The evening world. Newspaper, August 3, 1914, Page 13

World Dai DOOOODOO. e: Mon ys ¥ DEGHDDODHOOSO. Q OOOO or x “The Story ofa N meless Hero’s Sacrifice and of a Love That Would Not ‘Sacrificed ; A Complete Novel Each Week in © By Frank L. Packard {GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN © Me Evening World Q 65:0999058939909HOHOOOHITOOHDHNIHAITOOODOIGWO DHYOHOHDGHOVOO @0IGHDHOSVSOVDSBOODOWDOOGADOOOSEGOOOH. Mrs, Merton nor Anna, the old mald- The door opened and clowed—Rag- servant, had been disturbed. Varge's stood in the cell. lips drew together in hard compres- 1 thought you had given it wy sion, the knob turned ently, he in,” said Varge quigtiy, (Copyright, 1914, by Georgs H. Doran Oo.) CHAPTER I. The Darkest Hour of Night. And now, guided by the sense of touch, Varge inserted one of the thin, flattened Javelin ends of the bar into 4), the crack between the edge of the into the room where lay the doctor's body, and thore he was confronted by “ ad man's widow. pushed the door open, stepped over door and the jamb and just under She moved slowly toward Varge. “You' irve it I ER atiliness. Utter blackness, And then a faint, indeterminat the threshold and closed It again be- the lock, and, with a steady pres- “1 sponded Randall tartly. “Yor far-away sound. Tho sleeper’s eyes opened, and, as calmly, a hind him. he Hock, and. with a atendy pres. "t have asked on my knees throud® Yard" enough to go 10 the vil your own way. Well, what do you be, this morning?” ‘a. shook his head. the night that it might not be #0,” she sald, “that this at least might be some horrible mistake—and I have naturally as he had lain asleep, he lay now alert. Varge was awake. And now it came again. Then o long pause—then again—and again, it came from the cast end of the house, at the rear—from A faint red glow from the grate fire at the lower end of tho room and di- rectly opposite the low window that then a little sharper sound “k began to yield and give, the back stairs. Gome one was mounting them with extreme caution, reve wate thd awe in front, rather tie tue to can tt en Up ol not believed it and I will never be. aauen \s nothing to, ey, Johns be a than filuminating, seemed, by con- doo rom rm 2 , The minutes passed, perhaps three of them. The footsteps now had trast, to accentuate the darkness of with a thud against the wall—and lieve it unless I hear it from your smil am guilty, and I em Feached the landing and had begun to come along the hall—nearer and Nearer, with the same ominous stenith, to the door of the room in which Vargo lay. own lips’- Varge, and was talking to Varge, to to answer for it.” of @ had stopped before short, _broad-shoul the apartment in all but the little, shifting, flickoring space around the wrenched it free, Coolly, methodically but atill with If. his space Varge's thy Still relaxed, still in repose, not a muscle of Varge's body had flexed by Seria faniebed Inetentiy. « <-. Suhiher hatter, aoc loupelsten: “Ne eettst Chat’ aoumsed: WRALE BaP ebe B #0 much as a ripple as he listened; the beat of his pulse was the same calm, ‘A form with arms outflung lay UPON stopped back to the fireplace, placed lon that seemed to make her ob- Strong, even bent as in sleep. And yet every faculty was atune, stimulated the t’bearskin tug before the the nash box under bis arm and laid Uvious of all else, of the others, of a to Its highest efficiency. What brought Harold Merton, the son of the house, hearth, silent, Lag ae = tee the fender bar 6 he had found her surroundings even—"“why, you o. at 2 o'clock in the morning to the little chamber over the kitchen, that wan Nant, recuse in erin adhEneS Of tt st the Doctor's feet—only now the are just like another son, Varge, and, impulsively on se'e shoulders. es Apart, shut off, from the rest of the dwelling; and brought him stealing fs 7 Wrought iron bar was no longer ‘Varge, open up on t in death, tinging the cheek with ite own ptraignthalfway down its length it Cf Course, I couldn't believe it any Fich, deep color, gave to the features was bent at right angles. more than I could believe tt of es Soe ete ba Rag! He & Varge walked quickly to the front. Harold. Why, I've brought you up ealth. mat <4 window and let the shade roll full to and taken care of you and loved ~. crime sed thrown himself down to rest F®- the top; then to the door, reachi "ete jnzation to wath the