Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-20
CHAPTER XIV

-SE1AI AV.
1t did not take Vandraken long to
find suitable house for Veeda. Moth
ing he had ever wanted had taken him
long to obtain. Some men would have
distrustcd a fate which smiled with
such sauye persistence, but Vandra-
ken had never contemplated any other
state of existence as possible.
Therefore, he took it as matter
of course that the first house agent
he applied to should have just that
week been entrusted with the sale of
the hotel of the Marquis deVariac
"A most sad affair."" the agent told
him, indeed, tragic. Possibly Mon
sieur was familiar with the cruel de-
tails? No! Well, then, Monsieur lie
Marquis, hearing Of the great beauty
of American ladies, had made to that
country Il little expedition. In New
York they inquired much about his
chateau, about his estates. This spirit
OF commerce was not pleasing to
Monsieur. SO he goes to Chicago.
There they ask not SO many questions
and widow Of many millions who
have the social aspiration, she marry
him, and they come to Paris to live,
where Madame lie Marquise build this
wonderful palace I have the pleasure
to submit. 1t was most unfortunate
Madame lie Marquise had no beauty,
no esprit. Monsieur, as is natural,
seek the solace, the distraction. Mad
anne have no knowledge of what is
CONNIE il fault and seek the divorce,
and now. see the crime! There was
no settlements, and Monsieur, who
M ,,r-Jy for mr. :
Madame, who marry for title, is Mar
qutse, and well received in the smart
set iii New York, who before turned
up the nose. 1t is shameful, how she
get something for nothing, that Chi
cago lady! 1t break the heart of Mon.
sieur lie Marquis to think of It, How
she climb by his shoulders into-the
what you call it?"
"Almanack de Got-thar?" suggest.
ed Vandraken.
mo- No, The Four Hundred--that
is it! But the palace I will presently
submit to Monsieur she directs tc
be sold to pay the debts of the Mar
Quis-and the divorce costs.''
| And SO it came to pass that Van
draken, having taken the Cobra tc
view the abandoned nest, and finding
its highly-colored splendors satisfac
tory to her barbaric taste, acquired
| the palace as going concern, with
! the men servants and the maid ser
wants, the horses and carriages which
were within their stables, and ever
| the chauffeurs Which were within
their gates.
He no longer foundnany difficulty il
spending his income. The Cobra was
not avaricious, but regal splendour APP
pealed to her imagination, and the
palace was run on the lines of roya
abode.
With curious inconsistency, Van
drsken was. at first, shocked to dis
cover that the Cobra openly worship
iped idols-two brazen images, linked
together by serpents. The male lido
looked hideously cruel, a horrible
satyr, only fairly we'll carved. The
woman's figure was better modelled
and was really artistic. Veeda sale
they were the twin gods of pleasure
and pain, Hiultopec and Vanuiac, the
earth gods Of the Aztecs. They hat
been handed down in her mother:
family before Pizarro's day, she claim
ed. Her ancestresses had been higi
priestesses of the mysteries connected
with them, principally, as Vandrakei
gathered, cruel sacrifices.
The Cobra was very cynical on thu
subject of her idols, and made nj
pretence at concealment.
"Oh. yes." she used to say, whel