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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1901)
j The Diamond Bracelet By MRS. HENRY WOOD. Author of East Lynns, Etc. CHAPTER XIII— (Continued.) "It looks exactly the same—gold links, interspersed with diamonds, and the clasp is the same—three stars. A tall, ugly woman has got it on. her black hair strained off her face.” 'The hair strained off her face is enough to make any woman look ug ly,” remarked Lady Sarah. "Where is she?” “There; she is standing up now; let us get cdose to her. Her dress is that beautiful maize color with blonde lace.” Lady Sarah Hope drew near and ob tained a sight of the bracelet. The color flew into her face. "It's mine. Fanny,” she whispered. But the lady at that moment, took a gentleman's arm and moved away. Lady Sarah followed her, with the view of obtaining another look. Fran ces Chenevix went to Mr. Netherleigh and told him. He was hard of belief. Sv “You cannot be sure at this distance of time, Fanny. And besides more bracelets than one may have been made of that pattern. “I am so certain that I feel as if I could swear to the bracelet,” eagerly replied Lady Frances. “Hush, hush, Fanny.” “I recollect it perfectly; it struck me the moment I saw it. How singular that I should have been talking to Gerard Hope about it this night. Mr. Netherleigh smiled. “Imagination is very deceptive, Frances, and your having spoken to Mr. Hope of it brought it to your thoughts.” “But it could not have been brought to my eyes,” returned Frances. “Stuff and nonsense about imagination, Mr. Netherleigh. I am positive it is the bracelet. Her comes Lady Sarah.” “I suppose Frances has been telling you,” observed Lady Sarah Hope to her brother-in-law. “I feel convinced it is my own bracelet.” “But—as I have just remarked to Frances—other bracelets than yours may have been made precisely simi lar,” he urged. “If it is mine the letters ‘S. H.’ are scratched on the back of the middle star. I did it one day with a pen knife.” "You never mentioned the fact be fore, Lady Sarah,” hastily responded the merchant. “No. I was determined to give no clue. I was always afraid of the affair being traced home to Gerard, and it would have been such a disgrace to my husband's name.” “Did you speak to her? Did you ask where she got the bracelet?” inter rupted Frances. “How could I?” retorted Lady Sarah. "I did not know her.” “I will,” cried Frances in a resolute tone. “My dear Frances,” remonstrated Mr. Netherleigh. “I vow I will,” persisted Frances, as she moved away. Lady Frances kept her word. She found the strange lady in the refresh ments, and locating herself by her side, entered upon a few trifling re marks, which were civilly received. Suddenly she dashed at once to her subject. "What a beautiful bracelet!” "I think it is," was the stranger’s reply, holding out her arm for its in spection, without any reservation. “Where did you buy it?" pursued Fran'ces. "Garrards are my jewelers.” i 1_ CHAPTER XIV. This very nearly did for Frances; for it was at Garrards’ that the Colo nel originally purchased it, and it seemed to give a coloring to Mr. Neth erleigh's view of more bracelets hav ing been made of the same pattern. But she was too anxious and determin ed to stand upon ceremony—for Ger ard's sake; and he was dearer to her than the world suspected. "We—one of my family—lost a bracelet exactly like this, some time back. When 1 saw it on your arm, I thought it was the same; r hoped it was.” The lady froze directly and laid down her arm. “Are you—pardon me. there are painful interests involved—are you sure you purchased this at Garrard’s?" "I have said that Messrs. Garrard are my jewelers,” replied the stranger in a repelling voice; and the words sounded evasive to Frances. “More I cannot say; neither am I aware by what law of courtesy you thu3 ques tion me, or who you may be." The young lady drew herself up, proudly secure in her rank. "I am Lady Frances Chenevix," and the other bowed and turned to the re freshment table. Away went Lady Frances to find the Cadogans, and inquire after the stranger. It was a Lady Livingstone. The hus band had made a mint of money at something, had been knighted, and now they were launching out into high society. Frances' nose went into the air. O law! a city knight and his wife! that was it, was it? How could Mrs. Ca dogan have taken up with them? The Honorable Mrs. Cadogan did not choose to say beyond the asser tion that they were extremely worthy, good, kind people. She could have said that her spendthrift of a husband had contrived to borrow money from Sir Jasper Livingstone, and to prevent being bothered for it, and keep them in humor, they introduced the Living stones where they could. Frances Chenevix went home—that is. to Colonel Hope's—and told her strange tale to Alice Seaton; not only about Gerard being in England, but about the bracelet. “Alice, it is the bracelet. I am more certain than ever. Garrard's people say they