TALES OF TO-DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 58, 9 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

TALES OF TO-DAY.

. SBFIBS OF SHORT STORIES,

0 GBOBGE R. SIMS,

, f < Rogues and Vagabonds,' • Three 4atbor nJuF 'How the Poor Live,' 11l TH E EARL'S WIFE NO.!H. (Concluded).

nifflsbs drove Bfcrair&* *$. the Mld" !<S and asked if Mr Vincent wag I"n. ; n the house. #&*$ 11 norter looked at the visitors' lisb TbOi h?t aMr John Vincent wu stayaadfi- house, and that the number of his ingwea \o \ pago boy was despatched roora t a| 2 was in, and returned with the tosee«'** . jj 32 was in his sittingin^Tould tL lady oblige with h% na»e? ala dyhas called in answer to Mr r'was taken, and the page Th 6 messa^ kdy kindly step returneci. »p/ •.„ f ace W as deadly white under her , f veil as she entered the luxurious thick Lin which Mr Vincent was tak-jitting-room i tleinan> a fcall> good . , in W CSirnianof about five and thirty, « elottri S an unexpected , ,c' he said, holding: out; his-hand, ? ,Vp the last person I expected to see.' Woed' Then why did you write to JSered the girl, coldly. "? We3l I thought you'd like to know ,JlUs alive, and I expected you d send Somebo'ly to me, to arrange matters. Miuvhatway? ■ Well you are a cool one, Loo, and no • 4e' 'You don't seem a bit upset at Sin" that you've got two husbands, j •It can't matter to you wnother i ra upset «nob I thought you were dead I was fil you were dead: that you had died in the French prison.' <Oh-\vho told you? • Will told me, and Kilby told me. When Will told me I sent him over to make sure, and he brought me back word that the rumour was quite correct. He even showed jne a document in French, which was, he said, the certificate.' 'Good old Will ! He must have got one made up specially for you, my dear, for you sen here I am, alive and kicking and pretty well thank you. The living in the prison agreed with me. It's done me good, and set me up, my dear. No late hours, no excitemont, no brandy cocktails there ; just enough exercise to keep you in condition, and plain regular living.' ... Lady Dashton tapped her toot impatiently on the ground. 11 don't want a description of your prison life,'she said; 'I want to know what you intend to do. For some reason or other I lave been wilfully deceived. I was told that for what took place in France you had been sentenced to ten years,' imprisonment, and that you had died.' 'I was sentenced to three years, my dear, for punishing a fool of a Frenchmen who said that I was playing with marked cards at his club. But it was heasbly unfair ; he cut his head open by accident in falling down when I pushed him. Of course, the French judge made it warm for me because Iwas an Englishman, and the French police Bwore a lot of lies about my having been known as a swell swindler and cardsharper. Why your brother told you I was dead is beat known to himself. You'd better ask life when you see him. 'Haven't you seen him ?' 'No,'-. ' I don't believe you. Will went over to Fiance some time ago, and I believe it was to see yon. You were free then !' 'Oh," as you know all about it ' 'I don't know all about it, John Vincent, HI Khali know all about it. I'm goinL' to Paris to-night. I'm going to see Will indtoget&t the bottom of the whole business.'

.'Now look here, Loo,' said Vincent, lighting a cigar, and settling himself in his irmchair. ' You are a very clever girl, but don't try to be too clever. I want to behave in this matter like a gentleman and see If we can't come to an arrangement that will suit all parties.' Lady Dashton's face never relaxed for a aomentfrom its look of quist self-possession md calm disdain.

'What sort of an arrangement do you luppoae would suit all parties ?' she said.

