Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1895 — A Glittering Temptation. [ARTICLE]

A Glittering Temptation.

When Leander Clarke married Mabel Thorpe, he had no expectation of ever being a rich man, but as bis affairs appear at the present time he i 3 on the broad highway to future wealth. It all arose from the fact that he took time by the forelock, the only way poor mortals have of ever getting even with him of the scythe and hour glass. But it is this very thing that is causing him such a lot of mental anguish now, making his nights sleepless and threatening to undermine his domestic peace. Mabel Thorpe laid no claims to social distinction when Leander met her first at some entertainment, where she rendered selections of classic music in such a masterly manner that he, being a lover of music, was instantly attracted to her side, and staid there during the evening. For the rest she wore glasses, being nearsighted, and having been graduated from an Eastern college, was rather stiff and pedantic in her manner—a grateful change from the ordinary frisky young creatures with whom Leander had been associated. It takes all kind of people to make a world—-more’s the pity—and love goes where it is sent. Mabel had expected to become one of that noble army of martyrs, teachers, but when Leander proposed she reconsidered the matter, and thought she heard the voice of duty bidding her answer “yes,” and without more ado she accepted him.

Now Mabel Thorpe did not expect her hero to swim the Hellespont of life, with all his armor on, but she did demand from him-as she had a right to do-a high moral standard, for she had not married him until she had seen, as she believed, his whole past life open before her like a book. There i%no time when a man is as weekly sentimental and religious as when he is trying to live up to the standard of a pure young girl's ideal, and Leander became almost an angel. There are very few of us capable of making human angels of ourselves. Good and evU are as persistently present in our moral nature as light and darkness are in our atmosphere, and one serves as the complement of the other. To banish night we use the light of science, to counteract wrong we invoke divine help; but so largely is our worldly nature in excess of our spiritual powers, that we are constantly in. ■danger of erring to be forgiven, in other words, sinning and repenting. Mabel Thorpe believed in an inflexible uprightness. The command to do evil that good may come was her perverted text. She was not aware that there are sins of omission, as well as of commission, and that her uprighteous condemnation of sinners, and her severe judgements, were in themselves of a sinful nature. The self--righteous are too ofteu harder to live with Alan the sinner. Zander Clarke had been & good son, ■and he intended to be a good husband. He was both proud and fond of bis wife, but certainly regretted that he could not give her all the luxuries that she could appreciate, not even the grand piano that her musical talent deserved. But he went to work with a will to make her happy, and hoped in a few years to be able to add all other needful thiugs. Among the -wedding presents of the young couple was one that far outshown ail the rest —a superb set of diamonds sent by an uncle of Leander’s who was near to death, and gave the residue of a large estate in this extravagant present. Leander himself was genuinely sorry that such an undesirable gift had been made, but he argued that his wife was a sensible woman, .and would turn them into something more suitable to their condition in life—a piano, lor instance, which was a necessity rather Ethan a luxury. What was his surprise when •his bride said: “I never was so pleased in my life. DiauionJi* represent to me the crystallization of everything beautiful in art and nature. I never dreamed that I should possess such magnificence.” . 4 *But these have no associations,” said her husband, -‘they are not heirlooms.” “They will be; all diamonds were new ut some time. And are they not associated with the dear old man who gave them ?'

The dear old man had been a terror in the family, and had only given the diamonds to Leauder’s wife because he hated that nephew a little less than the others, whom he hoped to make horribly jealous and angry and—had succeeded. When Leander asked his wife to keep tier diamonds in the bank, she promptly declined. “But you surely will not wear them dear ?” he suggested. t “Why not ?” she asked. “It would injure our prospects, and not tie consistent with our position.” “They were a gift to me; surely I have the right to do as I please with my own.” “The right—yes; but I thought my wife bad more discretion. I did not know you cared for gew-gaws, Mabel.” Bo the first cloud came on the horizon of their lore, but Leander was good-tem-pered, and Mabel satisfied and it disappeared. The truth was that Leander had expected a handsome sum of money from this very uncle, who was a bachelor, and eery old. But age had not mellowed an qgly disposition to thwart his relatives, mad after raising the young man’s hopes be took a malicious pleasure in disappointing them. The young couple began life in a pretty Juntiahed cottage on the modern plan of a

