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Show Mrs. l"urilHKiuu uiutiDini .wuouung about a "bad headache." "Hut have you always a bad headache nowadays?" continued Mrs. Brandon, more seriously. "I should not have ul-j ul-j lulled to tin- subject if tins were tho lir.st ; tiinu that I hnvo seen you thus. 15ut fur i weeks I have observed yotl growing i tin i-ii ati'l more gloomy nnd depressed, 1 Vim are Retting quite unlike your old I self, and I cannot help feeling seriously j uneasy about you. What docs it mean?" ! To Mrs. Brandon's surprise her friend, I instead of answering, only burst into tears and buried her face in her handkerchief hand-kerchief Evidently, thought Mr J'.rainliin, thu oneo say nnd sprightly Induljjo my insatiable pansion vvithOi.. your knowlodyo, I lit onco Lcan to fro-(jnent fro-(jnent it. Tho puno wim roulettn the one of nil others in which I had ulwiiys i longed to join. 1 gavo myself up toils I fascination, and Rtukin? wildly incurred ! heavy losses day alter day. Then, m my fortune rapidly diminished, and time went on, and thought of the little one ; whom 1 was soon to bear wore brought home to nio, a chord of motherly feeling I was touched within nio, and 1 hated my- self fur my wicked folly in having j rubbed my child. s j "1 vowed I would win back all that I j had lost, and with that intention (for my ! ftrnni;o fjaiubler'a era vim; was somehow 1 dying iiway) staked heavily ut the tables, j But my endeavor was nothing elso than I throwing Kood money al ter bad. 1 lost j lott- lost until my whole fortune was i pone. Do not" very piteously "do not reproach me, Tom. My own heart is ro-, ro-, proaching mo already, ulmoi.t more thai ', I can hear." "My darling," ho replied, "I have no thought of reproaching you. If 1 had ; meant to do that 1 should havo done it In fore this, for 1 have known all about it u long while." "You have known all about it a long while!" tihe cried, raising her tearful eyes wonderingly to his. "Oh, Tom how did you tind out?" 1 "Very easily, tny pet," bo answered, kissing her forehead, "seeing that the : founder and proprietor of the gambling club where you lost your uioney is no ' other than myself!" Sho regarded him in speechless nmazo- ment lie went on to explain liimaclf ' further; "Yes. Itlsquitotruo. When I found that udvico and reuioustranco were lost on you, my dear, I had to look about for another method of saving yon from the flTccts of your folly. And tljo starting of that private gambling club waa the method which occurred to me. It took tome working out of details and tho employment em-ployment of a good bit of capital to get tin; thing properly afloat. But 1 enlisted tho services of a competent agent, whom I paid we'll, and undertook to indemnuy in case tho club were found out by the police. It had not been discovered, nor now ever will be; for, its object having I been gained, the establishment is finally closed. There, Ada, that is enough to enable you to grisp thu trulh. But tell me are you suiiy to learn that all the money which you lost has passed back into my bauds'" "Sorry!" she ejaculated, raising herself ! Aila Isaacs was very changed indeed. "Come, Ai!a," she said, drawing her I chair closer, and taking one of her friend's hands, "you have something on j your mind. 1 thought so before; now 1 am sure of It. Tell mi) all about it. It ! will do you good to confide in some one, aud you and I have never had a secret . from one another during the last twenty years. Is it anything to do with Tom!'" "No, no indeed it isn't! l'ray don't ! think that!" sobbed Mm. Partington. "Weil, that's a mercy!" observed Mrs. Brandon. 'Then it must be something : to do with yourself. What is it?" There w.-iA ) short pauso, during which Mrs. Partington's aula slightly subsided. sub-sided. "Nell." die said presently, "it in all your fault." "My fault, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Brain Ion. "Your fault," repeated Mrs. Partington, Parting-ton, "it has all come of your introducing introduc-ing me to that hateful Pompadour cluli. Oh, how 1 wish 1 had nev er entered the pi ace I" "You don't mean tj Bay" Mrs. Brandon paused and looked at her friend. "1 mean to say that, unknown to Tom, 1 have been playing there every afternoon, after-noon, and losing constantly, nntil oh, Nell, promise swear that you will not tell Tom this!" "Of course not. Have wo ever betrayed be-trayed one another's confidence, dear? But you must piuiuiso mo something too. Promise that you will toll Tom." "1? Oh, Nell, you don't know what you are asking You have not heard all yet I would not have Tom know it for the world. .Rather than that 1 would" Mrs. Partington's sobs bad burst forth ' H'.iu with renewed force. Suddenly she sank Iwck-on tho sof;i with a cry of pain which uiarnied her friend. Per- i I JIKIi SKCJtET. i When that particularly shrewd and ! businesslike young man, Mr. Thomas ; Partington, joined himself in marriage ; to Ada. relict of the late Isaac Abrahams, ; his friends evinced considerable surprise t the step