have sold articles of jewelry to Lady Livingstone, but not a dia mond bracelet, and, moreover, that they never had one of that precise pat tern, but the bracelet Colonel Hope bought.” "What is to be done?" exclaimed Alice. “I know. I shall go to those Liv ingstone's. Gerard shall not stay un der this cloud if I can help him out of it. Mr. Netherleigh won't act, and we dare not tell the Colonel; he is so obstinate and wrong-headed, he would be for arresting Gerard, pend ing the investigation.” “Frances—” “Now don’t you preach, Alice. When I will a thing, I will. I am like my lady mother for that. Lady Sarah says she scratched her initials inside the bracelet, and I shall demand to see it; if these Livingstones refuse, I'll put detectives on the scent. I will, as sure as my name Is Frances Chene vix.” “And if the investigation should bring the guilt home to—to—Gerard?” whispered Alice, in a hollow tone. “And if it should bring it home to you! and if it should bring it home to me!” spoke the exasperated Frances. “For shame, Alice; it cannot bring it home to Gerard, for he was never guilty.” Alice Seaton sighed: she saw there was no help for it, for Lady Frances was resolute. “I have a deeper stake in this than you,” she said, after a pause of con sideration; “let me go to the Living stones. You must not refuse me; I have an urgent motive for wishing it.” “You, you weak mite of a thing! you would faint before you got half through the interview,” uttered Lady Frances, in a tone between jest and vexation. Alice persisted, sne nan, indeed, a powerful reason for urging it, and Lady Prances allowed the point, though with much grumbling. The carriage was still at the door, for Lady Frances had desired that it should wait, and Alice hastily dressed herself and went down to it, without speaking to Lady Sarah. The footman was closing the door upon her, when out flew Frances. ‘‘Alice. I have made up my mind to go with you, for 1 cannot guard my patience until you are back again. I can sit in the carriage while you go in. Lady Livingstone will be two feet higher from today—that the world should have been amazed with the spectacle of I^ady Frances Chenevix waiting humbly at her door.” - Frances talked incessantly on the road, but Alice was silent; she was deliberating what she should say, and was nerving herself to the task. Lady Livingstone was at home, and Alice sending in her card, was conducted to her presence, leaving Lady Frances in her carriage. Lady Frances had thus described her; a woman as thin as a whipping post, with a red nose; and Alice found Lady Livingstone answer to it very well. Sir Jasper, who was also pres ent, was much older than his wife, and short and thick; a good-natured look ing man with a bald head. Alice, refined and sensitive, scarcely knew how she opened her subject, but she was met in a different manner from what she had expected. The knight and his wife were really worthy people, as Mrs. Cadogan had said, only she had a mania for getting into "high life and high-lived company,” a thing she would never accomplish. She listened to Alice’s tale with court esy, and at length with interest. “You will readily conceive the nightmare this has been to me,” pant ed Alice, for her emotion was great. “The bracelet was under my charge and it disappeared in this extraordi nary way. All the trouble it has been productive of to me, I am not at lib erty to tell you, but it has certainly shortened my life.” “You look ill,” observed Lady Liv ingstone, with sympathy. "1 am worse than I look. I am go ing into the grave rapidly, Others less sensitive, or with stronger bodily health, might have battled success fully with the distress and annoyance; 1 could not. I shall die in greater peace if this unhappy affair can bo cleared. Should it prove to be the same bracelet, we might be able to trace out how it was lost.” CHAPTRR XV. Lady Livingstone left the room and returned with a dfiimond bracelet. She held it out to Miss Seaton, and the color rushed into Alice’s poor, wan face at the gleam of the dia monds. She believed she recognized them. "But. stay,” she said, drawing back her hand, as she was about to touch it, “do not give it me just yet. If it be the one we lest, the letters S. H. are scratched irregularly on the back of the middle clasp. Perhaps you will first look if they are there, Lady Liv ingstone.” Lady Livingstone turned the brace let. glanced ai the spot indicated, and then silently handed it to Sir Jasper. The latter smiled. “Sure enough, here's something—I can’t see it distinctly without tny glasses. What is it, I^ady Living stone?" “The letters S. 11. as Miss Seaton describes; I cannot deny it.” "Deny it! No, my lady, what for should we deny it? If we are in the possession of another's bracelet lost by fraud, and if the discovery will set this young lady's mind at ease, I don't think either you or I will be the one to deny it. Examine it for your self, ma'am,” added he, giving it to Alice. She turned it ubout. she