1 Well; I suppose you're pretby eomiort>b!e.as a countess ; you and this rich young well get along all right together, I'm told, rod you've been taken to kindly by the Jtber swells. That sort of thing suits you, »nd I don't suppose yon want to chuck it up and come down again to be the wife of a -a—'

'A swindler—and an ex-convicb.1 The prl finished the sentence which the man hesitated to complete. 'Well, that isn't the way I should have putlfe. Loo, but you're not far out. I suppose I'm not the sort of husband a girl who's been a countess v/ould care to take about and introduce. And, of course, the Earl wouldn't like the exposure; and the female swells you've been among lately, I suppose they'd be rather wild to think ™ey'd been hobnobbing with a yo«R£ "■Oman whose husband was in gaol.- ft/lrd, Mat a boom the newspapers would give foe scandal if it ever came out. Fane? the three of us, Loo, in the «Police News. J A ■"Ft portrait of yon in the middle, with mo ""one side of you, and the Earl on the °raer. with a full, true and particular acof my career, and your adventures green away as a supnlemerit !' Lady Dash ton bit her lip, and gave an inWuntary shudder. The picture which the 'windier, who was her husband, was paintHin his coarse, vulgar way, came rlvidly "wore her eyes. With a supreme oflbrb 81113 kept down her indignation, arad wibhp a tremor in her voice put the nexbquos-

Xou spoke of this scandal beinj^ Voided, jusfc now,' she said. « How do you Propose that ib shall be done ?' fhe man hesitated. He was not playing wtirely on his own account, and he didn't "it to make a false step. . That's a matter that can be decided on ««r, my dear, after we've had a little la^ily council.' , Oh ! then Will and Kilby and Major do ,*?' your re-appearance?' 1 didn't say so.' i can draw my own conclusions. Bub vi , l, can'fc see that they have anything to do y ™® matter, T want a proposition from Wi> you 'n^enc^ to ctaiin me as your 1 !if toWy I do, unless ' ■Unless what ?' t 0 f. ess you make ifc worfch ray while nofc v" V y°« do I'll go away, and you shall an/ i ai" °f me a^'ain- I>1"1 ff°to America, v,p .v?,-, °nR as you send me the allowance •wall fix upon I'll stop there.' .^iveme figures, if you please.' tbe pi your llusband—l beg your pardon, yoJ,f ,, 0* .Dashton—is a very wealthy ativtC- w' and.l understood you can get jwwg you ]}ke Qut Qf him> You musfc hm° £l0' 000 down and allow mo Ho ™ a year. Of course you can get the 'And « fc Bayin2 whab it>s for-' «e Cret c ofcher men—who are in your "-*ho~ l ° aye concoct:Qd the whole plot D as u ' ye<^ fcheir cards to bring about Jon w 8 ffi&rriage with me, knowing that theirL c , c'e ' and intending to trade on , A f no wiedpfe-what will they want ?' tlm fr"o^ you are g°'nK infco a question «» n u, . nfc answer. They must do their yJJJJ.Jut I don'fc think you'll flnd

t JJ^^wub oemedy has been vehueeid, John Vinoons, and you've heard, thara repeat; choir pnrba,' '■- 'Well, they'll want money, of course, bub with mo out of the way you can easily nnd a means of squaring them.' Lady Dashton rose to pjo. 'Very well,' she said. 'I think I understand everything now. How long do.you give me to comply with your demand V ' A week—afortnight,ifyouliko. There's no particular hurry.' ' And in the meantime you will take no further steps ? You will not; communicate with the Earl ?' ' Certainly not, Loo ; as long as you act fair and square by ac, "'ll -io the same by you.' ' Good morninjr.' 'Good morning. Won't you shake hands, Loo ?' Lady Dashton turned and looked her husband straight in the face. ' No, John incenb, at present I am the wife of the Earl of Dashton, and I have no right to shake hands with a felon fresh from gaol.' A tannt rose to the man's lips, but he checked ib, and received the insult with a laugh. ' All right, my lady,' he said, ' you always had a good seat on the high horse. It's an expensive animal to ride, but you've got a long purse to dip into, so you can afford the luxury. I shall expect your answer ia a week. Ho accompanied his wife to the door, opened it, and bowed her out with mock politeness. As soon as she had gone he went to the table, took a telegraph form from the blotting book, and filled ib up. "To Joyce. Grand Hotel, Paris. Have seen her. Sho asked terms. Letter follows. Vincent."