firelight’s play yp to presa the button and throw on You ever alnce you were a little boy. Randall's, sult on bis en. Ss Don't you remember, Varge, I taught tightened in a frie: Dreasure. and bad Lia pr teentir9 wunwnie the light as he passed out. He cloned naly emple upwar , the door behind him, went down the you your letters? Of course, it isn't “John,” he said steadily, “I have hair was a deep open wound, and haji toward the rear, through the iM a rae! only the same answer foi ‘4 , 4 r you a8 Be dark and true, It's Ike an answer to prayer fore, ‘Don't force tt from me A 4 4 Below Jt the Delt ite cing Stream Pantry, crossed the kitchen, unbolted hua i ed; ie | mi ou’ - ot something ted, a Fed deeper even the back door, and, stepping out into you've come to tell me so your- You are wrong—I ain guilt; than the glowing coals, still ran down, the bottom of the snow-covered gar- Lit very slowly now, behind the ear, den, Here he hurdled the high fence though to hide itself and tts with a strong, agile awin ed, with a catch in his voice, " a there, where none could hear or mark his movements, like some gullty, evil fa, with Gatch in hia voice” prowler with cautious, frightened tread? have you done thie for A hand fumbled for the doorknob wildly, you are not calm. You im- t innocen: outside with a curious sound, a8 agine something that is worse than though the knuckles were beating a the thing is. What is this danger that tremulous, involuntary tattoo upon my going will save you from, and how the door as they came into contact could my leaving here save you from with it. The knob turned, the door anything’ was pushed slowly inwards, slowly — “I have been seen,” Merton oll again, there was a faint click hoarsely. ‘I hava been seen,’ from the released catch—and against peated, with a shudder. “Tiey will the door, without form or outline know that I did {t unless suspicion is in the ‘darkness, was an added directed somewhere else. Don't you the night, ran the hundred yards to self, haven't you? Tell me, that it lan't true.” A beg as of death fell wu Varge, . Randall pulled away his hands . acew beck—-and abruptiy bi pode ss, " the changed. He shook nis hoger in at opaqueness. see? Are you blind? If you fly in telltale story, disappeared beneath the and now ia Varge’s face, A “] am awake"—there was an al- the night, if you disappear, they will dead Heakls Couaee a wide, open tract of land was before “fou lle!" he cried passionately. | moat imperceptible pause between think it was you. But they'll never Hit ORGAN Ward 18 Re ee Ee “You lie, and you know it! vi ine wood a quarter of a milo what's more, I ki .. catch you, you are too clever, and At the doctor's fect lay the fonder to a pi a 4 » now it. If you on Soe ree ae vee Watiainw. tae ‘ve nothing to lose, no family, no bat long piece of phd vay ea." the right, for which be jn his temple swelled, and, throbbing, !'™ solng to by and see an in- phrase of a strange language one Dame even you see I thought of thi wrought iron, some four feet in ie stand out like great blue Docent man go to his death for geome length, drawn to rough, ornamental TI Javelin points at the ends. A sudden, low, chokin; @ strong man's atiffl from Varge's lips as he the room and, on his knees between the fire and Dr, Merton, knelt for a moment over the other's body. Against the fire Varge’s form loomed up for an instant, throwing soft snow, lately fallen, was ikle deep above the harder crust beneath, but it did not seem either to impede his progress or cause him added exertion to maintain the pace he had set for himself, With arms close in at his sides, his head well up, every movement born of the instinct of the athlete, he was running now with long, tireless strides as he had one else you're mistaken. Do hear, Varge? I thought from first you were innocent—bdut I oon thentthos but comparable I'll give you plenty of money. Hurry, Pe eae ae Sniy ier that ‘regard—the pronuncinst Varge! Get up and get your clothog jecent. jot a sound!" tion held no trace of foreign a What is this thing that you ha done that I must take upon myself?” Varge's hands tightened imperatively on the other's shoulders. “What is this thing that you are afraid of?” “ Merton mumbled. “Father, Father—and he is dead.” standing as one numbed, robbed of !t, know it now, and I'll prove it all power of movement; then heavily, #t@irs in that court room this Sarke as though drawn back by some In- !n& In spite of you. 1 wasn't idle visible power, she retreated from him owriat be sae i “What uu mean ?"