put it on her arm, her eyes lighted with the eagerness of conviction. “It is certain ly the same bracelet," she affirmed. “It is not beyond the range of pos sibility that initials may have been scratched on this bracelet without its being the same," observed Lady Liv ingstone. “I think it must be the same,” muqjd Sir Jasper. “It looks suspici ous.” "Lady Frances Ohenevix understood you to say you bought this of Messrs. Garrard,” resumed Miss Seaton. Lady Livingstone felt rather foolish. “What I said was that Messrs. Garrard were my jewelers. The fact is 1 do not know exactly where this was bought; but I did not consider myself called upon to proclaim that fact to a young lady who was a stranger to me, and in answer to questions I thought verging on impertinence.” “Her anxiety, scarcely less than my own, may have rendered her abrupt,” replied Alice, by way of apology for Lady Frances. "Our hope Is not so much to regain the bracelet as to penetrate the mystery of its disap pearance. Can you not. let me know where you did buy it?” “I can," interposed Sir Jasper; “there's no disgrace in having bought it where I did. 1 got it at a pawn broker’s." Alice's heart beat violently. A pawnbroker’s! what dreaded discovery was at hand? “I was one day at the east. e‘nd of Ixmdon walking past, when 1 saw a topaz and amethyst cross in a pawn broker’s window. I thought it would be a pretty ornament for my wife, and I went in and asked to look at it. In talking about jewelry with the master, he reached out this diamond brace let, and told me that would be a pres ent worth making. Now, I know my lady's head had been running on a dia mond bracelet, and I was tempted to ask what was the lowest figure he would put it at. He said it was the most valuable article of the sort he had had for a long while, the dia monds of the first water, worth £400 of anybody's money, but that being second-hand he could part with it for £250. And I bought it. That’s where I got the bracelet, ma’am.” “That was just the money Colonel Hope gave for it new at Garrard’s,” said Alice. “Two hundred and fifty guineas.” Sir Jasper stared at her; and then broke forth with a comical attempt at rage, for he was one of the best tempered men in the world. “The old wretch of a Jew! Sold it to me at a second-hand price, as he called it, for the identical sum it cost new! Why, he ought to be prosecut ed for usury.” “It was just what I told you, Sir Jasper,” groaned the lady, “you will go to these low, second-hand dealers, who always cheat where they can. In stead of a regular jeweler; and nine times out of ten you are taken in.” “But your having bought it of this pawnbroker does not bring me any nearer the knowing how he procured it,” observed Miss Seaton. “I shall go to him this very day and ascertain,” returned Sir Jasper. “Tradespeople may not sell stolen bracelets with impunity.” Easier said than done. The dealer protested his ignorance and innocence, and declared he had bought it in the regular course of business, at one of the pawnbroker’s periodical sales. And the man spoke the truth, and the detectives were again applied to. (To be continued.) A FIRE IN ST. PETERSBURG. Trumpeting Ringin'; and flatter Unlike Anything in America. An hour ago the steamship Una had landed me on the quay, and now, hav ing handed in my passport, duly vised and countersigned, to the czar’s vicar in the hotel bureau, I stood upon the Newski Prospect trying to identify the peculiar odor of St. Petersburg, foi every city has its peculiar and distinct ive smells, says a writer in the Acad emy. At the end of the Prospect was the tower whence the watchman watches the day and night for fire As I edged through the. afternoon crowd and dodged the headlong drivers, of droschlcies 1 noticed certain black balls run up on the signal tower. In a moment there came the tootle of i trumpet, and the blower, mounted, came galloping around a corner. Ther the jangle of a bell, the clatter 01 hoofs, and a fire engine—or at leasl part of a fire engine. For the mar. who sat by the driver and waved thf bell over his head heralded other ve hicles. One carried a hose pips, an other a barrel which might have con tained healing water or refreshing vodka. There wore six in all, and upon each were big men with bright brass helmets. They galloped up the Newski Prospect toward a huge column of smoke. Suddenly, amid the trumpet ing and the ringing and the clatter, ev ery helmet was lowered, and as the horses dashed along, every man rever ently crossed himself. Even the bell ringer, with bell still aloft in his left hand, did homage with his right hand to the cikon on the street corner. The book of Maybes is very broad. THE TRUST REMEDY. WORTHLESSNESS OF THE BABCOCK PLAN CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED. Itoiuoval of tlie Tariff Duties Would lu No Case Injure the Hljj toniliiimtloiM. While It Would He h Positive Advan* tage to Some of Them. In this matter of removing the tariff on trust goods in order