Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-01-28
CHAPTER XXI.
Kingsley Is Despondent.


les at Holyoke working like ma
chine. | worked IA hours day 1t
was only in this way that l was able
in some way to forget the past.
l heard regularly from Paris. Mar
cadian's letters were friendly in the
extreme, the doctors full Of filial af-
lection, and Evelyne's to my great re-
greet, were the shortest, and only spoke
about e
Polydore and Lucie, since the mar
riage, Had trotted over the principal
towns of the United States, and when.
ever had letter from my son it was
always a demand for money. One
hundred thousand dollars was not
enough for Lucie's extravagences.
She on her side, made the same ap-
peal to the millionaire's generosity,
but he paid no attention to her.
Each time that Kingsley came to
Holyoke found him more and more
gloomy, more and more irritable. To-
ward the last days of autumn, when
we were taking the inventory for the
end Of the year, saw him for the first
time show an utter lack of interest In
the figures.
One morning he spoke to me without
restraint.
Charles" he said, 81 am beginning
to break down. am glad now that
you are here with me. never thought
you could go to work as you have.
franks to your untiring energy, our
earnings have gone up third"
And he enumerated all the fortunate
strokes I had made and congratulated
me warmly. Then, with one Of his
sudden changes, he said, gloomily:
Charles I am afraid that after all
that / have done all my scheming am.
planning will be useless. Il am sfrald
have been mistaken"
about ,what?"
"About William"
"Why don't you say about Lucie.
'Lucie Is but an instrument. From
the moment that her marriage fails to
have any effect on William she is of no
use. William knows now that she is
living, that she did not throw the
vitriol at you and that we were fore
ing her to marry you. He knows that
she is now married to 2, the mis-
cradle idiot that we took from his
asylum. He knows that you have
been my accomplish. He knows that
we have given to this well-matched
couple a fortune equal to that
which he is entitled to. He has known
all that for month and he does not
rise up against you or against me.
have not heard a word from him. 1t
is incomprehensible!"
The proud paper king seemed for a
moment q broken-down old man, with.
out energy-defeated Never had /
seen him so physically and morally
nonpulsed. His head dropped forward
on his chest and he remained silent
for several minutes. Then suddenly
he struck the desk with his fists. He
stood I'D before me, drawing his figure
to its full height. He was now the man
who was capable of making all bow to
his will.
He strobe from one end OF my Of
flee to the other.
II have not made mistake! 1t is
impossible. know he cares"
I was silent. but I could easily have
told him that, unhappily, his calcutta
tions had been too correst. only 10
days before l had received letter OF
violent recriminations from the doctor
lin which he upbraided me for having
odiously deceived him about Lucle
Well had led him to believe that
she was dead. Between the lines OF
this hopeless letter it was easy to see
that the rnillionaire's perspieacious
intuition of the future was correct and
that the doctors love for Lucie was as
deep as ever. Perhaps the future
would even pass his calculations, dar-
ing as they were, and his revenge fall
more heavily than he anticipated on
the doctor, who was innocent OF any
crime.
But | told him nothing about the let
ter. Why should I give him the satls-
faction of knowing that his cruel re-
venge was working so well? And when
the inventory terminated and ne lett
Holyoke to return to New York, IN q
state of utter detection, watched MIN
20. little dreaming that ! should never
look upon him again, tbas man SO TO
bust In health, who had worked ana
paid so dearly for a vengeance that
he was not destined to enjoy, even
when events brought 1t about In a
manner more dreadful than he had
ever imagined!
Eight days later received letter
from Marcadian. He wrote:
You cannot understand the ser1-
BUSINESS of the situation. Evelyne
has had the weakness to confess to
her husband who the man was you
took away from his asylum. 1t is
impossible for me to tell you in this
letter who he really is, although
know that we should have all your
sympathy, I hope that as soon as
possible you will be able to make
visit to france. Your son is labor
ing under the illusion that you and
worked together to bring about this
marriage between his patient =
and Lucie We'll. Nothing that can
say can convince him that he has
made an error. If you came over
you would be able to clear the mis-
understanding at once.
The letter fell from my hands. MY
poor little Evelyne! saw clearly the
seriousness of the situation. She was
only a frail girl and she had the weak
ness to confess to her husband that
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