He rang the bell for the waiter and gave him the telegram, saying it was to go at onco.

When Lady Dashton went downstairs she asked the hall porter which was the nearest telegraph station, and was directed to ib. She went there, and was writing outa telegram to her cousin, Kate Joyce, asking her to come at once to the Charing Cross Hotel, when the porter from the Midland entered with a telegram. He laid ib down on the little desk, waiting for the clerk to take it, and Lady Dashton saw the a,ddres3—Joyce, Grand Hotel, Paris. It was a 'lucky accident. Her brother had only given her the Poste Restante as his address. She knew where to go now directly she arrived in Paris. That evening, accompanied by her cousin, Lady Dashton left for the French capital. She was determined fta have the whole situation within her grasp before she saw the Earl again. Will Joyce was very much astonished when hi 3 sister, on the following morning, walked into his room while he was taking his coffee. His face flushed crimson, and for a moment he was unable to speak. Louie was a very different person now to the calm self-possessed woman who had interviewed John Vincent. ' She upbraided her brother bitterly for his conduct, and gave vent to her pent-up feelings in a flood of tears. Joyce was utterly unmanned at the sight of his sister's grief and despair. He tried to persuade her that after all it wasn't a very dreadful affair, and that Vincent might easily be gob rid of, and nobody be any the wiser. Then Louie's grief gave way to indignation. Her cheeks flushing, her eyes flashing, she declared that she would nob lend herself to an infamous fraud upon the man they had tried to make their dupe. They had made a mistake in fancying that she would help them to rob and swindle him. She declared that she would go back to England and reveal the whole plot, and that they should all be made to answer for their share in ib. Then she changed her tone and flung herself upon her knees and implored her brother, by the memory of the old days when they had been all in all to each other, and endured trouble and poverty and misery ton-ether, not to side with her enemies against her, but to help her to defeat them. She was sure that there was some way out of the terrible dilemma in which their own wickedness had involved her. Wouldn t Will be her friend now, and save her from shame and humiliation ? She went over the whole circumstances of her marriage with Vincent. She recalled everything to her brother's memory : how she had met this man, who was one of the associates of Kilby and Major, and how ho had passed for a rich diamond merchant, and had made love to her, and-how she, being poor and without friends, had thought it would be a good thing for Will and herself if she made a rich marriage, and had at last consented, and how on the very day of the wedding her husband had had to leave London suddenly, he said because his father was dying, but as they afterwards knew, because a young fellow whom he had swindled at cards had gone to the police about the matter, and Vincent was afraid that he would be arrested. And then the girl reminded her brother of how the next they heard of her husband was that he had been arrested in France for half-murdering a Frenchman who had accused him of cheating at one of the small Pans < hells. 'And then,' sobbed the distracted woman, 'you told me ho had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, and had been taken ill and died, and I was fre of him for ever, and need never think of that dreadful wedding-day again, except as one thinks of a horrible nightmare that has vanished when one opens ones eyes in the daylight. And you know, Will, when I married Dashton it was by your wish that I kent this part of my life a secret from him. too cruel, too awful ! Help me, Will, or I ShwKyce'tried to Btem the torrent of the poor girl's despair, buthefailed utterly, and at last his better nature fc^ m Ph°«' and, takine his sister in bin arms bexclaimed 'You're right, Loo, Ive been a ScoSel God help me. I see it all now. There tWe, dear, don't give way any more I'll be square for your sake from today You shan't fight the gang alone or FU fight with instead of gainst you, and" if there is a way out of this inanxious to make certain "q"™B^.^ London.

accompanied by her aS and tf£t Will had returnedljjt them, and that it an affa*»^ ™ , Bhed se ttled £4x M«" •ssfiMbiir ta start in such an uncer emoniousfaßfr ion. You're a deuced good in>wo so much trouble over him. I wish I. ha* a ".tt^nVoniy that tt» .Will's abter J-t '"" . ,/„„,'« «I am your wife, and Will U —0 »P . would reflect on me.