to kill the trust or curb its power, which is the dream of the free trader, there are several points to be considered. First, would such a move do the work which they assert it will? Manifestly the great combination of capital cares less for protection than does the small concern because it is better able to handle itself, it can take every pos sible advantage of the trade and meet its opponent where tlie small concern cannot. Its product is immense, its capital unlimited, and it can sell at a loss in any given territory for a time until it has driven its competitor from the field. But the assertion of the free trader that the removal of tlie tariff will kill the trust presents a somewhat queer condition of affairs, in the face of the fact that some of our greatest trusts are thriving upon articles upon which no duty is levied. Take, for in stance, tlie Standard Oil Trust, one of the most, complete organized aggrega tions of capital in the world. And then there is the Anthracite Coal Trust, which lays its heavy hand upon every householder who uses that article for fuel. But at once we hear the state ment that the products of these two great trusts are of a peculiar nature, and that similar articles from other lands cannot be shipped to an advan tage, and so can the more easily be shut out by these great combinations. There is doubtless an element of truth In this. But turn to another, and equally as great and successful a trust, which receives as much or greater at tention than the two above named— the Sugar Trust. Here we find an in stitution working for the same thing the free traders are, the removal of the sugar duties. The free trader says re move the duty and the power of the great trust is curbed. The Sugar Trust wants the duty removed so that the millions which now go into the feder al treasury may be turned to its own coffers, and the competition which stands in its way swept out of exist ence. Free trade for the sugar trust would give it vastly more powers, be cause of the sugar interests it controls outside of the United States which would simply cause a transfer of the duty upon its material from the fed eral treasury to the pocket of the trust. It would mean millions saved In raw sugars, with which to fight the beet sugar interests at home. Cheaper sugar might come to the public for a period, while it was undermining its competitor, but that would be all. Then take the Steel Trust. It is very questionable whether the sweeping away of the duties on steel products as Congressman Babcock would like to do would curb the power of that great corporation to any extent. But it might seriously interfere with the prosperity of the many smaller con cerns scattered through the country. According to figures given by those who favor Babcock's measure, the steel combine is now receiving some $4 per ton on steel rails over and above the margin given by the addition of the tariff, and what they claim is a fail profit added besides. Foreign competi tion is not taking advantage of this wide margin. Is there any proof that it would with the tariff removed? The fact is that steps are being taken to organize foreign steel producers. They like the big products Just as well as the Americans, and their greed is just as extensive. The foreigner will take advantage of the enormous demand just as quickly as the domestic pro ducer. He is just as susceptible to the advantages of combining mutual in terests as is the American. Is it not somewhat incongruous, this plea for tariff removal, to curb the power of the trusts, when at the same time one of the most powerful of trusts is working for free trade in the product it handles, not for its own un doing, nor for the benefit of the public, but simply for its own financial gain? —Mankato (Minn.) Free Press. THE TARIFF REFORM PARTY. Anxious for Another ( Ini nee to Botch the Job. Those editors of Democratic news papers who are dying for an issue upon which their party may go into the next presidential campaign with some hope of success are still nibbling at the tar iff question, and are demanding in a faint sort of way that there shall he some sort of tariff reform. They don’t take hold of the bait as if they loved and are hungry for it; but they play around, and occasionally take a nibble at it, as if to satisfy themselves that it is still there. The idea seemingly is, if they can find nothing better they will finally swallow it, and declare that it is good. This is not strange. It shows that they are not so foolish as to have learned nothing from experience. They have not forgotten how unsatisfactory it turned out to be in the end. But better that than nothing, and having tried other things that turned out even worse, they will take the tariff issue, if nothing else presents itself between now and 1004, and are doing some thing to familiarize the smaller fish with what may he a last resort. But there is nothing in the past his tory of the party and its manipulation of the tariff to