d, money and revenge. By leading my cousin
into a bigamous alliance, with her own marriage certificate as a weapon,
she could readily extort money from him. Her revenge was to be against
the family of my little sweetheart, against whom she thought she had a
grievance. Her plotting was entirely successful. My cousin was handsome,
I was away, and once he had become thoroughly acquainted with the young
Creole's charms, he became so ardent a suitor, that at length she
listened to his pleading and married him. Then he was in the power of
the Montalbon, and she bled him for five years, by which time little
Rose had been born.

"Meanwhile I had completed my college career, but had not returned to
New Orleans because of my deep disappointment upon learning that my
sweetheart had married another man. At this time I was in Paris, when
one day I received a piteous letter from the girl-wife telling me that
the blow had fallen, that the Montalbon had produced her marriage
certificate and claimed her husband, thus dishonoring the daughter of
her enemy. The letter also begged my forgiveness for the wrong done to
me. I read between the lines and recognized the cry of a broken heart,
the bleat of a lamb left to die on the frozen plain. I hurried home with
but one thought uppermost, to have revenge upon my cousin. I arrived too
late. Not only was the girl dead, but my cousin had disappeared.

"I heard that he had gone out West, and thither I followed him. I would
get track of him from time to time, but it seemed fated always that he
should have just left a place when I confidently expected to come up
with him. Thus five years passed, and at last I did meet him. I at once
charged him with his crime, and asked for revenge. He laughed at me and
refused to fight. I then warned him that I should take his life at the
first chance that offered, when I could do so either under seeming
provocation, or else where I could not be suspected."

"Are you not admitting," interrupted Mr. Barnes, "that you harbored a
murderous spirit?"

"Mr. Barnes, if all men were punished for their thoughts, the criminal
class would be greatly enlarged. You cannot call me to account for
anything except my acts. At last my chance came. I followed him one dark
night as he went off prospecting in an entirely new direction; we were
in a mining country. He tramped most of the night and I pursued. By dawn
we were miles away from a habitation. I then made myself known to hi