Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-16

iau Vehued her and brought her up to be What
she is. / could have knelt and kissed his feet;
could hardly keep my love and gratitude from
bursting from my Overlooking heart; If / could
have suffered fortunes for his sake, | would have
been glad. And she, Elsie? All, the pitiful lit
tie excuses used to make to be in the same
room with her, to hear her talk and see her
smile. How | wept sometimes when ] saw that
my strange appearance, my secret, timid manner.
turned people against me- and feared that she
might turn against me, too. All, how unjust |
was to her sweet and gentle nature. DO yon
know that she has almost grown fond of me.
startled her little at first; she timid and
nervous of me, now she smiles kindly on me, and
sometimes Of her own accord she pats my hand
when am smoothing her pillow.
I hated you when you first came to the house
] hated you when you took her out riding and
were always with her; for you took her away
from me- | hated you when I saw that she
was growing fond of you; you were stealing her
love from me, the love that ] had hoped so much
to win. hated you when saw her growing
| thin and pale, for | thought you were treating
her badly and cruel and unkind to her. l would
have killed you sooner than let her come to my
fate.
Do you remember that night in the passage
outside her room. It then that the first
suspicion came to me- You were hard you
/
as [ thought you, for / saw that what / had
suspected you suspected too, and you set me on
the right road.
Yet you frightened me terribly. You had got
| to know in some mysterious way what no one
| else even suspected; you were furious against
me, and you were going to have me turned out Of
the house.
| Do you know that for hours that night lay
senseless on the floor of my room, and that for
hours afterwards I was mad mad with fright
You thought as / had, that Elsie being
poisoned and you were going to tell them that
| was convicted poisoner. You were going to
have me turned out of the house and leave her
at the mercy of some devil; and you going
TO tell them who 1 was, and l was trying to
poison her.
You did your worst and failed. Yet what
you did do gave hend in human shape the
chance to torture me as / have never been
tortured yet
Time passed and I saw that you and not
had been banished from the house. Elsie grew
better for day, and I almost began to hope
that had been mistaken, Oh, it was so hard for
me.
Do YOU remember when you brought DR.. Legrand
to see her, and found me pacing up and down
the massage outside the room where she was!
Do YOU know now why there; you can
guess what l was feeling You were rough and
harsh with me again, but l restrained myself,
for in my heart I loved you for bringing that
things are women that 1 was jealous of you
even then, Jealous that you could do things Tor
her while 1 could only watch helplessly, and
pray.
I have told you what my feelings were to-
wards that man who, during all my prison lie,
| had cherished and guarded Elsie to whom l
owed it that the fresh and lovely innocence OF
her eladdened my eyes, sick for sight OF her
after fifteen waiting years. told you how placed
HIM above all other men in my heart, now L
thought of him more than thought OF God.
how [ would have knelt at his feet and kissed
them. How was it then that the suspicion came
to me at last, came in horrible binding flash
that turned me sick with dsmay and dread. |
cannot tell you. put my hand on no one
incident and say there was the cause;" l can
only say it came to me suddenly, instantly, with
| a certainty that irresistible, and | knew.
Another woman in my place, knowing what that
man had been for fifteen years, would have be-
lieyed herself mad even to harbor the thought
7 knew. God sent the knowledge to me. He
answered my prayers.
What has changed that man from the angel
who guarded her to the devil who would muir
der her; what changed me fifteen years ago from
a good woman to a bad one?
l set myself to watch him, remorselessly, with
out sense of honor or pity, and caught him.
He has been drinking furously of late and he
is on the verge of frghtful ruin. With the
underhand means that my position in the house
hold gave me | discovered that.
Then | found that Elsie's medicine always
passed through his hands. He invented orders
Of special preparations for himself, and under
this excuse commanded that the chemists par
cells should always be taken directly to his study.
Then | noticed that Elsie seemed stronger and
hetter on the days when he was called suddenly
to town. I stole the keys to his papers; l open
ed his letters-one learns much in convict
prison--and seemed to see that as the 1uctuat-
ing condition of his fortunes varied so Esies
health went up down. Heaven help me, he
was PLAYING with her life as men play with
stocks and shares.
Her fate hung upon a thread. If ruin even
then had shaved him by he would have spared
her. But ruin drew nearer, and as yet had no
proof
One day risked all, my mothers love giving me
the courage of despair. ] watched till the parcel
from the chemists had been taken up to him;
/ waited till he had gone into his study and
locked the door, and when he had been there
few minutes / stole quietly along the passage
and listened I heard him undo the package; !
heard him go to his safe, which had never been
able to open, and heard him return to his desk
and uncork a bottle / had pair of pointed
tweezers in my hand. Noiselessly inserted them
into the keyhole, caught the end Of the key that
projected from the other side, with an effort of
all my strength turned it round, and flung open
the door MY prison education again, you seel
The expression on his face as he started and
looked up told me all and springing to the desk
l caught up bottle that stood there open. II
was Elsie's medicine. Beside il was white
packet of powder unmarked. but open also
"You DEVIL" / cried. "You are numbering
her and have caught you at last!"