Tho widow was, Indeed, as they admitted, young and fascinating, j and had, moreover, inherited it very ante j Ftantial fortune from her previous husband. hus-band. But then Phe was dreadfully ex- i travagant in her habits, and had lately j developed a perfect mania for gambling. . In fact, her losses on the turf nnd at ; the card tables were becoming quite the i talk of society, and it 13 cerUin that f even during tho Knott period which i elapsed between her first hu.sband's death and tho date of her second marriage tier j fortune mnrt havo Ik on materially di- j micished by tho drains sho made upon j it. In another year or two at her pres- 1 ent into sue would, so Tom's friends 1 said, run through it altogether, and then ; he would find himself in tho unenviable j position rit haviug to support u recklessly J spendthrift wifo entirely out of his owa pocket. ; A few of bis greatest intimates im- j in bed and wreathing her arms round his : uerk in a joyful, fond embrace. "Oh, ' Tom, how kind aud good and clever you are! 1 can never love or thank you trough." Tom Partington gave tho most convincing con-vincing pn of that he could have given of bid belief in tho sincerity of his wife's repentance. lie handed back to her the ; whole of her money without condition or reservation, mid he has never had ; cause to regret it. Boston Courier. ! reiving that she was really ill Mrs. ! Brandon summoned assistance. Many minutes did not elapse before one of the servant.- was hurrying olf for it doctor, j Very shortly i.fter the arrival of that ' functionary, Mrs. Brandon herself left. .She drove direct to the club where Tom Partington nccusionully cnilcd of an afternoon af-ternoon on his way homo from the city. By good luck ho was thero now, and tho ! mess'ige which Mrs. Brandon sent in ; ijuickly brought him to her carriage ' door. A veiy few words passed between them, but enough to mako Tom's face grow to twice its normal length. "1 will bo off at once," ho sniiL "Do," replied Mrs. Brandon. "But ' mind, not a word yet! N'ot until she in quite well again." "Trust me!" cried Tom. Ila was already al-ready hailing a passing hansom, and with a hurried bow to Mrs. Brandon be jumped into it. When he reached home he sprang up the fcteps and rang the door bell sharply. ; It was opened in about half a second by : tho cook, who, with a look of deep importance im-portance on her fiice,gasK'd out: "Please, i sir, will yon bo as quiet as possible. And . and it's a boy!" Before her lewild"re.l master had timo to make any inquiries relative to this information the doctor, who had ; been descending tho stairs when been- ' tered, came up to him and shook him by . the band. pressed this upon him before bo took the tinal plunge, and urged him to back out of his engagement, ere it was yet too late. But Tom turned a deaf ear to their advice, ad-vice, lie was vi.'ry mii'"li in love witli the charming widow And, besides, iie entertained u strong hope that after their union he should bo able to reform, or at least control, his wife's extravagance. Instead, therefore, of trying to cry oil tho match, he hurried it forward to the best of his ability, in order that she might have as short an interval as pos-siblo pos-siblo in which to enjoy tho unchecked expenditure of her money. But when he was married to tho lady he found that his hojie of being able to reform her h;ul been decidedly chimerical. chimer-ical. Keif willed and headstrong, she would scarcely endure advice, much less any semblance of restcunt. So. after a few months of useless remonstrance, he mmm "ItxY up all attempt ut genuine reform:- Hon us a bad job, and had to content himself with showing sileut disapproval of her extravagances, or with throwing in their way such feeble obstacles as ho could These were slight enough, for her fortune was entirely nt her own control. con-trol. Still they were not quite fruitless, ! And as tune went on, people noticed that Mrs. Partington's gambling transac- j tions were on a much smaller scale, j Her best friends began to hope that the ' instincts, of the mother were beginning to assert themselves over tho cravings of , i "l must congratulate you, my dear . sir," ho said, "on the birth of a remarkably remark-ably lino son. I am glad to tell you, too, : that Mrs. Partington is going on as well it can lie expected. But she is naturally very weak. So if you go in to see her ' do not Mop more than a minute or allow her lo talk. Anything calculated to ex-' ex-' cite her mu;,t bo most carefully avoided. 