encourage the people of this country that the Democratic party is capable of doing anything useful in connection with the tariff. It has never attempted to do anything that it did not make a botch of, anti the num ber of persons now being who have felt the weight of these blunders, to make it safe lo risk that as an issue upon which to ask for the restoration of the party to power. The Republican party has nee'er occu pied an equieoeal position on this ques tion. its platform declarations have been in harmony with its perform ances. The prosperity of the country under the operation of Republican pol icies lias been a complete vindication of their correctness. The wonderful industrial development of the country has come about under the operation of these policies. Intelligent people know this, and hence, whatever demand there may be for tariff reform, it is consid ered safest to leave the details to n party whose policy has been vindicated by time and by results.—Knoxville (Tenn.) Tribune. THE OLD MAN AND DEATH. An old man that had traveled a long way with a huge bundle of sticks found himself so weary that he cast It down and called upon Death to deliver him from his miserable existence. Death came straightway at his call and asked him what he wanted. Real Republican Reciprocity. But when reciprocity treaties come within President McKinley’s definition of "opening up of new markets for the products of our country by granting concession to the products of other lands that we need and cannot produce ourselves, and which do not involve any loss of labor to our own people but tend to Increase their employment,” the Republican party is a unit in sup port of them. It may be taken for granted that whatever treaties are made will be on thoso lineB. President Roosevelt will work in harmony with the senate and house. There is no "impending war” on this subject or any other. The Republican party Is as strong now in favor of “continuing the policy that has been so brilliantly successful in the past" as it has been at any other time. The wonderful success of that policy was never more evident then in the trade returns of the present time.—Philadelphia Press. Klght Sort of Tax. A tariff that gives every man em ployment and gives him more money to spend than he ever had before—the beautiful condition in which the aver age American workman finds himself today—may theoretically be, but is not practically, a tax. Or, if it is a tax, and more of it would give the people a greater degree of prosperity, then kind ly tax us a little heavier. In other words, a tariff for the United States is about such a tax as is the advertis ing expenses of the up-to-date business man. It is an outlay that results in great profits. It may be overdone, we cannot deny that, but when the profit is immense where is the foolish busi ness man who, having built up an enormous business by and dependent upon advertising, will abandon the publicity department or lop off its branches in an effort to find an infini tesimally small waste?—Pendleton (Ind.) Record. Vital Principle of Reciprocity. The industries of the United States have been developed In the face of the strongest opposition from competitors who would have liked us to remain tributary 16 their Industries. In no other way could this have been done so quickly and effectively as by a tariff which protected them from outside competition until strong enough to stand alone. And this should always be borne in mind in making treaties of reciprocity or they will prove more or less disastrous to important industries. It will therefore require sound states manship to put the principle of reci procity into actual practice, and yet in flict no damaging blow to home indus tries on which many thousands of peo ple may depend for employment and livelihood.—Michigan Farmer. Kasy to Tear Down. Nearly every dollar of the immense capital invested in our industries if placed in jeopardy, besides the welfare of millions of working people, should a harmful policy of dealing wito trusts and the tariff be adopted. It is easiei to tear down the superstructure of public prosperity than it is to build il up again, and no measure should be advocated which wreaks harm or mis fortune to any class concerned in these two great interests.—Elkhart find.' Truth. Would Be an Act of Folly. Any reciprocity plan which proposes to permit foreigners to come in here tc hurt an American industry while our people assail foreign industries, is not only In defiance of the instinct of self preservation, but is opposed by all the best experience we have had.