Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1905 — Woman The Mystery [ARTICLE]

Woman The Mystery

By HENRY HERMAN

CHAPTER XX. On the. following day the especial fa♦or which the Emperor had shown to iHelene was the subject of conversation in jthe Paris clubs. Of course, all the paEiers reported it, and Adams On the folowlng morning brought to Helen quite a ittle batch of extracts from the Paris ournals concerning herself. I Helen read two or three of them coldly, then pushed the rest aside. Her chocslate remained untouched, and Mrs. Rodbert Berinquay, who acted the part of ehaperofle iii ‘Helene's household, sat at the head of the table, rubbing her plump white hands against each other and looking extremely miserable. Helene had barely taken any notice of her, and the old lady was as peevish as any offended aunt can be. The reader will wonder how Mr. and Mrs. Rodbert Berinquay came to be so closely connected with Helene's household, hut the matter is very simple. When Helene arrived in Europe and found her nearest relatives struggling in the meshes of the direst distress, threatened by the terrors of the law, criminal and civil, she persuaded Adams to grant immediate help to her unfortunate uncle and aunt. Mr. Rodbert Berinquay accepted assistance with lofty condescension. He knew that it was useless to struggle against the evidences of title which Helen, through Walter’s untiring help, was able to produce. and he therefore most generously Wousented not to impede Helene’s case, Iwpon being assured of the payment of jail his debts and liabilities, and of a comfortable income for himself and Mrs. DBerinqua.v. | lie forgot with the most benign grace (that he had for years attempted to proicure Helene’s assassination through jQuayle, and he received her with a benevolent good-will which a kindly parent (might extend toward a long-lost daughter. Helene could not go about in English society alone. A chaperone had to tbe found for her, and who better suited jto that purpose than Mrs. Rodbert Berin«uay? ’

I “Well," said Adams’, “that is pleasant breading, I suppose?" I For a reply, Helen pushed toward him the letter she had received on the previous evening. Adams read the letter. "It can't be helped,” he said. “We Wight not to have delayed so long." "I would not, mind it." rejoined Helen ; [“but it is that man Roberts again. (Whenever I. want a thing particularly, I Cannot get it because that man Roberts as got it, or has bought it. Who is he, do you know?" . “I know that he is an American gentleman, and a very rich one,” said Adlams. "He owns gold and silver mines pi Colorado of fabulous value. Here.” pe added, pointing .to a gentleman who (had just . entered the room, "perhaps [General Denon will be able to give you piore precise information. Who is Mr. Roberts of Colorado?" he asked, .with a smile, which had a taint of satire in it. “I cannot tell you much, I am afraid,” replied Denon. “About the gentleman's early antecedents nothing is known. People say that he came to Colorado as a bullock driver, not more than five or six years ago. One night, so people say, he >on two hundred dollars at poker. With these two hundred dollars, so further Baitli popular information, he set up a (gambling den in a log hut. The two hundred dollars grew to two thousand, and the two thousand to twenty thousand, and with these twenty thousand dollars lie bought a mountain which turned out to be partly of gold and partly of silver. [They have been digging it out by the (wagon loads these four or five years |»ast. and they say that if they go on digging for six hundred years more they won't come to the bottom of it. A pleasant prospect for Mr. Roberts, is it not?” "Then he has more money than I!” exclaimed Helen, bitterly. “I suppose he has. or will have it when he wants it.” was Denon’s answer. Helen sat back in her chair and breathed a long sigh. “What does he look like?"' she said at last. ! “He looks like a man who can take care of himself and of what he possesses,” replied Denon.

• "But is he tall—short? au antelope er a hippopotamus?" questioned Helene, ■ little more acridly. "He ia of middling height, rather Stout,” said Denon. "and between forty ■ml fifty, I should pay. Xot an unpleasant face, rather dark of complexion, and (with dark eyes. His hair is iron gray. »ud he wears a huge mustache and a close-cut. pointed heard of the same color. He affects an easy nonchalance, dresses in rather Bohemian fashion, and ■corns to know Paris exceedingly well. He came here with letters of iutroductior to the Ditches* de I'reny. and that nmia file scandal monger has opened the dour«i many of the best salons for him. Yor ■com interested in the gentleman. May I ask why?" "He buys everything that I want-' •was Helene's answer. "He has hough' -that house over there, and I want if." "Well, surely,” exclaimed Denon. "U Sir. Boborts knew you wanted that hoitsf lie would relinquish his bargain, ami let yqu hare it." r "Do you think so? ’ Helen. "Of course he would. Denon answered. “Who could refuse you anything. Sf you hsked? Mr. Huberts may he very trioli. hut he is onlyui man after all. and Jfce certainly will not lie aide to ijenv him■eif the pleasure of doing a favor to tMiss Beritiquay. Write to him. Write to him uiceely. and ask him in come and joce you for the purpose of talking this (business over. You might present your |*l,psf compliments, and you might say id,at it would give you pleasure if Mr. tltoberts would call and take a cup of tea htith you at five o’clock. A cup of ten. la spoonful of cream, and two lumps of Wugnr cost little, but you will find that {their power is magnetic.” “Very well," said Helene. "1 will go /mil of the way and be specially pleasant ■o this itock.v Mountain hear." . Fire o'clock tea is a pleasant function, kinch honored iu Paris, it is the ii|ip<iiutLil hour for all the tittle-tattle, die fragile jronfidences. which flit from salon to salon, and then are reported in the fashionable papers under the guise of rumor.

