Evening star., 1901-12-28
''No-only go on. Go on and get It over
Every word ia like a knife

| "No-only go on. Go on and get It over.
Every word is like knife
| Dear, dear. I told you, Isabel, that the
| subject was important. After all. since !
| alone know the story of this marriage, and
| the matter is between you and me, you
| may be quite easy in your mind"
! Have you finished? Believe me. the
| memory of that day fills me with shame
| and remorse. 1 had hoped that no one was
| left who knew anything about it,
| Us there anything in the world that no
| one knows except the person who did 1t?
Isabel. 1 am here to tell you''-he dropped
| his voice-"of person who knows this his
| tory and will spread it about and abroad
If he is not prevented"
| who is he?'
| among your creditors, Isabel was a
| man with diapers shop whom you owed
| some money. He came to you before you
acted as you did-begging you to pay up
| fes-the man came, half-drunk, and
vapored about his wealth and his re-
| sources"
Well. You know what happened. to
| him? ------..--.---
He went bankrupt partly, / fear,
| through my inability to pay.
| Faporing or not, drunk or sober, he
| went bankrupt"
| II suppose he did,
''You yourself found his family the other
| day in the greatest misery. You relieved
| their distress; you provided for his wife;
you have given her a weekly allowance;
| You have made his daughter your compan-
| ion"
This is all true
'1t is conscience money. Your action
| shows remorse, as well as goodness of
| heart. But, Isabel, it win not stop the
mans thirst for money. He is vindictive;
| he is rapacious.'
| What can he do?"
''It is not only the bankruptcy. When
| the man was told that your debts were
| shifted to one Truxo under sentence of
| death he naturally went to Newgate to in
quire There he saw the man-your hus-
band-the biack-and heard from him a
confirmation Of your marriage. He knows,
therefore, about the marriage"
| What can he do, them"
! He is desperate; he seems not to know
| who it Is that has befriended his wife and
daughter; his thirst for revenge grows daily
greater: His bankruptcy. 1 am sure, was
due to his own drinking habits, and not to
your bad debt. Yet he has forgotten that
circumstance and now says that it was due
to you and to no one but you. AS
for what he can do. He may
| come to this house and brawl and
below all kinds of things, including, Of
| course, the marriage with the late Adolphus
| Truxo. Your people would quickly throw
| MIN out, and, If necessary, beat him to a
| jelly. Nothing would please your friends
| better; but would the beating help in keep
| ing things quiet? That, however is not the
! chief danger. He has access to a tavern
| frequented and used almost entirely by gen.
tlemen's servants. He will tell his story
| with his own eXaggerations and embelish-
| ments to those fellows, who are greedy of
scandal. and live, so to speak, upon gossip
concerning masters and mistresses. They
| go home and they carry their scandals to
| the servants hail.
What does 1t matter how they talk in
| the servants hall?''
stay a little. The lady's mild takes her
meals in the servants hail. The lady's
| maid talks to her mistress. The lady's
maid retails to her mistress all the scandal
that she can. A lady's maid is valued for
the gossip and scandal she can bring to her
mistress. Remember that; and remember
beside that couple of days after the in
| furiated bankrupt has told his story it will
be all over the town"
Isabel groaned; she did not faint any
more; the first shock was over.
NOW, my dear Isabel, I am your friend
In this business-your only friend, but your
true friend. Perhaps l do not desire a
family scandal to arise out of it; we have
had good many scandals of which / have
been the cause.-the innocent and much mis-
represented cause. Let us avoid another
scandal L can keep this man quiet by the
simple process of paying him"
How can you prevent this talking? He
will take your money and then talk"
He cannot. l shall make it quite clear
that if he tells his story to the patrons of
this tavern or anywhere else, that 1 shall
hear of it, and that he will get no more
| money. The man, Isabel. is half drunken,
besotted wretch, and swollen with strong
drink. Let us give bim the run of the
tavern; let him drown himself in rum If he
will; the sooner he makes an end the bet
ter. But he must be paid. And l. Isabel
will undertake to pay him; and to keep him
quiet"
Isabel listened attentively At the end,
however. she became suspicious. Her
brother-n-law would keep the man quiet;
he would pay the man. She knew his lord
ship we'll enough to be quite sure that he
meant to take most of the money she
might give him, for himself. And she fur
ther understood that he was taking up the
case with the intention Of getting money
out of it for himself. She rose therefore
Il will consider" she said
You will consider? My dear Isabel time
presses Every day is of Importance
She sat down again. What do You pro-
pose?"
Il have it with me- Che drew forth a pa
PER-, IAN opinion procured by my attorney
from a counsel in the inner temple. Here
| is copy. The case was sent to the lawyer
whom / meet here sometimes-your friend
Mr.. Mcnamara.
Isabel took it. The opinion was signed
"Oliver Mcnamara"
You observe. He is of opinion, clearly,
that this money should be paid
She read the opinion rapidly.
You have sent the case to him. My lord,
1t was a mean and treacherous act"
Mean? Treacherous? Why? Mr.. Mac
nothing"
What do you propose?"
Briefly, the whole debt. with interest
ample return for suffering, maintenance
say $500"
Isabel rose again. She was more COM
posed. 'I will consider she said mot
a word more, If you please. I will con-
sider.'
(To be continued)