1 will call in again later and see how she is pr-vr'-'s-nng." Under these circumstances Mr. Part-' Part-' ington was compelled to abandon for the present the hope which ho had enter-. enter-. tained of indiicing his wife to confide to i him tho trouble which seemed to have ! recently oppressed her. Ife accordingly ! restrained his patienc'i) us best ho could, and waited until her strength should re- turn. At the end of the week, however, it was evident that Mrs. Partington was j only mending very slowly, and the doc-; doc-; tor was by no means satisfied with her ! progress, lnde-d, ho expressed his con-! con-! victton t) the husband that something j'Was weighing ou his patient's tuiud, the removal of which was essential to her j ; complete recovery. After this Tom re- j solved to endeavor at Hie earliest oppnr- tutiity to coino to an understanding with I his wile. ' So. on the same afternoon, as ho sat by his wife's bedside, with one of her bands ; in his, lie said kindly, "Ada, my dear, j you have something on your mind." A quick flush overspread her pale face, nnd she averted her gaze, murmuring in a confused tone, "What makes you fancy ; that, Tom?" tho gambler, and that lt was thought for the little one whom she was soon e.vpect-ing e.vpect-ing that thus checked her in her career of mad extravagance, lt is certain at any rate, that, as time went forward, she grew every day more out of spirits, and nothing was more likely for, with all her faults, she was a soft hearted woman wom-an than that she should bo fretting over her past selfish extravagance, as a sort of robbery perpetrated ou ncr unborn offspring. off-spring. Perhaps, also, her Weakened physical condition contributed Ks quota to this altered frame of mind. But whatever the reasons may havo been, the fact was undoubtedly there. And each day tho once Itglithe.irted and reek-Jess reek-Jess woman grew more moody and do- pressed. Tom appeared to notico this change in his wife. J list manner toward her, always al-ways kind and attentive, became actually actual-ly tender iu its consideration, and ha tried his hardest to sootlio away her gathering depression of spirit Ho was not able to bo with her much in the day i tune, for, shortly after his marriage, bo- ; ing tired of having nothing to do, be had ! ptit some of his money into "business" j in tho city, where- his constant presence : was now required; but he regularly spent I his evenings at home, hardly ever going ! to I he theater or to his club. Hif wifo seemed to feel his considerate j tenderness very deeply, for several times, ; sis he sat beside her of au evening, with j his arms thrown caressingly around her, ! she suddenly buried her face on his ' shoulder and burst into tears like one i "The eyes of love are quick to see such things," replied her husband tenderly, as he stroked 'ler.head with his disengaged ruuiil. "Uta you tluiiK 1 raueit to remark it just now, when, as your glance fell on the little one there, a groan escaped your lips? And you have shown by many other signs that something is troubling you." "Oh, Tom,"sho cried suddenly, leaning lean-ing forward and hiding her face on his shoulders. "You will not speak so kindly kind-ly when yon know the trntlt. Vet I must till you my my hu.-band. Yon have been so kind and gentle that I cannot can-not deceive you any longer, but try, Tom" pleadingly "not to bo very angry an-gry with me." "There is no fear of that," said Tom encouragingly. "Como, lit tie woman, let ns have (he murder out." "Ah, you do not know what it is," she went on in remorseful tones, "else you would not treat it so lightly. Oh, Tom, Tom, I I havo lost all my fortune." "Bow did you manage that." he asked quietly. "You may well put such a question," rhe continued in a voice broken by frequent fre-quent sobs. "You may well fail to understand un-derstand my folly and madness. Oh, Tom. Tom, although I used to set you at defiance in the matter of (rambling, yet your open remonstrance and silent disapproval in time began to vex my impatient im-patient heart. And when 1 discovered a secret gambling club, where 1 could j whoso remorse is a wakened by unmerited and unlooked for kindness. On each of these occasions Tom felt by a certain subtle and mpnlpnble instinct that his wife w.is on the very verge of making aonio eonfc.TKioa perhaps of sorrow and rr-gret for her detiant attitude toward hi:a iu the past. But although by his comforting words and soothing caresses be did his best to invite her confidence, j the confession which he felt to be hang- j tug on her lips never issued from them. Meanwhile, what was so clear to her liusuaud did not escape the notice of Mrs. ; Partington's female friends. Of theso sh had many, but by far tho most : fi.vored and confidential of them was . Mrs. Brandon, an old schoolfellow with . whom see h id kept up a lifelong inti-: tiutcy. Mr. Brandon, who was at oxve a very lively and a highly sunaiTilo Iarty, i had, at an early period, detected the nn- i usual gloom which had come over her ' friend's manner, and rallied her upon ; taking her new position so seriously. "My dear Ada," she said at last, in the j course of an afternoon call, during which ; Sirs. Partington had been more dull than ! ever, "1 should never have encouraged : you to accept Tom if I had foreseen what ; r deplorable effect your second dose of ' tnatruiKey would have upon yon. Do i you know tint In Vhm twenty minus I i Lave been here, the only original ob.ser- j ration you have made was to ask me whether 1 had enough sugar? What is the matter with vou t,oJivV" |