—quii winking of an eye Varee hed rises from the cot and hie hand had “I am awake"—his tones were quict, composed. “Why have you come to @ in my room in this way, Harold A low gasp, the sharp drawn in. take of @ breath, came from the door, ‘ou—you know that it is I,"—the Words were & hoarse, shaken whisper. 1 into rellet a figure well above me- never run in his life before. daw: on Randall’ Mi heard ‘your frat step on the ,, Your father-dlead!" Varge pulled into rellet, & Agure Tel Sroportians)"And' dow: nos cunminig, Gut waking Gareripe Norrer Chae Wee creeping Ch" cciauy liverany % roe and fas: stairs," "Vargo answered simply. “I Were hidden by a heavy overcoat but- swiftly, back again, —“Varge! Varge, is it true?” she on his left side, went down Lg 4 Ry ee poe tceino caoe ana feel AlOne in the darkness. “When P, pulled and, (aking @ course diagonal to that cried wildly. knee. “Wh ‘you meant ve. “The wall, Uheard you come down the “id he die ‘4 come, headed acro Vv ‘arge, but more slowly now, ‘s hands brus! Deated Vi the ‘elds for a point on the town rond clustered’ brows helt: trom the fores and his hand dropped to his a mile lower down than the Merton head, damp now with beads of , Randall rose, white-faced, and felt Cah est pai reid the town. ad agony. dis ere with his rigne hand. gain mind was concentrated on fi . “My rd, Varge,” he muttered, his ‘problem. The weak link in the «itis true.” he sald hoarsely, | with a ahiver, “youre strong. = chain was the, motive—he had re- on, it is true! 1 did not know that . Varge sat down on the cot alized that, sensed that from the first guch a being as you could Iive—that Tiling, as quiet as though he —therefore, the stronger must be the God created such monsters. Go! Go, "ever fisen from it, —few minutes—great God, a y@r ogo"—the words wi @ chattering, fearsome whisper. “In the library, We had a quarrel. I—I struck him with the fender bar. I have killed my father.” hall on tiptoe. I know your step. I beard your hand shake like a fright- ened man's against the door.’ “Sometimen”—the other seemed to ver as Le spoke—"you seem more than human.” Why have you come to me in my pletely in shadow, but as he turned now quickly and, rising, picked up the fender bar, there was a mo- mentary gleam of dark eyes—and the eyes were splashed and wet. ‘The fireplace, wide, old-fashioned, built of brick, jutted out into tl HOUGH CAME. a ~ a SAP Dect oe GH her back here before Mrs, Merton is Merton paused, and in the silence Toom 4 ked Vari came the sound as of hands hard- awakened—that should not take you constructive, supporting evidence, ir- I'm sorry, John,” sald; “but Tein, tletng now toa sitting posture CHAPTER II. wrung together till the finger joints more than fifteen minutes, and. you TOOR,, 1A eee re Ae between It refutable, positive, each small, detail Tee eats dared” they bane have no one but youreelt jo’ taiee, | ail im the bed, “What has happened? I “ ” crackled. Bie Bab Pe ORES: en you come and the walls; and on olther ing a8 inevitably and significantly bh ‘ou tried to trick me, didn't you? “ will Nght a candle and you will tell I Am Varge. pavarge moved away from the bed, back, go, into that room again and side, just in the middie of this space Into the whole ae little coms fit essen "Fer enivh hd Chedivond ainieauatits You tried to startle me into what you . ‘ . ‘a word 8 a sudden knife gaoh DACK fo the litte washstand and ro- OF tao tna ho careful that your ond at the belgbt of a mane shoulters Hath ste Ponderous and complex MA- aimogt insane with grief and out: I Gone ike that sory of thine, Quickness, quavering, dominant with into inertia for a brief | “I tore up tho letters and, burned you understand?” suare that Harold” Merton” had accepted tho guilt ag his own, he had ih cruel “lighting kindly ‘lips. fell “1 did not.” sald Randall. “I terror. “No Ment; and. for moneys moment before the blood them in the grate’ —Mevton's Voled ne ed to his fect" will telephone fbowen of, They had been tiem, Alers fKermeanty mennt, To'run from it, to "You stand there, there, where it What | sald. You can lay \ speak low. Speak very low. spurts madly from the don't know why, I weat | " : nally with glass lor Mra. Mer- ; was