Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-04-27
wrong to complain of his destiny. And


What Of the terribly unexpected had
be now discovered in the depths of the
pure sapphire of Commas eyes? Was
there arisen in his soul the doubt that
that faithfulness against every trial.
that coldness toward her admirers.
was nothing but the wish to preserve
intact q position acquired with diff
Guilty and that precisely to that posi-
ton was directed all the tenderness
shown toward himself? do not know,
but the vivid and impetuous JOY of the
wedding was no longer in him. al
though his love remained the same. and
painful doubt thrilled in his voice
when he replied to the playful conf
dence of Comma. forcing himself to
laugh too:
Take care. now. take care-the VEN
geance of the tyrant hangs over YOU
All. the poor tyrant. How he loved
herI How she had known how to bind
him with her little hands. white and
perfumed as two lilies! For nothing in
the world would he have discovered the
truth. changed into certainty his TO-
menting doubt. So she had only to ask
In order to obtain. for now for him
that love of which he doubted had be-
come his life. and he felt painful
structure at his heart at the mere
thought that day might come when
he would be obliged to refuse her some
thing. Yet that day came. Suddenly.
by one of those mysterious complica-
lions of business, his bank, which until
then had gone from triumph to tri-
umph. underwent a violent shock. Not
a noisy downfall. one of those open.
public ruins which produce great fall
ures. but one of those deep. intimate,
secret crises that must be borne with
out a word, a lament, under penalty Of
death: that can be overcome only by
force Of small privations. little hidden
savings. 1t Is then that strict economy
In the family becomes necessary. The
luxury Of Comma In those moments be-
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 a great ball
to which she was to go. She had order
ed from Paris a marvellous gown that
became hsr to perfection. Still she was
not satisfied. Some days before, in the
showcase of the most fashionable jew
eler of the city, a diadem had set in
revolution all the feminine imagina-
tons; a superb jewel of antique style,
set in silver gilt, of starry pallor,
where the brilliants seemed drops of
| flame. Comma wished to have it, and
! indeed it would be difficult to find a
! 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 Gemma's 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
1t. But he felt that the danger lay In
confessing his powerlessness. Yet 1t
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
Inc that 1 should look well. Don't you
think so? 1 have a great wish to be
beautiful. If you knew why|
She laughed now deliciously, with
the air of her roguish hours. He was
silent for a moment. Then, fixing o
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 dc
not really know Observation-Disclosures
shall be able to buy it for you
"Why"
She had quickly raised her head
much surprised, uneasy. looking al
him. Such thing had never happened
to her.
Marchis wiped his forehead and re
sumed his discourse.
"The fact is-you see, In bank lik.
ours there are moments that-certair
moments in which one can1ot-iI
which it Is impossible"
What was impossible for him In thai
moment was to finish the phrase. HI
stopped and lifted his eyes timidly t.
her, desolately. as If to beg her to hell
him. She was very pale. with a sud
den hardness in all her features, in he
compressed mouth, in her knit brows
In her sparkling eyes.
| "Haye Won not ton thousand francs