Daily camera., 1901-08-10
courier we had-to save your honor-to
stor, Tint narriare.-r

was coming to beg for them you were
n coward, Eandy--you sent them all to
Ned Parry, that my own sister might
gloat over my downfall"
"Mrs. McLanc," he interrupted, this
is all unjust, all untrue. Ask Mr.. Parry
when he comes, as come he probably
will. But this ends our meetings. God
forbid that l should ever see you alone
again! 1t ha% driven from me my wife
the wife | love and love devotedly-
do you hearF--nnd I'm going now to
find her.
And then he broke away. Out to the
stable he staggered; love, pity, dcvo-
ton urging him on and triumphing over
the still numbing effect of the deaden-
ing drug whose languorous spell he
had never known before; and Brown
Dick whinnied his welcome and impa-
thence, and Hop Ling whimpered his
"pdgin" protests, even as he was
"cinching" on Merram's field saddle
with its wcll-stocked pouches. Randy
fiercely ordered silence, bade the Chi
naman give him hand and then, with
blurred eyes and senses, with ears still
drowsily ringing, he slowly climbed
into saddle, hardly missing the Gus
tomary grip of the left hand in the
name. Then out he rode into the sun
shine, Brown Dick bounding with
cagernc3s to search for and rejoin 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 be no mans fool, no
faithless husbands wife. You need not
look for me nor follow, for l 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-crazed,
| 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, mcrcifully, of the
new peril that involved his precious
wife.
1t was vain for DR.. Leavitt to heap i'm
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
6iess and catchum saddle and flask and |
lunch"-that was enough. "Mcllium
say lide an catchum MisSec Mellium,"
nd I i,r 10 To in
tcrfcrc.
But if Dr.. Lcavitt had lost one pa !
tient, Fate had provided him with an
other. lie was needed at once at Graf |
tons, and, tarrying only long enough |
Il report TO Buxton the escape of Lieut. !
Merriam, he hastened TO the bedside OF
Mrs. McLane, now in sore need of med
ical attention.
Harriet Grafton has been heard to say
that that afternoon and the night that
followed made her ten years older, but |
/ her looks do not warrant the statement !
unques;iOnably she had Il hard time, /
and might have had a much harder but !
for the opportune arrival at the post !
just before sundown, of the lately |
blockaded lawyer, Mr.. Edward Parry, !
of Chicago.
Meantime, utterly broken down and |
cut off now, for the first time since her
marriage, from the soothing and com
fort of the pcrilous drug to the use OF
which she had become welded almost
frCm the hour that she met McLane.
poor self-absorbcd Fanny was pouring
out her story and her secret in almost
iEcohCrcnt rawlings to her hostess. DR.. |
Lcavitt, who had suspected the cause of
her vagaries before, was confident of il
when he was called in to prescribe and |
quickly found the dainty little case that |
Grafton had discovered the day before. |
/, was hours before she could be even
I measurably quieted, and meantime
what tale of shame and woe had she |
not poured into Harriet's astonished !
cars!
Strained from its rawlings and inco-
kerencies and Strengthened out in
chronological order, the story resolved !
itself into this: John Harold McLane
was a southern sympathiZer as young
man, and went to California during the
war, provided with liberal allowance |
and an opportunity of cmbarking in
business. At Sacramento he fell into
the clutches of II notorious household. |
"Old man Perkins" had three handsome
daughters and a scheming wife. The
mothers aim was to marry those girls
to wealthy men, and she had succeeded
as to two of them, and McLane fell a
victim 10 the plot and was married to
the third. \ 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 the other,
even more desperate, had gone, self-di-
rected, TO his grave. McLane's home
| people refused to recognize any of the
| Perkins stock and cut off the young
| fellows allowance. Old man Perkins,
| therefore, had three married daughters
and one sOn-in-law on his hands and
pandcmonium reigued within his gates. !
He had to order the eldest daughter out
OF the house, and she revenged herself
| by eloping with man who deserted wife
and children TO run away with this
magnifcently handsome creature, a
thing he mourned in sackcloth and
ashes until, his money vanishing, she
ran off with another victim and left
him poor indeed, yet vastly better off
than when he had her.
McLane'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 the
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 loomod up at Nir-
ginia City as part owner Of lode that
paid like the Comstock, and his Sacra-
mento wife, who was believed to be
deeply in love with II steamboat en-
yineer, proved that she wasn't by jour