chafing dish and hand-painted china, and it worked like a charm. Mabel presided over the dainty cuisine, the butler’s pantry, the parlor and really did wonders. Leander fell in love with her over and over again. But for the diamonds they would have been as bappy as larks. Did they bear a sound at night—it was I a burglar after those precieua gems. They 1 were afraid to leave the house alone lest ; thieves break in and steal, and one or the | other of the two was compelled to be the biding place of the jewels, when they went out together. Mabel did not care to adorn j herself with diamonds when she went to market or to church, but she could not listen to a sermon in peace if the gems were not about her. And somehow it did annoy her to carry concealed wealth, like a brigand or a smuggler. But when Leander had a chance to buy shares in the “Little Catawba” Lumber Company, and to make as much in three months as lie would in a year by his clerkship, Mabel would not listen to the suggestion that the bank would advance enough on the diamonds to enable him to make the investment. Then Leander discovered that his wife could be a very obstinate woman. It was in vain that he laid before her the benefit that would result from a transient disposal of the gems. She replied, not without logic on her side, that the “Little Catawba” might be a failure, and then her precious securities would be forfeited. Leander, man fashion, grew angry, and after some hot words reached the penultimate of passion.

“I wish,” he said, in tones of invective, “that burglars would get the hateful stones. They might at least be of some use to them!” It is said that curses, like chickens, come home to roost. After Leander had asked forgiveness for his rudeness and Mabel had sweetly extended the olive branch of conciliation, he suggested that she be doubly careful of her cherished possessions. “The town is full of burglars, and they know the people who have fine diamonds, and if they once set out to get them they’ll succeed." Mabel did not sleep with the diamonds in the same room. Womanlike, she thought if she secreted them in some place where they would never be detected, they would be safe. Neither the ash barrel nor the rag bag entered into her calculatiohs, but places just as inconsistent did. One night there was a crash in the room below. Mabel shook her sleeping husband and whispered in his ear: “Burglars! Get your revolver and go down stairs. The diamonds are in the bottom of the clock.” Leander was startled and confused, but as the noise continued, be hurried on his clothes, and taking his revolver ran softly down the stairs. Mabel remained where she wa9, shivering with fear. There was a fearful commotion below, the noise of falling furniture, opening and closing of windows and the rapid firing of the revolver after some flying robber. Then regard for her husband’s life compelled Mabel to hurry to hi 3 assistance. She found him lying on the floor grasping his revolver. She did not faint or shriek, but kneeling beside Idm bathed ids face and besought him to speak to her. “Where am I?” he asked feebly, as he tried to raise himself. “Are the diamonds safe ? ” “Never mind the diamonds,” said his wife. “Are you mortally wounded anywhere ?” “I don't know,” answered Leander feebly, and, to her credit, be it recorded, Mrs. Leander assisted her husband to a couch and sent off, or rattier called for assistance, before she even thought of her diamonds.

Then the open door of the clock told the whole story. The diamonds were gone, root and branch I And they were the only things stolen. If Leander had been surprised at the manner of his wife ou receiving the jewels, he was astonished at the calm indifference with which she parted from them. She allowed the usual course to be taken to recover the thief, or thieves, to justice, but wheu no results followed, she said she was glad of it, that the gems had been like an evil eye to them, and for her part she never wanted to hear of them again. “I wonder," she said, “that I did not see it in that light before. I will never keep anything in my house again to tempt the cupidity of the wicked or unfortunate. To that extent am I my brother’s keeper.” But the effect upon her husband was entirely different. Either he caught cold on that night of the burglary, or his nervous system received a shock, for he was almost ill from the effects of his tussle with the burglar. And he could not endure to have the subject mentioned before him. Not even the success of the “Little Catawba,” in which a friend had invested for him, gave him the peace and rest he craved. A little incident that happened at that time did, however, help to restore him to his normal condition. His wife received a small package, accompanied by a soiled and dilapidated note, which, upon being •opened,read: 1 ‘honord madem: ‘‘ i gets no sleap sence I stoal yure dimons i no yure laidy an i am a retch if i giu them up pra fur me. “an unnone trend.” And in the package Mabel found her diamonds, exactly as she had last seen them. She was pleased—where is the woman who would not have been?—and she at once showed her confidence in her husband by placing the gems in his hands for safe keeping in the bank. v “I wish I had taken your advice earlier,” she said gracefully; “it would have saved us so much trouble.” Leander murmered something about all being well that, ends well, and at noon brought her a certificate of deposit, There we leave them, on the way to fortune and happiness if —if—-Leander’s conscience does not upset the whole scheme. He would give a great deal to know, what no clairvoyant could tell him, how much or how little Mabel has discovered. My own opinion is that she saw through it from the first, and holds herself equally guilty as accessory after the crime, and with that sweet fickleness which even an upright woman employs she will make herself a loving accomplice. For it is a foregone conclusion that Leander Clarke was bis own burglar—Detroit Free Press.