It was thereforo nothing unusual for Helene to ask Mr. Roberts to call on her at that hour, especially ns he was invited for the most formal business purposes. . —— At the same time Helene'argued that anybody would consider it an honor of the highest degree to be so invited, and that Mr. Roberts was bound to feel correspondingly influenced by the distinction bestowed upon him. She was peculiarly absent-minded during the whole of the morning, and when Walter called to take her for an hour's canter he had to wait an hour before the lady was ready to nceompany him. Walter, however, was well accustomed to Helene’s idiosyncrasies, and to his mind she could not do wrong. Her slightest wish was law. Had she chosen to keep him waiting for sixty days and sixty nights, he would have waited unmurmuringly. No goddess of mythology ever had a more obedient_ mortal slave than Helen found, in soft-hearted, unselfishly devoted Walter Glaydes. Walter and Deuon both stayed to luncheon, and then the lady disappeared in the privacy of her own apartments. She looked not only lovely, but majestic when she entered the drawing room, and the friends who had already assembled there could not help expressing their admiration. “You have made.yourself too pretty-for this world, my dear,” said a volatile baroness—an expert and professed match maker. “No man will dare to propose to a goddess.” Helene's eyes traveled round the room, and she saw, surrounded by a bevy of fair ladies, a prince, a statesman ot European reputation, and half a dozen noblemen of minor degiee. But the man whom she had specially invited, and for whose sake she had taken such pains to look her best, was not there. “Surely he will not dare to ignore my invitation,” she said to herself. “Thai would be adding insult to injury.” Her eyes wandered toward the dOoY whenever it opened to admit a newcomer; but the hour passed and Mr. Roberts came not. The time usually allotted fov the five o’clock teR was over, and her guests had all gone away again. That awful man Roberts had not come, nor had he sent the slightest word of explanation. Was there ever such indignity heaped upon a woman? She hated all men, but she especially hated Gengt-al Denon for having suggested the invitation, and she hated that man Roberts, above all. She thought she could have poisoned him. had he been the.re at that moment.. When she returned to her room she stood for a moment before her mirror gnashing her gleaming teeth, and just one solitary tear stole down lie" cheek. She wiped it away angrily with her handkerchief, which afterward she crushed between her little fingers. “That is the first man to whom 1 have ever held out air invitation, and who has ignored ms. lie thwarts me at every turn, but I will make him suffer for it.” On a sudden a seemingly mad thought shot into her mind. She repeated to herself Denon’s description of that man Roberts. "Middling height, rather stout, between ferty and fifty. Not an unpleasant face. Rather dark complexion, with dark eyes. Iron-gray linir, huge mustache, and close cut pointed beard. Seems to know Paris exceedingly well.” “Great heavens!" she said to herself. "What, if it were Ilpnri!” She turned white as a sheet, and had to sit down to suppress her emotion. Her woman’s intuition had not misled her. It was Henri Sainton, returned to Paris after nil adventurous career in America, rich beyond the dream of avarice. She came face to face with him Sooner than she dreamed of ever doing so. One afternoon she was taking her usual drive, accompanied by Mrs. Berinquay. The fashionable promenade was crowded with the Paris world of fashion. Interminable rows pf carriages plodded their ways up and down beneath the acacias. Helene grew weary of acknowledging the courteous salutes with which she was gr« 'ted on every side, and sat in her landau, staring into vacancy, when the carriage came to a stop, being blocked by the vehicles ahead. A gentleman was leaning against the iron railing which separated. ■ the foot walk from the carriage road, and Helene recognized him. He was a French noble- } man who bad considerable possessions in ! America, and had been introduced to her i bv Denon. A conversation sprung up, when Helene. for tbe first time, noticed a stoutish, hale, and hearty, good-looking, middleaged man standing next to the gentleman who' was conversing with her. As she looked the color faded from her cheeks and neck, and she stared so curiously that the count said, blandly: “You r-H'in to know, my friend. Miss Berinquny. Allow me' to introduce you I to Mr. V(eery Roberts.” Helene’s eyes were fixed upon the I man's face. Never was a bird more • helpless under the fascination of a snake ; than Helene at that moment. "Miss Berinquay and myself have met before." said Mr. Henry Roberts, in good English, with the barest Huge of a French accent in jt, There was no mistaking the voice. • There was no mistaking the face. Both were Henri's.