1 Qaifee r%hi. Money matter I su»; ipOß© I . .. . .' Ib was ft ttueitlon of motley, oetteinly.' His lordship threw away the end of the" otewefcbe lie was (smoking, and teak hid wife's haad,

Laa, old girl,' ha said, •if mowey'i Wanted don'b you go doing anything faoiuih with your- jawela ci' anything of that BQri Oomo straight to mo'and you shall have ib, sou vo been a little briokin money matter. When I married you I expsofced that Will and lulby and their mob would try to work me for a bib through you, and 1 daresay thoy have, but; you've never given me away or played their game for them.' | Hugh, you don|b think——' All right, Loo, I'm not saying you would have done it, but I know wbat a warm lob they are, and I'll bet long odds they've tried it on. I didn't go" about with them for a couple of years for nothing.' j¥Hf?k' dear» you've always trusted mo and believed me. Would you trust mo still if I told you that when I manied you I kept xrom you something you ought to have known ?'

The earnestness of his wife'a manner, the strange look in her face a3 she spoke these words, quite startled her husband. ' What do you mean, Loo V he said, anxiously, 'what could there have been that I ought to have known ?' * You've trusted me, Hugh, and I'll trust you. I'll trush you with a secret that may make you drive me from you—that may make you hate me ; but you must know it some day, and I would sooner that you heard it from my own lip 3. Hugh, dear, when I became your wife I was a married woman.' ■•What?' Lord Dashton's face turned deadly white, and he reeled back as if he had been struck a violent blow. 'Say that again,' he. cried. *I don't understand you. You are joking ; but it's a nasty kind of joke, Loo.' 'Hugh, dear Hugh, listen to me,'pleaded the girl, ' it is true ; but as there's a God above us, I was innocent of any wickedness in the matter.' .

Then, the tears streaming down her face, she gasped out the whole wretched story, and falling on her knees beside her husband, begged and implored him not to think badly of her, bub to stand by her in the hour of trial and bo her champion, her protector.

Hugh's first impulse when he grasped the truth was to fly into a furious rage. It maddened him to think that he had been ' had,' for directly the whole import of Louio's confession dawned upon him, he knew that Joyce and Kilby and Major had, in the language of the fraternity, ' got it up for him.'

Bub when he looked down ab the pale, agonised, tearful face of tho woman who knelt beside him. all the love ho felt for the girl who had been so good and true a wife to him welled up in his heart.

'It's an awful thing, Loo,' he said in a hoarse, trembling voice, 'an awful thing ) And I don't see yet where it's going to end; but I'm not going to round on'you over it. You didn't mean any harm, but, by , I'll make those fellows smart for their share in it !'

The young Earl rose and paced the room. Presently calming himself with an effort, he came up to Louie and took her hands in

his again. ' I'm awfully sorry for you dear,' he said._ ' I'm trying to think what's best to be done. I don't know much about the law, but I have an idea that your marriage with this fellow might be got over—what do you call it, annulled—but of course that wouldn't makeyoumy wife, because it wasn'tannulled when you married me, and I believe a marriage is a marriage till it's set aside. I'm not up in the law, but I think I've read cases of the sort. I'll go and see a lawyer. You'd bettor leave it all to me, I think.'

• Yes, dear, now I've told you everything I can ; but—bub, I'd better go away from you, hadn't IT ' Well, it would be as well perhaps. It's deuced hard, and it make? me feel infernally miserable, bub I suppose for both our sakes it's the best thing to be done But don't go and make yourself too miserable. I've an idea that somehow or other things'll come all right again.' ' Oh, I hope so, Hugh ; it will kill me if we have to part for ever.' ' God bless you, my darling,' cried the young fellow passionately, ' you've been the good angel of my life, the best woman I ever knew, bub that only makes this wretched business all the more cruel.'

