he imagination of the dozen gentlemen present, and so
nearly prostrated their host that he thrust the box he held unopened
into the safe and fell upon his knees, a totally unnerved man, crying:

"The banshee! the banshee! My daughter will die!"

Another hand than his locked the safe and dropped the key into the
distracted father's pocket.

Thus a superhuman daring conjoined with a special intervention of fate
had made the enterprise a successful one; and Fairbrother, believing
more than ever in his star, carried this invaluable jewel back with him
to New York. The stiletto--well, the taking of that was a folly, for
which he had never ceased to blush. He had not stolen it; he would not
steal so inconsiderable an object. He had merely put it in his pocket
when he saw it forgotten, passed over, given to him, as it were. That
the risk, contrary to that involved in the taking of the diamond,
was far in excess of the gratification obtained, he realized almost
immediately, but, having made the break, and acquired the curio, he
spared himself all further thought or the consequences, and presently
resumed his old life in New York, none the worse, to all appearances,
for these escapades from virtue and his usual course of fair and open
dealing.

But he was soon the worse from jealousy of the wife which his
new possession had possibly won for him. She had answered all his
expectations as mistress of his home and the exponent of his wealth; and
for a year, nay, for two, he had been perfectly happy. Indeed, he
had been more than that; he had been triumphant, especially on that
memorable evening when, after a cautious delay of months, he had dared
to pin that unapproachable sparkler to her breast and present her thus
bedecked to the smart set--her whom his talents, and especially his
far-reaching business talents, had made his own.

Recalling the old days of barter and sale across the pine counter in
Colorado, he felt that his star rode high, and for a time was
satisfied with his wife's magnificence and the prestige she gave
his establishment. But pride is not all, even to a man of his daring
ambition. Gradually he began to realize, first, that she was indifferent
to him, next, that she despised him, and, lastly, that she hated him.
She had dozens at her feet, any of whom was more agreeable to her than
her own husband; and, though he could not put his finger on any definite
fault, he soon wearied of a beauty that only glowed for