Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-03-17
/ N Ire Wires Secret,
<A OR A BITTER RECKONING
\W/WDN By CHARLOTTE M. BRAEME

By CHARLOTTE NJ. BRAEME

ueVOllOn. AIDED TO THIS was the fecl-
ing of shame that had oppressed him
ever since his talk with Lord Summers
"Come-you needn't mind confessing
your weakness to me-" Polling went on
encoura gingly. BLESS you. man, know
how Pauline can twist any man round
her finger if she likes to tryl ! sup
pose she was smitten with you. and
spread her nets to snare you. and you
not seeing the snare. found yourself
enamored of her without knowing how
1t happened. And | dare say, if the
truth were known, when the first mad
burst was over, and you thought out
things quietly. you would have given n
good deal never to have seen her at all.
and wished you had behaved differently
to Miss Mallett.
Jack jumped up, his face beaming,
and wrung Pelling's hand.
81 could not say it myself. but that
is really just how it has been with me.
| am not good at expressing my feelings;
but | know you are behaving very well
to me-much better than | deserve-and
| thank you. And now what do you wish
me TO do?
go right away for few months.
Write to me now and again. and | will
take care that Miss Mallett hears what
ever is likely to be of use to you. Give
her time to forget the indignity you have
put on her and her love- | shall be
on hand in the character of a benevolent
patriarch, and the moment | see signs
favorable to our plot | will bring about
a meeting. The rest will lie with your
self"
How can l thank your
You owe me no thanks. Relieve your
mind on that point. What l am doing
| do out of my sincere wish for Miss
Mallett's happiness. If you really think
to your wife after you are married. Here
is luncheon. We will talk by and by
of your. immediate plans"
When they had finished luncheon, and
Jack had left, Polling laid down on the
hard horsehair sofa. with his hands under
his head. gazing steadfastly at the cell
ing; and it was not until the evening.
when the waiter came to light the gas,
that he was reused from his deep rev.
erie. He then pulled himself together,
called for his bill, and having settled it,
went out into the wretched night.
When Pauline left her husband at the
church door she knew that her schem-
ing had been futile. and that she could
never again show her face at Mailing
ford; but 1t was not that which caused
her the agony Of mind she was suffer
ing.
She had lost Jack. The one pure. I'M
selfish cup of joy she had longed to taste
had been snatched from her lips at the
moment of raising. She was stunned
with despair.
She paced up and down the platform
at Charing Cross station, watching for
Babette and connecting plans for OBJ
tanning what ready money she could be-
fore the grand denouement came She
knew her jewels must be worth at least
i've thousand pounds. and. though some
OF them were heirlooms and others had
been bought with money obtained by her
dishonesty, she would not scruple to APP
ply them to her personal use. Then she
would draw at once two thousand from
her bankers She would go and do this
personally lest they might scruple to pay
so large sum on check. And so she
laid her miserable plans. refusing to
listen for one moment to the prompting
OF her better nature which would even
now suggest her return to the husband
whose only sin had been his poverty