Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-09-04

ried a pretty gipl, 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 ambitious dreams Of acquiring
fortune, and then of returning to heap
Goals of fire On the heads of those who
had turned them out.
These dreams, however, we're destined
never to be realized, for within a year
after their arrival in Melbourne Mrs. Cur
tbs died giving birth to a little girl, and
Robert Curtis found himself once more
alone in the world with the incumbrance
of a small child. He, however, was not
a 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
Karat, 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,
determined to find husband for her
whom he could trust and was looking for
one when he suddenly died, leaving his
l.. lei,
an.
Her suitors-numerous and persistent
soon returned to her feet. One of these,
a penniless young Englishman called Ran
dolph ViIliers, 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 ViIliers 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
gambled 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 ViIIiers 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 Ballarat
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,
and though the money she still possessed
was sufficient to support her in comfort,
vet she felt that she must do something,
if only to keep her thoughts from dwelling
on those bitter years OF married life. The
most obvious thing to do in Ballarat was
to go in for gold mining, and chance hay
ing thrown in her way a mate of her
fathers, she determined to devote herself
to that, being influenced in her decision
by the old digger. This man, by name
Archibald Mcintosh, was 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 lead then known
as the DEVILS Lead, which was one of the
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 1T 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 ad-
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 sOlemnly 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 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-luek for
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. Eilliers
became mixed up in mining matters, and
bought and sold on Change with such
foresight and promptitude of action that
she soon began TO make a lot of money.
CNONh NAVhCAS. Slluth Win
good fortune, christened her Madame Nj.
das. after that Greek king whose touch
turned everything into gold.
When Mr.. Villiers therefore arrived in
Ballarat he found his wife universally
respected and widely known as Madame
Midas. so he went to see her, expecting to
be kept in luxurious ease for the rest of
his life He soon. however, found him
self mistaken, for his wife told him plain
ly she would have nothing to do with
him. and that If he dared TO show his face
at the Pactolus claim she would have him
turned off by her men. He threatened to
bring the law into force TO make her live
with him, but she laughed in his face, and
said she would bring a divorce suit
against him if he did so; and as Mr.. Viii
liers' character could hardly bear the light
of day, he retreated, leaving Madame in
full possession Of the field.
He stayed. however. in Balarat, and
took up stock broking-living kind Of
hand-to-mouth existence, Dragging of his
former splendor, and grumbling at his
wife for what he pleased to call her cru
city. Every now and then he would pay
visit to the Pactolus, and try to see
her, but Mcintosh was yigilant guard,
and the miserable creature was always
compelled TO go back to his Bohemian
life without accomplishing his object of
getting money from the wife he had de-
serted
People talked, of course. but Madame
did not mind. She had tried married life.
and had been disappointed; her old ideas
of belief in human nature had passed
away; in short, the girl who had been the
belle of Melbourne as Miss Curtis and
Mrs Vlliers had disappeared, and the
stern. clever. cynical woman who manas-
ed the Paetolus claim was new being
called Madame Midas"
CHAPTER III
Every one has heard of the Oldest in
habitant-that wonderful piece of antio-