' Where shall I go ?' 'Wait a minute, let me think. You'd better take your cousin Kate with you, and Partridge, your maid, and go to some quieb seaside place for a bit. I'll write to you every, day and let ymi know how things are going on and what I've decided to do.' Louie agreed to her husband's proposition. She felt thab ib was the best thing to do under the circumstances. Before she left she placed him in possession of all the facts concerning her first marriage, and gave him full particulars of the way in which her brother and his friends had made her believe thab John Vincent was dead. And late in the afternoon she bade her husband a tearful adieu, and started with Kate and her maid for Seaford, a quiet little place on the Sussex coast between Brighton and Eastbourne. Lord Dashton, as 'soon as he had seen his wife off, had a long interview with the family solicitor, who had arrived in hob haste in obedience to a summons from his lordship. The lawyer masteredibhe facts of the case, and explained that it would probably have to be made public before anything could be done. Of course ib would be a case that would attract considerable attetibion, bub under any circumstances—that was to say under any honourable.circumstances—ib was one which ib would be impossible bo hush up. If Vincenb didn'b take proceedings, the Earl would have to, as ib would never do for him to continue to acknowledge as his Countess a lady who was the wife of another man. Poor Dashton, looking the picture of despair, sat and listened to the lawyer. Whichever way he looked at the situation, it was bad for Louie. As soon as he had got a rough idea of how the law stood in the matter, he brought the interview to a clo3e, Dromising to see the lawyer again the next day'and give him his decision in bhe matter. , As soon as the solicitor had gone ; Lord Dashton went oub wibh tho intention of paying a visit to Mr John Vincent, whose address he bad ascertained from Louie. At the hobel he found bhat Mr Vincenb had been out all day. He had left a message to the effecb that if a Mr Joyce called he was to bo told that he (Mr Vincent) would be back about seven. 'Had Mr Joyce been?' « Yes, and on receipt of the message he had said that he would return ab that °' UGood,' said the Earl to himself. ' Then if I come at a quarter past I shall probably catch them together, and kill two birds with one stone.' His lordship drove to one of his clubs, wrote a letter to his wife, and returned to the hotel by seven. • " Lighting a cigarette, he stood on tho opposite side of the road waiting to see his 1 friends ' arrive. He didn'b know Vincent from Adam, bo he had to wait for Joyce. Mr Joyce drove up in a hansom, and immediately the Earl crossed the road and accosted him. • Hallo, Dashton,' exclaimed Will, turning a little pale, ' who the dickens would have expected to see you here ?' 'Joyce,'replied the Earl, sternly, 'your Bister has told me e'/erythinjr.' •Dashton,' Btammered the young naan, 'Ihopo you'll believe me when I say thab I'm heartily ashamed of myself for the share I had in this unhappy business,' •You ougbbto bo, Joyce I never am you any harm, li you hadn't any regard

fgi' irly; happifiess yeii inigbi haye1 had foil yeiil 1 gisfeef §. Tjba Wpiifs yoli have- fJoae fees' you. §au aeve* atone fojv 1 1 6&ii ftbonei tot ifct Bashfcon ' exeiaimefl Joyed, Sftprlyj ' 6S& (|od helping hi§, I wilt, I'm goiiig te rn& yitioGafc hW: Ctemd with me add yeu shall judwa ks yeittself if 1 am wotkiiie against you, f vety wen,' I'eplka fchrlßari, (L§b«s g9 to Hm B:fe oneei Ingfcio.ibha hotel tho gaafeletoen were in* formed that M£ V-inaenfc had returned, a.nd fekoy y/et't) ponduoted to his room. 'Hullo, Will, 1 said Mf Vincent. 'lexpeoted— J-*1 Ho stopped shorts tia Loi'd Dashton, who had remained behind for a moment, followed Joyce into the room. ' Ia this a friend of yotira ?' lie said, atariug afc Dashton, and wondering why Joyce had brought a stranger to Buch an important interview a* thelre was to be.