done—it is too horrible! Are ie, but I'm going y “ y, L went to the wins at once, and then’ * beg the issue, was not only foreign to Waitt 1 am coming, close {0 YOU wound, ao, for that moment, Varge's dow and drew up the blind and looked | “Walt” said Varge sharply. “Two Con OE aa ene Serie afters his every Instinct, but it was certain You here to mock me—the woman who Peeiraibernt eee of us on the stairs at once may maki Wait until I have gone ’ He moved across the room, felt for the door and opened it, “Yes; but, Varge, as whispering wildly get away without money, and every- thing depends on your getting away: out onto the lawn. It was all snow, white, white, white, and not a mark & in it. I was trying to think what t do, when I heard a sound back of me from where—where it lay. It startled me and turned my blood cold. whirled around and jumped back across the room, and—and bent over faculties were shocked to numbness at the other's words. Merton had started up in an acces- sion of terrified apprehension, “Varge,” he mumbled huskily, “Varge, what—what are you going to noon tea-service; but, with the years, the doctor had come to appropriate the room as library, study and con- aultation room, and the glass doors had been replaced with stout wooden ones—and the china by the doctor's cash box, account books and papers. eventual discovery of the truth. Asa hag been your mother in svesyts possibility it had undergone the almost but birth? Go, do you hear, go aod carry with you to the hour of your unconscious, quick, accurate, mental surgery of Varge's mind—and had death my curse upon the day that I been eliminated from the outset. 'To took you into my life. Do not look at count on suspicion being deflected me like that! You are asking for mel What mercy did you give? from Harold Merton to himself by running away was almost worse than I have no mercy. I—I think my soul - Varge made no answer. His ¢ were on that darker apot that by the door, now was moving across the room toward him. And then a hand, thrust out, groping, touched his ahoulder—it was wet with cold moist- ure and shook as with the ague. noise, in,” said Varge, “whatever you may think or believe, you ere wrong.” ” Mertot ” ‘ Bas * pote Varge stepped at once past the fire- a i 2 ) “You stick to that, . ger, Varge—in awful danger, do you ough volcing hie thoughts Oooal falling in the grate, only a shall have no need of money,” out with his hand, The cupboard door tion, ‘They carried her from the room, and Patience. “Even to me?” hear? You can save me, You are Sloud unconsciously, rather than ' pieces Merton broke off ferkily, ata he stepped act Was still wide open, tho key atill in “OP sso, woe unpopular, dia 98 they passed out of the door Varge ;,,5ven {0 you.” sald Vv “What the only man, the only man, who can, answer to another, Varge spoke In ® and a short, sobbing laugh of hysteria Into the passage the lock; Inside, his fin; oe closed on liked. and always had been from = turned and buried his face in his the Proof you 1: agine you have te the Bay you will!” It can't mean anything jow, concentrated way. came from him. > the metal cash-box. | This he took | Ov iG ty York record would be hands on the mantlepiece. contrary Is I do not know, but"”—~ out, closed and locked the door, and Tne; thea, one thing would follow an: | Presently “some one touched his «conndencen acuta be mutual in lose °"t Will do it. Tt ia I who have CHAPTER Ill. Beeteee teres ApUae OH “Go on,” sald Varge again ulckly. re— ” “Co Bee nas cheney eh ; rbent over father then, I-T ee abstracted the key from the lock, He Other; the man himself, @ mental, arm. Varge raised his head. It was 4 nfidencea should be mutual. All T ; you baven't even So Much AB ee tou Wilk ehi—yes, you'll do tt was cool again. In Which the Web Is Woven, ‘where Dr. Merton lay, placed the moral weakling, not big enough even Marston. ‘You have my confidence,” a except what we've always called you Varge. I've money enough to begin "Tne thought came to me that he eras ee ox on the rug and slipped the in a vicious way to lle without | There was @ new ring, gruff and vVarg ‘am guilt Tous anu . SELATAN Waive DrouAnt YOU UP OH fe eelcr elk ere reer Tt eee yen, mabe be vonly stuaned—bat, Bue Be WIFTLY, with sure, lHght, Key into the doctor's pocket. tuntbiing. would be trapped and the bard, in the Sheriff's voice as be not very strong, Sohn T Cee de, eS eee voted teu Umers antl’ Suse sou sce be ee ad. I was perhaps three min- noiseless tread, Varge made Another instant, and he returned end would be inevitable—and mean- ® s Why do you make conditions? If you shone years and treated you like— would, 1 knew you'd stand by me. poke. “We'll go back now,” he sald ‘terae- rots! don't know ay to th board. He raised the fen- while over Mrs. Merton would hang hed one of us, and all you've had and [ knew you wouldn't fail me, Varge: : his way along the short to the cupboard. 