The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1902-03-22
HIS EVIL GENIUS

Observation-Disclosures

-
IN Fl! Geoff, dear, how hate to see
- your head buried in those pa
pers; to see that anxious, worried
look on your face, and to know what
has brought it there! If you would
only give it all up, and-and-"
"And what, dearest?" he replied,
tearing his eyes for moment from
the latest stable tips and sporting
Intelligence, and letting them rest
fondly on his young wife's pretty face.
what is the other grievances real
one, or only imaginary, like the frs? 2"
They are both very real troubles
to me, DEAR" she replied, sadly. "Not
grievances, but troubles. And they
press upon my heart night and day.
The first is your terrible mania for
speculation--gambling, pure and sim
pie, either horse racing or on the
Stock exchange; the other in the in
creasing influence which that man
Sharp has over you. Week by week,
day by day, have seen it grow, and
it makes my heart stand still with
"Fear?" echoed Godfrey Grey,
flushing deeply as he spoke. "Now,
what on earth is there to be afraid
of? Sharp is rs good fellow as ever
breathed; he wouldn't hurt a fly, and /
am quite capable of protecting my
self"
physically, yes" she replied, sadly,
ha lNNlal % <ha OF ol xuo1rf FORM, md
handsome face, shut not morally. Fred
Sharp is what men may call good
fellow but what we women call a
bad lot! He leads you on to gamble,
he makes you fred with mad desire
for wealth hastily made. Sooner or
later the end will come-ruin, real
and complete, dismissal from your sit
uation, bankruptcy-pray Heaven it
may not be prison cell. 1t is my
love for you, Geoff, that makes my
vision so clear. see in Fred Sharp
your black angel-the man who ere
long will blind you SO completely that
you will be no longer able to distin-
guish right from wrong"
"You women are so fond of flying
to conclusions" said he, irritably, be-
cause of the truth underlying her
words, truth he could not fail see
ing, in spite of himself; "and as us
ual you are all astray. The fact is
that it cuts me to the quick, hurts my
pride to see you shabbily dressed, to
see you cramped up in box of a
place like this, to think of you for
ever as only the wife of clerk. Oh!
Violet, my mania for wealth is all for
your sake, dearest, because cannot
bear to hide your beauty away in
cottage. long to see you shine in the
society nature intended you for, as
you did in your fathers house, as
your sisters do in their weather.
husbands alone am poor"
"And 1 fell in love with you poor.
I married you poor. / desire no
riches, only your love. Geoff-our
own dear pretty little home, and a
clear conscience-oh! IL you would
only set my heart at rest and be con-
tent-as 1 am-with your salary. Is
lis that man coming tonight? Are
you--are you going out with him?"
Geoffrey's eyes fell beneath her sweet,
clear gaze and her heart sank. She
was not one of the wives who grudged
her husband his club, or would have
denied him the society of his old
friends; but she saw the whirlpool
bearing him off his feet and she
seemed powerless to save him.
If Fred Sharp was his evil genius
his wife was his good angel, and fair
enough in appearance to add strength
to her pleadings; but for once her
entreaties, her eloquence, her beauty,
was wasted, for her husband buried
himself in the paper again, moody
gloom upon his brow. The crisis she
dreaded was mt hand, and he meant
to make one bid for fortune-then
he would give it up forever. He shiv-
cred as he realized how many barques
had been shipwrecked on the sea of
speculation; but this one thing was
so safe, so certain, there was no pos
sibility of failure, or even then at the
last moment he would draw back;
but Fred Sharp had had private
tip-had seen with his own eyes-it
was dead certainty, and old Mason
would not return for another week.
He had control of all the cash, and
$500 at that juncture would be
turned into thousands before he had
to account for it. But how late
Sharp was. He said seven o'clock, and
~ was just on eight.
"Come in--chi I thought it was