"I have no objection, I am sure," responded
Cook, indifferently. "Did she marry well?"
"She married a man in good circumstances."
"She would take good care of that."
"Then you don't intend to reclaim her?"
"How can I? She obtained a divorce,
though by false representations. I am glad
to be rid of her, but I want her to restore the
two thousand dollars of which she robbed me.
I left my property in her hands, but when
she ceased to be my wife she had no right to
take possession of it. I ought not to be surprised,
however. It wasn't the first theft she had committed."
"Can this be true?" asked Carl, excited.
"Yes, I married her without knowing much
of her antecedents. Two years after marriage
I ascertained that she had served a year's term
of imprisonment for a theft of jewelry from
a lady with whom she was living as housekeeper."
"Are you sure of this?"
"Certainly. She was recognized by a friend
of mine, who had been an official at the prison.
When taxed with it by me she admitted it, but
claimed that she was innocent. I succeeded
in finding a narrative of the trial in an old
file of papers, and came to the conclusion that
she was justly convicted."
"What did you do?"
"I proposed separation, but she begged me
to keep the thing secret, and let ourselves remain
the same as before. I agreed out of consideration
for her, but had occasion to regret
it. My business becoming slack, I decided to
go to California in the hope of acquiring a
competence.
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