4 Any such proof there could be Be all you've got you owe to us. You'll we've been good friends, you and. 4, ap abere ae tie passage and down the der. Bar, scroes te ata his hands the Shadow Gf the teh) aoventwating Fira nald Varge, ahd followed the reason for hiding it from me.” -=you'll repay it now, Varge, won't and” up BESS. aire a moved along it though measuring by days of agonized suspense the T, , Randall, from pacing up and down pressed close against the window stairs, It was a fight now “ONG then he stood motionless, list- hideous certainty that sooner or later Other quietly from the room. | But p PPIE Ai cieay of the room WASGONt Varee Non oriteea th tan had hig, ane andthe even were giering inal, with/and against time—with It, pbys~ ening. i ad oe cert eehed There had been that night in the darknoss of hin ‘Me cell, stopped in front of Verge { transforn into quick, shifting hand had reached out through the me. autant ieally, to accomplish what must be From the pantry, behind the dining only one way, only one sure way from alle sions, wire Bane EMERY me: I ik gcenes and pictures that staged them- darkness, closed on Merton's leg just jomething held me still—T couldn't gong without the loss of a moment; room, came the muffled ringing of the the first, big Mag nee Meat 9 PR cboe | , peenes and ploturee te nie before Chota he hoes ond tightened with» move. I must have taken my eyes oOo” vee ortant, againbt it telephone, very low, very indistinct, | There was loft then, strange para- Cot. his grent shoulders spooked ef Varge’s mind—colorful, vivid, real— crushing grip thet struck the man 4Way Instantly, 0 T am sure he Sale : Ai ‘a : as though a hand were held over the dox! only the law itself to battle with, id eri te Ralies afraid of you. That's honest, tit? : pictures of childhood, —memory- with terror. didn't, know 1’ saw him. | When I mentally, to co-ordinate the discrep- pella to deaden the sound, Harold A plea of guilty to the crime of mur. S0bs out Ite heart, | | Tam afraid that if I pave you @immed; pictures of boyhood, stand “Can you not understand?’— looked again the face was pone ban ancy that already existed. Merton was trying to get a connec- der In that stald old New England |. had chance to let that head of youre % ing out move sharply, in clearer Sous: Varge's whisper came now hoarse “ got up, i Lad geet pope, Hove’ Varge had reached tho bottom of ton, yorua nnd are Merton ¥ ng, State was neither Soonn ted he eine 4 ee with ‘ou'd beat me even now. Now, a » Dt a i ec were noi 4 n ct last * pictures of Inter, years; pictures. of and tense. "bo ‘ot speak, €x60Pt fainter and. went to. the, window, the stairs now and crossed the kitch~ flying bye yore Peete Ut after that would tho District-Attorney’s mind, at least, s'go into thle shoulder Yo abcleet ning sequence before him. be] sted Bay, Aueeoon A oe eoles There was no one in sight, but there en. Between the kitchen and the front yt had been necessary to destroy come the probing, the investigation ed the object pousht ‘9 5 Won't you open yp?" 3 a A foundling, nameless, a child of You ‘were seen, you said How Were footprints in the snow and the hall was a small crockery pantry the connection to account for Mer- that must establish guilt “beyond a itive manner than he ha “I have nothing to open up,” old five, adopted from an orphan asylum, here he had been given a home; here beside him had been of you. I turned off the light, crept ties, and he had refrained from telling reached the road, was finally eatis- gy “That | ,' Brolent up cometner Haein tittie couns Of,20, roof againat you if wary out of tho room and stole up here. rear of the library and ono to the the ae a arene intended to Sed that he hod done. rlitriey Falls, Ignorant of what had eat ones aberered Sina . ry town, until the other had gone out jet go!” Merton