' I was a friend of Mr Joyce's,1 said tho Ear), without giving Will time to reply. ' Whether I am a friend of his now you will be better able to judge when I introduce myself. I presume you are Mr John Vincent. lam the Earl of Datihton.'

Mr John Vincent 6tarted ah tha name, and looked at Will. What was the meaning of these two men being together ? Had Will told him, or had he brought the Earl with him in pursuance of some well-thought-out plan?

He wasn't allowed much time to hesitate between the two theories, for Joyce at once decided the matter for him.

'Vincent,' he said, 'Lord Dashton is my sister's husband. He married her in complete ignorance of her first marriage to you. She married him under the firm conviction that you were dead. I am here as Lord Dashton's friend, and I intend no longer to be a party to the scheme for blackmailing him which was concocted some time ago by Kilby, Major, you and myself.

' Blackmail be ,' exclaimed Vincent, going crimson with rage. • Look here, Mr Joyce, if that's your game, you can take yourself off. My business is with Lord Dashton, and we can transact it without your assistance,'

' You can,' replied Joyce, coolly, 'but his lordship will bo glad of my help. So I shall stay.'

' Very good; then we'll begin at once. I'm sorry, my lord, that I am placed in the unfortunate position of being the lawful husband of the lady you have made your countess ; but as I am in that position, I should like to know what course your lordship proposes to take.'

' 1 propose,' replied the Earl, ' to get you out of tbafc position as soon as possible.'

'By all means. I shall be happy to hear how you would like to doit. You'll find me reasonable.'

1 I'm glad of that. I expected that you would have asked me for a large sum of money to hush the affair up. Lady Dashfcon told me that you wanted £10,000 down and £1,000 a year.' ' Oh ! She told you that, did she?' ' She did. Now, Mr Vincent, you see th ire is perfect confidence between the lady aud myself, so you can play cards ou the table.' ' Certainly ; and so can you. The proposition is a very moderate one under the circumstances. Does it suit you ?' ' Not at all. I intend to pay you nothing,' ' Oh. Then you are willing to let me prove my claim to the lady in a court of Jaw?' 1 That is exactly what I expect you to do.' ' It'll bo a nice scandal for her and for you.' 'It must be under any circumstances, but I think we shall come out of it bettor than you will; and before that can come on, you will have another little unpleasantness to go through. It is my intention to charge you and your accomplices with an offence that is commonly called blackmailing. I shall bring your previous career out at the trial, and I fancy your wife will be ■deprived of your charming society for some considerable period, even if you should be bo fortunate as to prove your claim to her.' Mr .Vincent turned on Joyce with a savage scowl. 1 This is your doing, you sweep,' he exclaimed ; ' but if I stand in the dock you'll stand beside me.' • There you are wrong, Mr Vincent,' replied the Earl; '1 am indebted to Mr Joyce for the information. He will be what I believe is called Queen's Evidence.'

