The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-11-15

| who arrived in the new land of Ophir
| with many others TO seek his fortune. Mr..
| Curtis was of good family bit had mar
| RED a pretty girl, whose face was her
| fortune, and who was born. as the story
books say, of poor but honest parents.
Poverty and honesty. however. were not
sufficient recommendations in the eyes OF
Mr.. Curtis, senior, to excuse such a
match: SO he promptly expelled his son
| from the family circle. That young gen.
tleman and his wife came out to Australia
filed with ambitions dreams OF acquiring
a fortune. and then or returning to heap
Goals of fire on the heads of those who
had turned them out.
! These dreams, however, were destined
never to be realized. for within a year
after their arrival in Melbourne Mrs. Cur
It's died giving birth TO little girl, and
Robert Curtis found himself once more
| alone ia the world with the incumbrance
| of a small child. He, however. was not
| man who wore his heart on his sleeve.
| and did not show much outward grief,
| though, no doubt, he sorrowed deeply
enough for the loss Of the pretty girl for
whom he had sacrificed so much. At all
events, he made up his mind ar once
| what to do; so, placing his child under
the care of an old lady, he went TO Bal
| larat. and set TO work TO make his for
( tune.
He succeeded beyond even his own ex-
pectations. Miss Curtis became the belle
| of Melbourne and soon had crowds of
suitors around her. Her father. however,
dc .ermined to find a husband for her
/ T.
one when he suddenly died. leaving his
daughter an orphan and a wealthy wom-
/ an.
Her suitors-numerous and persistent
soon returned TO her feet. One of these,
penniless young Englishman called RAN
do,ph yilliers. paid her such marked at
tention that in the end Miss Curtis. con-
| trary to the wishes of her friends, mar
| ried him.
As soon as Villiers found himself in
full possession of his wife's fortune he
Immediately proceeded to spend all the
| money he could lay his hands on. He
gnmbled away large sums of money at his
club, he bet extensively on the turf. Mrs.
villiers put up with this conduct for
some time, but when villiers actually pro-
ceeded TO i'll treat her in order to force
her to give up the money her father had
settled on her, she rebelled. She tore off
| her wedding ring, threw it at his feet, re-
:. nounced his name, and went to Balarat
with her old nurse and the remnants of
| her fortune.
She was of too restless and ambitious
a nature TO be content with an idle life,
AID though the money she still possessed
was sufficient to support her in comfort,
| yet she felt that she must do something,
/ il only to keep her thoughts from dwelling
on those bitter years of married life The
most obvious thing to do in BalIarat was
TO go in for gold mining. and chance hav-
ing thrown in her way mate of her
| father i, she determined to devote herself
to thar, being influenced in her decision
by the old digger. This man, by name
| Archibald Mcintosh. was a shrewd, hard
headed Scotchman. who had been in Bal
larat when the diggings were in the height
| of their fame. and who knew all about the
lie of the country and where the richest
leads had been in the old days. He told
! Mrs villiers that her father and himself
had worked together on a lead then known
as the Devils Lead, which was one Of the
4 richest ever discovered in the district
| Fortunately the place where it was sit
uated had not been renowned for gold in
the early days, and it had passed into the
hands Of man who used it as pasture
land, quite ignorant of the wealth which
| lay beneath. When Mrs. Villiers came
up to Ballarat this man wanted to sell
| the land; so. acting under the urgent adj
/ vice of Mcintosh. she sold out all the
investments which she had and purcnas.
ed the whole tract of country where the
| old miner assured ner soiennly the Devils
Lead was to be found.
Then she built house near the mine
and taking her old nurse, Selma Sprotts
and Archibald Mcintosh to live with her
sank a shaft in the place indicated by
the latter. People who heard of her TAX
ing the land were astonished at first. but
they soon began to admire the plucky way
in which she fought down her ill-luck fol
the first year of her venture. All at once
matters changed; she made a lucky spec
ulation in the share market. and the Pac-
tolus claim began to pay. Mrs. Villier:
became mixed up in mining matters, and
bought and sold on Change with such
foresight and promptitude of action thai
she soon began to make lot of money
Stock brokers, struck with her persistent
good fortune, christened her Madame Mi
das, after that Greek king whose touch
turned everything into gnld.
When Mr.. viliiers therefore arrived il
Ballarat he found his wife universally
respected and widely known as Madame
! Midas, so he went to see her. expecting ts
be kept in luxurious ease for the rest o.
his life. He soon, however, found him
self mistaken, for his wife told him plain
ly she would have nothing to do will
him, and that il he dared to show his fac,
at the Pactolus claim she would have hin
turned off by her men. He threatened Il
bring the law into force to make her liv,
with him, but she laughed in his face, an,
said she would bring divorce sui
against him if he did so and as Mr.. Vii
!, Tiers character could hardly bear the ligh
of day, he retreated. leaving Madame il
full possession of the field
: He stayed, however, in Ballarat, an,
! took up stock broking-living a kind o
3 hand-to-mouth existence, Dragging of hi
, former splendor, and grumbling at hi
wife for what he pleased to call her cru
2 city, Every now and then he would pa,
! visit to tie Pactolus, and try to Sc
her, but Mcintosh was vigilant guard
[ and the miserable creature was Away
I compelled to go back to his Bohemian
5 life without accomplishing his object o
: getting Iaoney from the wife he had de
E serted.
I People talked, of course, but Madam
: did not mind. She had tried married life
e and had been disappointed; her old idea
t of belief in human nature had passe
e away; in short, the girl who had been tn
: belle of Melbourne as Miss Curtis an
; Mrs. Villiers had disappeared, and tn
!. stern, clever, cynical woman who manae
e ed the Pactolus claim was a new bein
called Madame Midas"
CHAPTER III.
Every one has heard Of the oldest in
!, habitant-that wonderful piece of antie
d uity, with white hair, garrulous tongu
y and cast-iron memory-who was Dor