The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-03-10
CHAPTER XxnI.-centlnued

Glen on message 50 as to be alone in
The ho,sse.
After the lapse Of half an hour, he
heard the carriage roll away with his
wifr and niece.
Hurrying into Nine Fauvers room,
he opened the drawer of the chif-
fonier, where she kept her jewels.
Tho last dozen or more leather and
velvet boxes containing superb sets
OF jeweiry which he had presented TO
her were gone
Twelve boxes remained. He nerv-
ously opened them.
They were all empty.
The anonymous letter had told the
truth.
oh. it can not be-" he gasped in
broken tones "0h, no, mol"
lie wildly pulled open every drawer
In the vain hope of finding them
packed away Perhaps she kept them
elsewhere
He tried to hope that She had sent
them to be reset; but no. they were
oil superbly set in the latest fashion;
and moreover, she never would have
sent them all at once lie looked
again.
Nothing! not one jewel could he
dnd.
mis- wife at the Jandidier ball why
rhc did not wear her diamonds; ana
she had replied with a smile:
OH what is the use2 Everybody
tnows them so well: and, besides,
hey don't suit my costume"
Yes, she had made this answer with
.ut blushing. without showing the
lightest sign of agitation or shame.
What barefaeed impudence What
baps hypocrisy soncea1ed beneath Al
innocent. confding mannerl
And she had been thus deceiyine
him for twenty years. But suddenly
gIeam Of hope penetrated his con.
fused mind slightly, barely possible;
atill straw - cling to-
.'Perhaps Valentine has put heI
diamonds in Medicines room"
without stopping to consider the
indelicacy Of what he was about to
do, he hurried into the young girli
room, and pulled open one drawer
after another What did he find?
Not Mime. Fauvers diamonds. but
Alsdeleine's seven or eight boxes alsC
empty
Great heayensl Was this gentle girl
whom he had treated as a daughter
m accomplice in this deed OF shamei I
Had she contributed her jewelry 70
add to the disgrace of the roof that
sheltered her2
This last blow was almost too much
for the miserable man. He sunk al
most iifeless into a chair, and wiring
fng his hands. groaned over the wreck
Of his happiness. Was this the hap
py future to which he had looked for
ward? Was the fabric Of his honor
weli-being. and domestic bliss, 20 be
dashed 10 the earth and forever lost
In day? Were his 20 years labor
and high standing to end thus IN
shame and SORROW
Apparently, nothing was changed in
his existence; he was not materially
injured; he could not reach forth his
hand, and heal or revenge the smart
ing wound. the objects around him
An the outside world just as il bad
gone on during the last 90 years; and
yet what horrible change had taken
place in his own heartl While the
world envied his prosperity and hap.
piness. here he sat, more heart-snre
and wearied Of life than the worst
criminal that ever stood before the
fnquisition.
WHAT Valentine, the pure young
girl whom he had loved and married
IN spite Of her poverty, in spite OF
her cold Offering Of calm affection in
return for his passionate devotion;
Valentine, the tender. loving wife
who. before a year of married life
had rolled by, so often assured him
that her affection had grown into
deep confiding love, that her devotion
had grown stronger every day, and
that her only prayer was that God
Nseald take them both together, since
life would be a burden without heI
noble husband 20 shield and cherish
her could she have been acting a liz
kos 20 years?
She. the darling wife the mother
Of his sdhs2
HIS sons2 Good Codl Were the,
his sons7
~ she could deceive him now wheI
ahe was silyer-haired ised she no
deceived him when She was young2
Not only did he suffer in the pres
.ent, bat the uncertainty Of the pas
tortured his soul.
lie was like a man who is told tina
.the exquisite wine he has drank con
tains poison.
Confidence is never halfway; Il Il
% It Is not. His confidence was gone
hiN faith was dead.
The wretched banker had rested hi
every hope and happiness on the lov
81 his wife. Believing that she hal