."
The thing had its commencement
many years ago in England, and, as a
matter of course, is traceable to a
woman. But, strange to say, this wom.
an was worthy of having things hap
pen on her account. She was lovely
Aileen Butler, the Irish beauty, who
took London by storm the very year
that young Duncan Dudley and his
1C1G
And with Miss Butler both these
young men proceeded to fail violently
il love, upon first sight of her. This
in spite of the fact that far older and
richer men were already at her feet,
and she could even have married rich
and gouty old duke, had she so desired.
But Miss Butler did not so desire; and,
in truly Irish fashion, took no pains
to hide her preference for Dudley, who
was merely the third son of poverty
stricken Scotch peer. and as thorough a
detrimental as one could find in a days
travel.
No wonder that the girls family
swore. stormed and wept respectively;
even HadIey-Benton, with his rich min
ing and broking father, would have
been a more desirable parti. But, no;
headstrong Miss Butler would have
none of him. none of the nasal Yankee
millionaire who was hunting "a wife
from the nobility" none of the gouty
old duke. In short, she would marry
the poverty-stricken Duncan Dudley,
and no one else. She did not care
whether he had money, prospects, a
profession or not; she loved him, and
proposed to marry him. Which, in spite
of tears. prayers and profanity, settled
the matter Miss Butler, in spite of her
beauty. had a will and a mind of her
own, and there was no use whatever
in disputing her.
Wherefore reluctant consents were
won. reluctant blessings were said. the
engagement was announced. the mar
20 %al- nj xx-ifh
in two months, and Hon. Duncan and
his beautiful fiancee were as happy as
the day is long. The saying that true
love never does run smooth" seemed
to be disproved in their case; perhaps
would have remained disproved but for
Mr.. Richard Hadley-Benton.
HadIey-Benton had been Dudley's
greatest friend, both at Rugby and Ok
ford. They had for years been inseP-
arabic, and were known at Oxford as
Damon and Pythias. Nothing but
woman could have come between them.
and this is just what woman did.
For. two days before accepting Dudley,
Miss Butler had somewhat contemptu-
ously refused Hadley-Benton's hand
and large fortune. For which refusal
IIadley-Benton inconsistently blamed
Dudley, instead of Miss Butler. Erst
while friendship on his part turned to
bitter envy and hate, and the rejected
suitor quietly promised himself re-
venge when the chance came.
OF all this Hon. Duncan knew moth
fng. and suspected less. He was busy
applying for and receiving a diplo-
matte under-appointment in Paris,
which would enable him to marry and
thenceforth support his wife in at least
comparative luxury. That his Damon
of so many years was now his secret
enemy he would never have believed,
their friendship seemed as strong as
ever. and the two were quite as insepa
rable as of yore, even travelling together
to Paris when the eXigencies of Dudley's
new appointment demanded the trip.
And this is where Hadley-Benton's
opportunity presented itself.
For, while in Paris, secure in his pres |
ent happiness and soon-to-be welded |
bliss, Hon. Duncan proceeded to in |
dulge himself in a particularly foolish |
though brief Irritation with a hand
some American woman. Some unkind /
people called her that ugly word
though others merely |
said that she was sporty" However
that may be, she thought the good
looking young attache the best of game,
even though he might be an engaged
man. What did the other woman mat
fey to her? And the Irritation was a