cried faint- I Wanted to get you to run away— hall itself. As he entered the pantry do in the hope of instilling into the Vargo crossed the bridge over tl ‘anspired, held doggedly to its Bret i to college and he, his own common echool education finished, had begun to work for Dr. Merton, his benefac he had grown to manhood, guddenly releases his hold upon an ll ready to tell that would account An instant’s groping and his fingers that he had tried to get connection reached the square and quickened his yy Varge, I've been thinking about « is suddenly releases his hold upon an fay Lelng seen ih the room ax T touched the telephone receiver, fol- ANd couldn't; and, also, there would puco as he headed wero It by the Grand Jury. then in senslod. good deal these lagt few dayan be: | life, knowing fciously grasped, which to the sense Was. I would say that I had been jawed it down to tho baso of the in- Bt, Perhaps even more important, the window of the sheriff's office on in the afternoon be ‘Jud, ross. S2!d, In @ low, husky voice. “You Z almost a fath ‘ation, al- of touch is utterly repugnant, Vargo Teading late upstuirs and heard your 1 the very evident genuineness of the ground floor of the court house— wajte—with the confident expectation KNOW It—It begins this, ‘Greater ve Most a mother's care, which in turn drew away his* hand. ice ead father's in. the library, 8t*ument and then, stooping, he Merton's surprise when some one elso Herley alla was the county seat—® that at tho actual trial It would be 1Ov@ hath no man © © #% ‘ had kindled a love and gratitude in ~ “Answer my question,” he sald. “If then silence. slipped his knifo blade in between should call his attention to the cut jight streamed forth, and from @ yindicated in ita belief, Randall, Varge's chin was cupped again in 9 his own heart that had grown almost you have been seen at all, there can- ‘That I had kept on reading, and the wires and the wall and severed Wires. sleigh before the door a man got oUt brilliant young 1 : a, hie hand, his eyes were on the stone to worship with tho years, a gratitude and loyalty that had caused him to crush back longings for a wider ere—contenting himself meanwhile constant study, acquiring in a hard school the knowledge of medicine that one day, when these two should be gone, he meant to make his profos- sion—for Harold Merton, ten years Si Gregors must have sent him from the dining room to the library door, There gone for Mrs. Maclaughiin, coat pockets, was staring, : mae sealers wan Ite My ere ets toh Laue tata: erewble fo ey rele farm fora doctor, and ho saw’ the waa ho flurry, no excitement In hie Varge's handa, one at each end of dropped a Iittle, at Robson Bik TEVA ONy Onde ClmeronUy 10 Be CHAPTER V. ; and ; ing old, : ( i ight and instead of ringing the bell movements—every action, swift, rapid the bar, rose to his chin, his elbows round, fatuous-faced, was talking in . FY. on intl, Wet Was ge nevhed i he ait hunted up. he {thought and waking up tho house he went though it was, was one of deliberate straight out from his body, | Thon « high, excited key cuhwain And again, Randall had re- The Sentence of the Court. Z Beit: No eed Bins) And a0 Re bad ie eee) ee naa fore: wink feat first to the window. I know what precision, ith his hand on the very slowly the elbows closed in and ; of course, T didn't see him do ever, on the third day, V. Te: 66 *1E prosecution reate'’—the a n. . week I received a letter—and the he's done now—he' 8 one on to the library doorknob, just opposite the downward, a sweat bead sprang to but I see his face as he bent over fusal either to talk or discu, the an. , 1 U¥GH Gholb. OUYNeA busines wea in It. 7 eons to ta the Bh rift what foot of the front staircase, he paused hig forehead, a panting Kasp came old doctor with his poccared arally, to naee bade District - Attorney sat tis true,” he sald slowly, “You whole cursed business ether found seem Varee, do you bear, he's on his for an Instant to ilsten auain, And from his ipa, and slowly, very slowly, red with blood, If you'd seed raging effect on ¢ down, and, his hend had no need to tell mo so. It is true. lost the ry Be. way there now?” now there was not a sound—ncither his hands crept together. yau wouldn't need to ask Who jawyer, I owe everything to your father, to ‘your mother, and through them to —m™m c nil o cour ot ieee ye ec, If