The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-01-02

came absolutely ruinouS for her hus-
band; he ought to have warned her,
sought to check her. He dared not and
continued to content her. but very soon
came the time when he could do so no
more.
1t was on the occasion of great ball
to which she was to go. She had order
ed from Paris marvellous gown that
became her t. perfection. Still she was
not satisfied. Some days before, in the
showcase of the most fashionable jew
eler of the city, diadem had set in
revolution all the feminine magma
tons; superb jewel of antique style,
set in silver gilt, of a starry pallor,
where the brilliants seemed drops of
fame. Comma wished to have it, and
indeed it would be difficult to find
face adapted to the almost religious
richness of that jewel more than her
snowy profile of an angel in ecstasy.
Ten thousand francs was the price Of
that jewel, and Marchis did not have
them. Mute, immovable, his heart op-
pressed. he listened to Commas words
as she described it to him. How could
he tell her, how could he ever tell her,
that he had not the 10000 francs! 1t
was terrible. To another woman who
should have had that caprice one might
have proposed to have her own dia-
monds reset after that model or per-
haps even to have an imitation diadem
made. No one would have suspected
it. But he felt that the danger lay in
confessing his powerlessness. Yet it
must be done. And he made an effort
at courage.
Comma had seated herself beside
him, throwing back and bending a lit
tie to one side her blond head with that
irresistible feminine movement which
displays the white throat, the pure
line descending from the slender neck
to the full bloomed bust, down to the
round and flexible waist.
81 would like to have it. 1t seems to
me that 1 should look WE'LL Don't you
think SO? l have great wish to be
beautiful. If you knew whyY
She laughed now deliciously, with
the air Of her roguish hours. He was
silent for moment. Then, fixing a
vague look upon the delicate designs
of the oriental carpet, paling as if from
an inward wound, he murmured:
'The fact is that do not know-I do
not really know whether-whether I
shall be able to buy it for you"-
"Why"
She had quickly raised her head,
much surprised. uneasy, looking at
him. Such thing had never happened
| to her.
Marchis wiped his forehead and re-
sumed his discourse.
'"The fact is-you see, in bank like
ours there are moments that-certain
moments in which one cannot-in
which it is impossible"
What was impossible for him in that
moment was to finish the phrase. He
stopped and lifted his eyes timidly to
her, desolately, as if to beg her to help
him. She was very pale, with sud-
den hardness in all her features, in her
compressed mouth, in her knit brows,
in her sparkling eyes. -.
"Have you not ten thousand francs?
Is 1t possible?" .... ....
And her voice was as hard as her
look, a profound hardness that star
tied him. But all at once her face
changed expression, she recovered her
fresh, tuneful laugh, and the sweet
and limpid ray was rekindled in her
blue eyes.
r"Come. you want to tell me stories,
f0 hI1v
ceiver! that wished to be beautiful
in order to drive vico MoIise little
crazy. He has declared to me that he
is tired of my peridy. See, you de-
serve-do you know that am becom-
ing angry with YOU"
She really believed that she had hit
the truth with her words. Indeed he
had 50 well kept up the Illusion with
her, he had hidden so jealousy his en-
barrassment, that she did not know
how to explain this sudden restriction.
But meanwhile every word Of hers was
a blow to the heart Of Marchis. He
saw her already at the ball, passing
from arm to arm, with her step like
a flying angel; listening to the insid-
lOuS COluplluSulS VI flSO MOllSC anu
his kind and keeping meantime in her
heart that leaven of rancor against
him because Of his refusal. And he
saw himself again, as he had seen
himself little while before in the
mirror. old, weary, worn, beside her,
so fresh, young. with eyes sparkling
from the cruel scorn of one who has
made an unequal bargain.
Suddenly he rose like one who has
taken decision. passed his hand
across his brow and, without replying.
went away to go out of the house. She
believed that she had conquered and
let him go without moving herself.
only with a fash of cunning in her
eyes. But when he was or the stairs
the door opened, and blond head
appeared between the folding doors:
1--WE are agreed, then?"
He did not reply. and she heard his
step down the stairway, slow, heavy,
weary.
The evening of the bail Marchis
knocked at the door, of his wife's dress
ing room.
"Come in" And he entered.