CHAPTER XXL

With the sight of Henri's face, the memory of Henri rushed into Helene's ii, .id. as she had seen hint on that fa tea’ll night when Quayle was about to i 'utirder her. and Henri had flung him- | self. Imrely.in the nick of time, upon her , aouhl-he assassin. There Is a saying "Money makes the i man." Henri Sainton, the reckless defender of the barricades during those . Vrriblo days of June. 1K48: Henry Uobi 'its. the soldier of the Louisiana batI '.alion, and Henry Heberts, the Colorado t ’nillionaire, were no more like one nnI »ther than a ehimpan7.ee is like a lion. ‘ Henri Sainton, if not a gentleman in • lie stern and full meaning of the word, ahs as near the renl nraicle as the best if veneer could make him. There was 'me thing he wished for. that he would have prayed for if such a thing had been

possible to him, namely, to meet Helene, to stand on an equal pinnacle with her, to be able to remind her of tWte past. He touched her outstretched hand with his fingers, nnd felt it icy cold. His eyes met Helene’s, and he saw her quail beneath her gaze. Helene’s perturbation, however, was momentary only. The next- few seconds restored her equanimity of mind, and with a quick resolve she dashed the distressing reminiscences out of her mind. “I am glad to meet Mr. Roberts,” she said, “even if it is only to chide him. I invited you to ray five-o’clock, nnd you did not come.” ”1 will prove my repentance,” said Henri. “If I may, I will come uninvited.” “That would bo to reward you for having sinned,” she said. "No, no; I shall have to be the judge, aud I will dictate the fine.” At that moment the line of carriages began to move, and Helene’s Coachman, following those in front of him, drove away. Helene was wrapped in a delicious reverie. She knew not whether she had hoped or dreaded that Henry Roberts might prove to be Ilenri Sainton, but now, as she knew him to be Henri Sainton, her heart felt .warmer for the discovery. When Helene reached home, she found I.ord Yorley waiting for her in the drawing room. The old nobleman bore his eighty years with a sturdy vigor. He was a poytly gentleman, staid and grave. His life had been one of many troubles, first for his sister, then about his son Walter, and the long nnd wearying trials had saddened and softened him. Helene noticed immediately that I.ord Yorley was less at his ease than was his habit. “Now you are not going to scold me this afternoon,” she said, poutingly, as she held out her hand.

“I have not come to scold you, my child,” said Lord Yorley. placing a chair by her side, and seating himself there. “I have come to speak to you about a matter that concerns me deeply, and in which I hope to interest you.” Helene opened her big blue eyes wide. The preamble seemed so very serious, end she was not at all seriously inclined ac that moment. “I have dear child,’* said Lord Yorley, “to speak to you about my boy Walter. He is now my only son. On poor Alfred’s death, six months ago, he became my heir. He will one day, when I am gone, be Lord Yorley. His fortune, when he will take my place, will ■be ample, though not quite as large as yours. My dear child, Walter loves you. You are his goddess on earth. He has loved you for many years. He has loved you so truly that he has never dared to tell you about his love.” “I have known that for many years.” she replied, in a mere whisper, and with her eyes on the ground. "I have known all along that Walter loved me.” "I know,” continued I.ord Yorley, "that if your dear dead father or my poor Agatha were alive now, they would join me in pleading nty boy’s cause. I know they would wish that my Walter and you may become man and wife.” Had Lord Yorley come to her a week ngo—ay. had he even conte to her two, days ago—the chances were even that Helene would have said to herself, "After all, Walter is the best among the men I know, .He is true. He risked ■hi* life to find me years ago. I know that no man in this world loves me better. or can love me more truly.” She would have hesitated perhaps for a moment or two, but she might have consented, and perhaps would have consented.

Now the case was different. Another figure had stepped in between her and Walter’s love. Henri had sprung up like a mocking sprite out of a dtWerti of fable. And he skipped and romped through tln> picture of her life, nnd all her finer sentiments shrunk shiveringly beneath the uncouth whirligig. Helene was deliberating what to say, when she was roused by u knock at the door, and Adams’ voice was heard asking: “May 1 come in?” I.ord Yorley turned on his chair with a nearly angry movement when Helene replied, “Come in, of course,” to Adams. ”1 have news that may interest you, my dear,” said Adams, after the customary apology to Lord Yorley. "That wretched man Roberts, ns you call him, lias just bee,it thrown from bis horse. He has been taken to a chemist’s shop, and they say he is badly hurt.” Helene jumped up with her face as white as a sheet and darted at the bell with one sweep. “Tell Jacqueline to bring nte my hat and shawl immediately,” she said to the servant. "What are you going to do?” asked Adams. “I am going to Mr. Roberts, and you must come with me, and try to save the life of the man who saved mine.” (To bo continued.i