' A nice thing for his sister that'll be. People will say you married into a nice family, my lord.' ' People will only see how I have been duped, and pity me, and if you prove your caso you know, Mr Vincent, I shall be free of the family. Mr Joyce's sister won't be my wife, but yours.' Mr Vincent said nothing, but he looked unutterable things. Presently he altered his expression and tried to appear amiable. ' You're a cleverer chap than I took you for, my lord,' he said, with a glastly attempt at a grin ; ' I see its no good trying to get the best of you. But the matter'll have to be settled somehow, and we may as well come to a friendly arrangement. Have you got anything to propose ?' ' Yes. This—l propose that you shall commence proceedings against your wife for divorce and make me the co-respon-dent.' 1 And if I do that you will give me ? • Nothing—it would be illegal. It would be connivance. I insist on you bringing this action. If you don'fc, I'll keep my threat.' ' That's your decision 1' • Yes. I've nothing more to say except good evening. Joyce see, me to the door. You can return and see your friend again when I'm gone.' Once outside, the Earl explained his plan to.Joyce. It wouldn't do for the Earl himself to find money for the suit, or to promise Vincent any money, as if it came to the knowledge of the court it would affect the case. But Joyce could do it carefully, and in such a way that nobody would know except Vincent. Will Joyce understood the situation at once and promised to see that every danger was guarded against. Some time later the announcement that a petition had been filed by one John Vincent against his vtiie, Louisa Vincent, falsely called the Countess of Dashton, created an immense sensation, and when the case came on the excitement had reached fever heat. . The first marriage was proved beyond a doubt, and then evidence as to the second marriage was taken, and John Vincent appeared in person to prove that he was alive at the time. In cross-examination he admitted that he left the lady an hour after marriage and ran away to avoid a little, difficulty^ with the law ; he also admitted his conviction in France and explained how he obtained his liberty* Nothing was asked about the ' blackmail' plot. The defendants didn't desire to go into that for the sake of Louie s brother When Mr Vincent left the box, other witnesses followed, all of whom proved the marriage, and then the case for the defence commenced. The defence was a strange one. •It was that at the time John Vincent married Louisa Joyce it was not a legal marriage. Nothing was said to its being a marriage which was one in name only—it was contended clearly and concisely that the ceremony itself never was a legal one, and in proof of the contention a showily dressed young woman was placed in the box. The woman was asked what she was, and her answer was not to her credit^ but the name ehe gave was that of Ellen Vincent, and > the etory ebe told was that ehe hod roamed John Vmcent, the man she recognised hi Court, five years previous to the date of h,s marriage with Miss Joyce, of which she know nothing until lately : that after a year of unhappy Tarried life she had left her bußband, a» he gave her nothing but abuse and dl treatment ; and that since then she had lived.

the life §h§ Ws& fcb i#eggft<) ka§iiig': §h§ liftd Hgydf iak§H Mif fe@^fei§ §3 6§MißMilie'afe With" ii§f iiliMbftiidj @i: J4€? isHh Mi! j Srid giisi neVe1? espxe§feefi id §§§ Mm &g&iti: had m&i. of felie* easg, a§ aenjii^f m, in ihd pEtp'ei's } &bti feliS M&tiiQ iifid efeaek het", find §li§ iiad eomfefliirjieAfed: wlfcb £ii§ Ssf'l el bashfcoa. Uha dM& 5g s^ ihafe aiiiaii who ii'eated \i§V §0 bjidly elisiaid bs aileWeid to ggfe the bm el a gaataeaiatt-Jike thg lafl, . .

ibe oase was not long hi ocmiinjf to tt oendtlsiott ftft^i1 fchafe, %k< John VinGerifc had negleotod to ebfcuin a d&Veti'oa when ha had the opportunity, Wliofi he (31d entof tho Dlvoroo Oourfc, that facit uppet his case, The deoision of ehe courli Was fcbat there had been no le^al marriage between John Vincent and Louisa Joyce, and. therefore he had no aassj atid the result ■){ the trial was only to establish the fuo& fna,t, Louisa Joyoe, having been nobody'a wite v/hen she married Hujjli, Earl of Daahtota, waa tho legal wife of hia lordship.

Hugh Dashton aad his wif& received tho congratulations of everybody who knew them on the result of the great trial. It had ended in a far bettor way than they had dared to anticipate. 'Dine danger of losing Louie had opened the Earl's eye 3to tho nobility and sweetness of her character and the purity of her love for him, and today there is no happier couple in three kingdoms. The Earl has severed the last tie that bound him to his evil companions, and in now turning his attention to nobler pursuits. Will Joyce has been long ago forgiven for his^ share in the ' blackmail ' plot, and has a tine cattle ranche in Texas, and is coining home noxt year to look out for a nice amiable little English girl for a wife. ■ Tho Earl says that if he can find one half a3 good as his Bister Louie' he will be a very lucky fellow indeed.

Next Week, A PRIVATE INQUIRY,