Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1906 — One Man’s Evil [ARTICLE]

One Man’s Evil

BY EFFIE ROWLAND

■ ■ ■ • ■ y CHAPTER lll.—(Continued.) “Three days later I had a rather pleasant «urprise—this being the unexpected •nival of a letter from my father conto.nmg a check for a large amount cf Mney. Only a few words accompanied the check. These were to the effect that, tovtog heard of my indiscretion, my father toeured to put art end t$ the matter •ace. It was -a very kind letter, and it lock--* "weight off my heart. I lost no . , line in cashing this cheek and taking the vtouey to my creditors. There was sufficient to meet all I owed. I wondered, as 1 did this, if I bad wronged Gerald by qn*rreling with him. It seemed to me as ts -this gift from my flfthcr mW Mvt keen broll gin aUm; hy his doing, i was. touched when this became a conviction .n my mind, "and at the wiine time that 1 •wrote to Sir Maurice. thanking him n •he best Words 1 could for his great generosity, I wrote also to my cousin, telling kits what had happened, and asking hitn If I ought not to express gratitude tohim also. That -was the last day, Ben,” Hubert Tenby said, “that I knew what the word happiness meant! That same evening I received a hurriedly written totter from Lady Charlotte Singleton, tie •iring me to go and see her the following day. She mentioned in her letter that •he was very tpuch yipsot. .. I was very little prepared for what a waited me when 1 reached her on the following day., I knmtri her indeed in great trouble. All her jewels had been stolen, and it was evident to me'before I had gone very far Into the matter that this robbery could h*te been done l>y no outside person, but •nly by one who,, like myself, was well acquainted with the way in which they were kept Can you guess the eud of my story now?” Ben Coop looked into the other man’s “Stirely, they never tried to say you . took these*jewels, sir?” “They not only said it, they proved it, Ben.” The young, man started to his feet “When I look back I seem to have keen bcauind > in on every side. .Everything was against me; Oven 1. myself, Mr how hard it was to disbelieve the •videnoe put-forward. 1 had been the >*gt person, to jwhom Lady Charlotte had explained the working of the safe in which ..her---jewels wwe kept. My treed for money was well known. 1 am afraid 1 had given lots of people the right to regard me as rather a harebrained fellow. In any ease, the whole world was •gainst me, especially when, in addition to this blow, my father wrote, declaring that he had never sent the money I acknowledged. and denouncing the check 1 tod cashed -as a forgery! I cannot give you line for line and word for word all tost happened. 1 must let you try and in—rt«* -picture for yourself. 1 was made an outcast from my home. There was nothing for me to do but to leave the country as quickly as I possibly could, to this sore plight it seemed to me that the only frieud 1 had in the world was •J cousin G-Umd. lie not only professed

to be amazed and bewildered at all that had hapi»ened, but declared himself to be aback e.l and grieved that any one kqowtac me should believe me guilty of such dishonorable conduct I It was he who went with me that wretched day that 1 sailed from England I lam not one who doubts easily; but the truth of Gerald's treachery was revealed most surely a littla later on. Not content with driving me in shame from my father's home, not content with having blackened my career, taking everything from me in the old country, he worked his vengeance out still farther. I had not been a mouth away before his vengeance began to reach me. I feh into the hands of men whom I know naw must have been Gerald's accomplices. Friendless and almost penniless, 1 was an easy Unite to these men, and almost before I realized what I was doing I found myself arrested as an aeoomplice of a gang of well-known burg<ars. convicted. and given a heavy sentence ! And I should be now’ in the prisyn had it not been for that day's work fn your little station yonder! I little expected to find gratitude from one of my warders, yet it is always the unexpected that comes it liftf/’and when that poor fellow was recovered, he left no effort untried to give me my freedom. The fact that 1 had Is-en a good-conduct man," Hubert said, with a bitterness that was aosi painful "went, of course, in my favor. 1 also, it seems, had a friend at court, ■ although I knew nothing of this till afterward. The Governor of the jail had taken a sharp interest in me. and he and the warder together managed to give me mj freedom. That is why you see me here to-night.” Ben Coop’s hands came down firmly, tenderly, on the young man's shoulder. .. . - ... “Ay, but it makes my blood boil to bear what you have been telling me. It's aa like what Robert Tenby woulll have, teen. There's work for you to do. 1 am not a man to preach revenge, but 1 am a aaaa to urge any other io stand up for fas honor, no matter at what a cost; and yoo must stand up for yours, my dear lad. What are your plana? You will surely save something in your mind?” Hilbert Tenby stood and stretched bun•rtf his full height. “I am free!” he said, in low, vibrant tames- “That is the first thing I am tryfa* to realise, and after that comes the aasaaory of my lost honor. 1 have nothfa* to go upon, you know, only this hideasm belief that Gerald has been my enemy all through. It does not seem as if I eaald die, or let my father go, till we have faokeo into each other's eyes- agnin. I swart to bear him say that 1 am his son <—do mean, skulking thief who would fall tank upon each wretched dishonesty as (fat that led to my charge. 1 want, too, fa see my sister." He panned, and Ren Coop seemed to ■nderstand that pause. lie had loved limeelf once; he knew what was passing fa ilutw-rt Tenhv's heart. ' ■