—Textile Record. "————mmmmmmmmmmm ■ ‘ j The Feed of the Horae. We find among the best of horsemen great divergence of opinion as to the feed most suitable for the horse. The writer remembers attending a meeting of horse breeders where the question was discussd as to whether corn stov er should be fed to horses. Some were sure that it was too wide a ration and produced a horse without spirit, while other breeders declared that corn stov er and corn grain were Just the kinds of feed to make good animals. The same difference of opinion is shown in different sections of the country and in foreign countries. Horse buyers in Belgium are said to willingly pay a larger price for horses raised there than for those imported from the United States, arguing that the im ported horses are produced on food too heavy in starch,while their own horses are produced on the most valuable of home-grown grains, such as barley and oats. Just how much of this no tion is based on prejudice we cannot say. Certain it is that in all parts of the world where the horse is raised and used, the people have very fixed ideas of their own as to the food best adapted to him. The Arabian feeds his horse on milk and balls made pf bread and meat, not infrequently giv ing him eggs as an added luxury. In the West Indies corn and sugar cano form the principal articles of horse feed, sometimes with the addition of considerable quantities of molasses. This latter as a horse feed has been quite extensively experimented with by some of the Southern stations. But In all countries and in all sections of this country grass In some form is the foundation of feeding. The successful use of feed depends on the feeder. Nothing can take the place of intelligence in him. Some men do not seem to be able to feed a horse successfully even with bins full of the best grains. They overfeed or underfeed, feed too much or too little of certain kinds of feed and get poor results. We have seen a farmer pre pare horses for work in the spring by pouring into them timothy hay and corn. The result was that the horses by spring were fat and Bleek, but had little energy. We have seen other men prepare horses by giving them a carefully balanced food, of which the grain part was oats. The horses so prepared for work were not over fat at time of beginning the spring work, but they were full of life, and it was a pleasure to handle them. There are many farmers that can become good feeders by study and observation, while there are others that have no adaptability for Buch work. The ef fect of feed on the horse cannot be told by the Increase in weight. The factor of energy Is one that must be taken into consideration. Cure of Milk llen.llv The United States Department of Agriculture gives the following advice as to the care of millc utensils: 1. Milk utensils for farm use should be made of metal and have all joints smoothly soldered. Never allow them to become rusty or rough inside. 2. Do not haul waste products back to the farm in the same cans used for delivering milk. When this is un avoidable, insist that the skim milk or whey tank be kept clean. 3. Cans used for the return of skim milk or wney should be emptied and cleansed as soon as they arrive at the farm. 4. Clean all dairy utensils by first thoroughly rinsing them in warm •water; then clean inside and out with a brush and hot water in which a cleaning material is dissolved; then rinse and. lastly, sterilize by boiling water or steam. Use pure water only. 5. After cleaning, keep utensils in verted in pure air, and sun if possible, until wanted for use. Feeding Fowls m Transit. In shipping poultry Bhort distances no provision need be made for food and water; for long distance ship ments attach a cup in one corner ol coop at such a height that the chafl or other material in the bottom of the coop will not get into it,—for feed tit a bag of mixed grain to the coop, or II the coop has canvas sides and only a few fowls in it. sew a pocket upon one side (outside) to contain the grain. This makes it much more con venient for the express attendant than if he has to untie and tie a bag at each feeding. It is also a good plan to put a few beets or turnips in the coop, and, if there is likelihood of the fowls be ing confined for some time, a piece or two of bone with meat on them cooked quite dry so that fowls can pick it ofl only in small particles. These things help to occupy them, and may prevent their picking each other’s feathers or combs.—Farm-Poultry. Fp to the present time there has been a keen demand for the services of graduates of our dairy schools, espe cially in the line of creameries. There have been a great many creameries es tablished during the last few years, and these all demand skilled men for butter-makers and managers. What is the result to be finally if the con solidation of creameries goes on? The competition that is now stimulating production stands a good chance of being eliminated altogether. The historic old steamer, the River Queen, where President Lincoln and his cabinet discussed in 1865 with prominent Confederates a treaty ol peace between North and South, is now used to carry negroes to a negro resort on the Potomac. A bachelor always wonders what is the matter with a baby when it isn't crying. He who at 20 does not understand, at 30 does not know, and at 40 is poor, will have a wretched old age.—Detroit Tribune.
