The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-03-12
The Vengeance OF a
Woman Scorned
BY f. A. Mitchell

to Louisiana to buy sugar for north
ern firm He met there a creole girl
Louise la Marche. who not hcin-
especially attractive and there being
few marriageable men in that region
laid siege to him with view u nnrr!
ing him. Dale did not reciprU ATE
Louise persisted, and when she IUGnu
that nothing would move the iiintt
hearted Yankee She Appealed to i!c'
brother, Antoine. telling him that Dale
had made love TO her and then Tilted
her.
Now, Antoine and his sister. WIN
was older than he, did not get on Vcrt
well together. and he wished that she
would handle her love affairs without
troubling him in the matter Rrt when
a woman makes up her mind to ut 'lize
a man he may as well come down at
once, like Davy Crocketts coon. An-
tome was weak enough to be cajoled
into taking up his sisters cause. aHl
she laid down for him plan for De-
ing so.
ARE not fighting men at all They are
shopkeepers and pumpkin rai>ers. The
way 10 impress John Dale with thr
enormity of his treatment Of me is to
insult him. He will be Obliged either
to challenge you to fight him or de-
justice to me-"
Antoine held ont as long as possible
against this method Of procedure ana
at last yielded. lie waited till lie found
Dale on a street in the village where
the La Marche family lived and. going
up to him. slapped him in the face.
But the affair did not turn out as ex-
pected. The Yankee contented himself
with returning the slap.
That would have ended the matter
had not Louise been behind it, She
told her brother that he must chal-
lenge Dale or he would be cut by all
his acquaintances. Antoine. who was
not fighter even IL he was south
erner. refused. whereupon Louise per
suaded several of her friends to treat
him sneeringly. and he at last yielded
under duress and sent the challenge.
What was her surprise and conster-
nation to find that Dale accepted the
challenge. but ms the challenged party
named the conditions under which the
contest was to take place. He chose
pistols In dark room.
1t is hard lines for a man to be
Obliged to risk his life in u cause III
which he takes no interest Antoine
looked with horror on being shut up IN
a dark room with man who was
there to kill him.
Had Antoine not been propped up by
his sister who by this time, consider.
! ing herself woman scorned, desired
| vengeance lie would have collapsed
: under the appalling situation But
j Louise shamcd him into standing VI
to his work. aud he permitted the ar
engagements to he made for the meet
ing
There was a vacant house in the
place with two large rooms on eacl
side of a hall on the second story. Il
! was agreed that the duel should tax,
5. boil
rooms possessed large open tireplaceS
In order that no light should pcrmeat,
them, the affair was appointed to com,
or at 10 O'Clock at night
Now, Dale had no more heart for th,
affair than his opponent Had the mat
ter concerned the woman alone VIII,
was at the bottom of 1t he would hay,
fed ingloriously. But he could no
bring himself to flee from a male en-
envy. He accepted the situation, re
solved that he would not kill Anton,
If he could help 1t and If either shoul,
die 1t would be himself.
At 10 o'clock the duelists wer,
placed. one in the front room and on,
in the rear room. As soon as the,
heard the doors closed and the bolt
shot they were at liberty to fire.
Dale trusted to his ears. which wer
very keen. TO let him know where hi
enemy was. and, hearing a sound a
of one walking on tiptoe, he listene,
to it and after awhile fancied that hi
enemy was in the same room with him
Dale at once slipped into the othe
room. where he stood stock still 70
some time. when he began to NOV
around the wall. feeling his way as b
! went. Presently he struck the tlrs
place.
: BY this time some twenty minute
had elapsed, with no prospect OF a
ending of the affair. 1t had been a,
ranged that the seconds should nc
} come into the room until after hearin
one shot If after five minutes the
. did not hear second shot they Shout
} enter. 1t occurred to Dale that by d,
, ing up the chimney he would not ris
! killing his enemy and it would prepar
, the way for an end TO the contes
; Thrusting his arm into the fireplae,
he fired up the old fashioned larc
: fiue of former times.
. Something dropped.
r Il am done for" said avoice that i