“It it not only the old home, and the father and the sister.” Ben said to himself; “there is some one else —some one even dearer than these I”

CHAPTER.IV. 1; Lady Betty Marchmont was in a. very bad temper. The coming of her husbands niece had been a signal for an entire change in her existence. For. the first time in her life she found herself compelled to play a secondary role. It was most mortifying and equally incomprehensible that the world —her world should suddenly have determined to regard Antonia as a beauty. ~ The girl seeined to find great pleasure in being with her uncle, in looking after that much-neglected man, ‘and in trying by every little thoughtful act to show hitn affection and attention. She went out very rarely with’ Lady Bettynlratshe had been out quite enough to attract attention. Another tiling that annoyed Lady Betty was the apparent, indifference with which Antonia regarded her social success. Antonia took all that came in the calmest possible mann.er. _She was not impressed with any of the smart people with whom she was brought in contact. She was not in the least an ordinary girl. H> r clothes were simplicity itselfyet even Lady Betty was obliged to confess that the style in which the girl dressed herself was one that enhanced her char ms threefold. It was such a contrast, too, to her own costly and fashionable raiment, and yet “everyfliing““that TXntbhla woreea me from the bands of one of the most celebrated dressmakers in London. That was what surprised Lady Betty so much, that this girl, who came, as she phrased it, “from the wilds of nowhere." should have had “not only ~a“ marked “individuality but a certain knowledge of the world. The gowns that Antonia wore made her open her eyes, for, despite their simplicity, they were cut and shaped by the hand of a genius.

It was -Hie Satne thing with the big picturesque hats and the small, Quakerlike bonnets which Antonia wore alternately. All this was gall to Lady Betty. "If she had been one of the. cleverest women in the world, she could not have bit -upon a -more splendid idea,”-the-’4i«)e lady said to herself more than once as Antonia’s beauty was revealed, perhaps, in some new light. “What the world likes is change. All we other women seem cut out in the same pattern. She stands alone. What will Gerald think of her, I wonder?" She began to -he quite eager for Antonia and Mr. Tenby to meet. She spoke of him frequently. It was soon evident to the girl that this particular man occupied much of Lady Betty's thoughts. His photograph Vias given the place of honor in every room which Lady Betty occupied, and Antonia was quite familiar with the fact that great things were expected of Gerald Tenby. AlltAlilu Ifrjta pit" ■lm xxtitvuTtv rretrutu tty Tttt tilrts tjtittv ttt>Ti ly, but as the days went by ami Tenby never made his appearance, the girl had a sense of bitter satisfaction.

“Coward!" she would say to herself between her teeth. "He can face the whole world, but he dare not face me. Weli, I can wait’ -wait all my life, if needs be; and though 1 may never know happiness, though 1 may never see Hubert again. 1 will not go to my grave till I have punislied this enemy.” This thought was in her mind more prominently than ever one night as she sat in Lady Betty’s box at the opera, listening with dull ears to the voice of a celebrated singer. People came and went in Lady Betty's bo Antonia never moved until the door o|>ened to admit another arrival, and the sound of Gerald .Tenby's voice fell on her ear. Then a flood of color spread ovei her face, her little hands clinched themselves round the fan she held. It seemed as if, when she drew her breath, she were going to take some plunge. The next moment she had looked around with a radiant smile and was holding out her hand.

