Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1910-12-15
CHAPTER XVI fcontinued,.

NarclSSe. capt. DE LEnclOS died TIT
following year. When Cerisse was
only eighteen she was married to Har-
old Harcourt, whom she had met while
on visit to Calcutta He was a per
sonable fellow, of good family and my
aunt thought her only child was max
ing a good match. The resemblance
between these four women-my Aunt
% Marie, and her daughter Narcisse
whom you know as Mrs. Harold Har-
court, and my mother and her daugh-
ter, Cerisse Wayne, my sister, was APP
palling. They all had the same color
ing, the same features almost to the
fraction of an inch. and the same re-
markedly exquisite coloring. Yet
am sure that not until to- day has Mrs.
Harcourt known that Cerisse Wayne
and she were full blooded cousins, as
Aunt Marie brought her daughter up
in ignorance of the relatives in Africa.
Aunt Marie's idea in this was to pro-
tect my mother from my fathers
wrath as he had forbidden mother to
tell us of our aunt, and indeed we
were so young when Aunt Marie de-
parted that we soon forgot her. Moth
er and Aunt Marie never had any COM
munication after Anut Marie left for
India. My mother died when 1 was
about nine, and Cerisse not quite eight
years old. Cerisse had always been
fathers favorite and after my mothers
death home would have been unbear-
able to me except for Tyoga. We had
excellent tutors in the house, and later
Father sent Benoni and me to Europe
I a in,
Heidelberg at a remarkably early age,
thanks to the previous instruction l
had received from my father who was
an exceptionally brilliant man. Benoni
studied with me, for while father had
subordinated Tyoga and her child my
mother had dealt fairly with them in
the matter of wealth.
Il was at Heidelburg when Aunt
Marie came to visit me. 1t was the
year that Narcisse was married, and
three years after Cerisse, a madcap
girl of seventeen. had been sent home
IN disgrace from a French convent
after Irritation with Hackleye, who
had followed her to Africa and mar
ried her there
Aunt Marie had gone to Africa in
search of her sister. With her daugh-
ter my aunt felt she could safely seek
out her twin sister after the lapse of
all these years. She was grief strick-
en- over the news of her sisters death.
and unwittingly let fall before nv
rather that in the Tiougaley region
were some extremely valuable diamond
helds, the secret of whose location had
been made known to her husband, Capt.
De L'Enclos, by an Arabian servitor
or his. Aunt Marie's fortune had felt
the touch of years, and she had made
a joint reason for her African Journey
an attempt to locate and work these |
mines. Father, his avarice all stirred
again, strove to force her to tell him
where they were. Aunt Marie knew |
him of old and refused. Learning 7 |
was at Heidelberg, she proceeded there, |
and stopped with Benoni and me for |
over yeal, giving me the only happi- |
ness l had known since my mothers
death. She spoke freely to me of NV
young cousin Narcisse Harcourt in In
dia, asked me to befriend her if ever
she needed it, and showed me her min
ature. so like that of my sister Ce-
risse that could but gasp.
Il went home that summer and left
Aunt Marie in Paris planning to re-
urn to India in the early fall. Later
he news came that she had persisted
n a horrible confiagration at a charity
)azaar. This was a severe blow to me-
or had loved my aunt, and my heart
vent out to my unknown cousin.
"Cerisse had the heart of a fiend.
iackleye had taught her that she was
he most beautiful human existent. A
vhim of hers was to fancy herself the
of Venus herself. Ce-
isse did not take kindly to the news of
er equally exquisite cousin across
cas-, especially since her children. of
HON by now she had two. were, with
Il due respect to their father, whom
ley resembled. not particularly come
:. To satisfy herself Cerisse made a
ying trip to India in disguise. and
lere began the tragic end.
Father at this time became cogniz-
1T that / knew how to reach che
lougaley mines. Aunt Marie had be-
ught me with her farewell breath to
ep this intelligence from him. l kept
y faith with her. And as a penalty :
r that faith my father subjected me
the most cruel tortures that forty {
nds might have devised He began
the castle and ended with them in
, jungle. And when l was nearly
i'd from pain and distortion, he real
d that was dying and the secret v
IN mo. Then he put forth all his I'M
my and exceptional surgical skill,
dragged me back to life-but such a
a living death-for no be-
20 deformed and tainted out of hu- | d
n shape as I ever before walked the 81