She was a meek, reticent
woman who entered and departed in dismal silence, and in a few
moments the two young men were quite alone with the door closed.
They drank a cup of coffee each, and then Hope proceeded to read
the confession.
The story told by Mrs. Jasher commenced with a short account of
her early life. It appeared that her father was a ruined
gentleman and a gambler, and that her mother had been an actress.
She was dragged up in a Bohemian sort of way until she attained a
marriageable age, when her mother, who seemed to have been both
wicked and hard-hearted, forced her to marry a comparatively
wealthy man called Jasher. The elderly husband--for Jasher was
not young--treated his wife very badly, and, infected with the
spirit of gambling by her father, lost all his money. Mrs.
Jasher then went with him to America and performed on the stage
in order to keep the home together. She had one child, but it
died, much to her grief, yet also much to her relief, as she was
so miserable and poor. Mrs. Jasher gave a scanty account of
sordid years of trouble and trial, of failure and sorrow. She
and her husband roamed all over America, and then went to
Australia and New Zealand, where they lived a wretched existence
for many years.
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