Year: 1871

LOOK mere, Sne sai0, at last, IN quick
tone, that made me glance up. II will ten
you my story, and you shall Judge for
yourself which is the most wronged and
the most to be pitied OF us two. II have
run you into expenses that you can i'll af-
ford( (and see that / have done that now),
can help you out of them but the wrong
that has been done to me no one can right.
Listen"


"Miss Cleveland, am in. no mood to
listen to a tale that you will know how to
tell to suit your own purpose, said Bit
terly. II have been straining every nerve
to better the condition and prospects ofmy
poor little children, and you have ruined
them!"


''Flo," she said with passionate energy,
don't say that. will give you every
jewel have, and they will more than dis
charge my debt to you; don't say ! have
hurt you by injuring your children have
children of my own!"


"You, Miss Cleveland?"


! II am not Miss Cleveland at ALL" she
said impatiently. Listen. said l would
tell you my story, and will tell it, how
ever much it hurts me. When came
here four months ago, l came full Of hope
60 away full of despair"


Where is your husbhnd?" asked.


"In his grave" she answered laconical-
ly. I'm not runaway wife; my child
rem are with his mother, poor little things
it was for their sakes that did what my
soul abhorred-played the game of sys-
tematic deception.


when my husband died was left with
forty pounds year, and four children to
support on it. That is three years ago
now, and at that time believe had beau
ty. At any rate l was told that had ,and
was sought for it, and for it only, / be-
lieve now, by man who had been my
husbands friend and who then professed
to be mine.


II won't tell you his name, but I will
tell you this, that he is man well known
in the legal world as one Of the most pow
erful pleaders for women at the bar. ap-.
pealed to him for the sake of his old friend
ship for my husband to get me situation
| as governess or a companion, or to help
me start boarding -house-to do anything
in fact, that might help me to maintain my
poor little children. And he affected to
shrink with horror from the thought of my
| doing anything of the sort. 1t was not
| fitting it was incongrous,' he declared.
| And at last, about six months ago, when
l was in very deep distress, he asked me
to be his WIFE,


"He is rich man, and I at once asked
him if my children should be his, should
share his property, should be educated as
it behOoved him to educate his children?
And he said Yes, when we are once mar
ried, every thing in that way shall be as
you will but we cannot marry yet. l am
| engaged in a case in which have employ
ed all my eloquence, to throw obloquy on
a woman who takes a second husband;
but these cases are soon forgotten, and
then, dearest, your trials shall be at an
end


II did not like his argument, but was
poor. miserably poor. Oh, Flo you who
have husband to fight for you and your
children if the worst comes, don't know
what felt that day when he put me into
path of deceit, and bade me follow it for
my little ones sake. He engaged himself
to me solemnly, he bound me to him, and
then he counseled the strictest secrecy re-
specting our engagement. l was not to
| let it be known to a single member of my
late husbands family, because they had
prejudices. and were friends Of his,' he
said. and l swallowed that pill for my little
children's sake. } f


II was staying with my late husbands
mother at this time, and my prudent lover
at length objected to this arrangement. 1t
placed him in a false position when he
visited the family, he said; he was afraid
my looks and manner would betray me,
and tor the sake of the future, there must
be no quarrel. These and sundry other
arguments he used with such effect that at
| last my mind was open to the reception of
the suggestion that should seek home
somewhere else for time, in order that
there should be no fear of our relative po-
sitions toward one another becoming
known, until the recollection of the cause
celebre in which he was engaged had fad
ed out of the public mind. Then it was
that / advertised (under his order), and
then you answered me. and l came here.
| "He supplied me with funds at first "a
scorch,ng blush passed over her face as
she said this,) telling me that, as was to
be his wife, there was nothing in his doing
so. And came down here, my mother
and sister-in-aw all thinking that l was
coming rs governess to your children, and
applauding me for my independent spirit,
when was meanly deceiving them all at
his bidding!


"Well, came here as you know. came
in a sort of dream, and left my babies
with their grandmother; when got here
l wanted distraction, and as he had prom
ised to pay the terms you asked, l felt JUS
titled in suggesting alterations and inn.
provements that passed away the time.
But only last week had a shock--a letter
came from my mother-in-law, telling me
in simple, gratified language, that he. the
man whose wife am pledged to be. is
paying his address to one of her daughters.
Mrs. Forester, often when have
found fault with things, and asked for
them to be changed, have been half wild
with doubt and suspense. and have only
found the fault in order to divert my own
thoughts from that which they were al
ways dwelling on. have behaved mis-
erably i'll to you, l know; but only think
how have been treated


II wrote to him at once, ON receipt of
my mother-in-law's letter. ! only wrote
these words, is it true p l knew that his
cleverness and his conscience would fll
up the blank And to-day have heard
that il is true and my poorchildren write


to me through their aunt in ecstasies about