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Show A SAD STORY. 185 " He pulled off his coat, and like another David, challenged the biggest man in the camp to fight him, declaring he could lick any of them. He was so plucky they concluded to take him, but they slipped a few boards in the bottom of the wagon in case they might need a coffin on the way." And then, with a far away look, as if his mind was wandering through the halls of the past, the gentleman said: " There are many romances in this country. The blue-flannel shirt and the rough miner's garb often cover a heart joyous with hope and ambition, or one painfully throbbing out a sorrowing existence. Grief has frosted my hair. When I came to Colorado a glorious day seemed dawning upon me, that fell e'er noontide into hopeless, ray-less night. "Mining business called me to California, and circumstances prolonged my stay a year, during which time I sent frequent letters to my wife, whom I had left in Denver, expecting from week to week to join her there. " One day I was notified to appear in a divorce suit. She had been persuaded by malicious, officious friends that I was false to her, and had deserted her. It was her pride they touched, not her heart. " The grief was so great that nature reeled under it, and for weeks I was the victim of a fever that robbed me of all consciousness, and prevented me pleading my cause. Death passed me by, but left my heart sore and sad. " It was six months before I was strong enough to travel, and I took the train for Denver. When I arrived there I learned the sad story. They had sworn to lies, and my Leonora was then the wife of a man who was handsome in person, refined in manner, dressed like a nabob, and |