“Yon did not expect to see me in Lon don.'' site said, as she noted thap Gerald Tenby drew back and hardly knew how to approach her. Lady Betty looked from one to the other half impatiently. "You never told me that you knew Gerald,” she said. Antonia smiled again. “I never realised that your Gerald and mine were one and the same.” Tenby fixed his eyes upon her eagerly. Those casual words of hers sent a kind of flame to his heart. Her beauty struck hitn as being greater than ever. He looked at her eyes. They met his fearlessly, and yet half shyly, as if they confessed that she desired forgetfulness for that last time they had been together, pardon for all those bitter words she had hurled against him. Gerald Tenby’• heart beat wildly. It seemed to him like some wonderful dream to sit there and look at Antonia in her soft white gown and to hear her voice speaking to bun gently. The rest of the evening passed like magic. _ AYiten Lady Betty ro»w Xu flutter -away. to half a doaen balls, Gerald escorted her and her companion to~ their carriage. Fresh Wonderment and delight filled his heart as Antonia put her slender hand in his anil,smiled again into, bis eyes. It had needed but this to complete his triumph. He had never realized till this moment how much he had loved her. The night was warm, and be determined to walk from the opera house. As he I m sued along hi* eye was suddenly eaught by the placard of an evening newspaper, and be came to a standstill. For an instant his brain reeled. Ila could hardly decipher the big words clearly, then the Tnist rolled away, and he stood facing Hie fact that his tziumph bad indeed come, for this placard set' forth to the world the news of the death of the

great north-country millionaire. Sir Mau-, rice Tenby—a death which had occurred suddenly a few hodrs before. It, was difficult for (Jerald Tenby to. draw his hreath eaxily in - this moment. It was the moment for which he had stained his soul with sin, the moment for which he had schemed and prayed. Now that it was come, he hardly dared grasp it.-----—— t ... His limbs trembled under him. He turned and faailed a cab. Just as he was stepping into it, a hand was laid on hia shoulder, and a voice spoke in his ear:' “Good evening, Sir Gerald Tenby I” There was a strange sneer in the voice. Tenby’s foot .was on the step of the hansom, his hand was gripping the rail. So he stood for the space of'a long silence. “ An instant before, his brain had been reel ing wi th delight ; now darkness had fallen upon him, utter, stifling darkness—the darkness of a fear that was almost despair. * • * • • • • Antonia Marchmont did a strange thing that same night when she found herself alone in her room. She looked about her in a wild, hunted sort of way, then she tore from her right hand the delicate glove that had covered it, and lighting a candle, she held the glove in the flame till the skin caught fire and smoldered to ashes.

“I feel,” she said to herself, between her teeth, “as if I were as great a traitor as he! Shall I be able to carry this through £To-night, when he came near me, I almost shuddered I Oh I” Antonia cried, throwing out her arms, and walking to and fro restlessly, “how is it pos-.. sible that a man can be so base, so cruel? How can he sleep at night? Does not Hubert’s white, miserable face come to haunt him?” As long as she *livcd, Antonia would never forget the awful moment when news was given to her of Hubert’s disgrace,; It was her father who had spoken that sad story, and for the first time in his life he had looked upon Antonia in a different light. “At least,” he had said, speaking afloud h's thoughts, “though you are a girl, you ■part* me dishonor.” “Hubert Tenby is incapable of dishonor! Though aII tlie world should be against him in this, I would stake my life on bis honor!” she had said, passionately. Lord Marchmont had—looked at her with a dry smile. “lon are right to be loyal, Antonia,” he said, in his calm way? “but your loyalty lacks discrimination. Even faith such as yours must be shaken when put face to face with proofs.” “I do not believe in these proofs, father,” she had said. “There is something in all this that will be made clear some day; but whether this happens, or does nat happen, nothing will change me. I knew Hubert; and, knowing him ; I must believe in him!” - Lord Marchmont had only shrugged his. shoulders, and then had gone back to his study. To-night she was going once again ..over. Live, situation. “(Jerald Tenby always hated Hubert,” she was saying to herself. “How many limes have I seen him looking at Hubert with that strange hatred in his eyes! 'Hough he put a curb on his lips, he could not utterly hide his feelings. If it baa never come to me before, I should have seen his hate that one day when we met on the road to the Court, and I said such plain words to him. 11 took him by surprise, and for one instant I saw i.is l.cat, and 1 knew that he hated Hubert with a hate that not even death could crush out.” She rose with a sigh as she put away some photographs and locked the box which held them. (To be continued.)