Harold Merta didn’ Fone POM’ dovanything. for your night be called me into tho Mbrary gcnon wearing the {ith Bin cRnthe as Tie Te Harel Td like tevknow who all had left Verge entirely to him- looked over at Joha Rate I told myself you would fald'he hadnt aa eer at hee ange detail into the wel that was to en Ar * a) aid : eet ita Tone ne toner fot dal, a stern though not altogether Sete aS) Fold myselt, yee ovica ebing, He opened one of the little mes” himeslt and tree, the oid tn e You Going Away for acation! pig WIM tell you." sald Vargo, tte he had lived in hourly dread that the unsympathetic smile upon his lipe, would, You promise, Varge? Give square cupboards in the wall ut the facy ‘Merton throuch the darkness par 5 well-meant’ persistency might in ‘There was a sudden stir in the little ™e your promise. You've never brok- em one. will do anything for your sakos, carefully Verge repeated quietly. “I could not money—and took out the letter with a Jisten,” he said, “I am dressed, | Matter. reared. care! v . . oo ‘. . full of suspense over the and SSEDTIRINE 00 scorton tare Teeaed eeeereataeeat reeetved, ABCUE Tam going. You must, make 0 Why send to the cily for novels at $1.25 or $1.50 each or buy Loose Threads. And so tho four days had passed: crowded benches bags eriehly. “Get up quickly and dress, in a fearful rage. Wo quarroliod, mistake pow, Vou should nok Have them, at a fancy price in some country store? ROLY SALES $088 eng OF tne iuiae Tt was already afternoon. One by I have brought money enough to take But re was no noiso—we were - y did neo ‘ol ¢ i morning in stunned Wes i " nywhere—you can he afraid of awakening mother. ‘Then the shade again-you did net do You can supply yourself with the best, most delightful summer prepared, The gun streaming one the witnesses had testified as Lee you away Where they will never find you. Hurry, Varge, hurry! Why don't you were you se so that the crime would point to you and yet would be t go—you are breaking my movement, as one not be much time to spare.’ “No, no; there is not much—thei not a moment to lose"—this pi yi not new, but for a while dormant through other terrors and now awak- ened again, brought the words'in pit! ful eagerness from Merton's lips, “I'll tell you everytbing—everything. Lis- it, and without saying anything to me investigated the whole thing, To- side of the fireplace—you know the one, the one on the right hand side, where he keeps his books, papers and I don't know just what happened. I was standing by tho fire poking it trees hid the road. I jerked down the blind, and then—and then—I thought {t was my only chance. 1 wanted to get you to run away, to make them think you did it, and I—I had a story after a while, wondering why father hadn't come up to bed, | went down- stairs softly so as not to awaken mother and found him dead—and that then I went for you and you had disappeared. It was Mart Robson's face at the window—he's never liked me, anyhow. I suppose the Mac- Varge's mind was working quickly It was all clear, all that one thing that had —to lessen, to soften the shock to her either—I will attend to them. You did not see any one at the window For the rest, you can tell your story from which swinging doors led, one to the dining room directly in the Varge took his knife from his pocket and felt along tho wall with his hand, the connection, He straightened up and listened, From the rear above him he could hear Harold Merton's step at the top of the stairs—then the door at Varge's right awung under his hand and he and no time, down the hall, coat, ton’s otherwise suspicious tardiness in communicating with the authori- nervesshaken, incoherent man a lit- tle confidence on finding a grain of truth In the story he was to tell— But he had told Merton to waste and Would the man never—the ringing stopped, a guarded step came passed the door, halted a bare moment by the hall-rack, evidently to secure and then the outer door went quickly along the hall past the epened and closed softly—' confession. And thii library hat the sheriff, was at the erton had done it reading for six cents a week. When you go out of town for vacation you may find it Is difficuit and costly to provide yourself with the right sort of reading By subscribing to The Evening World for the rest of the summer reesonable doubt” to corroborate the Varge, os he little river and entered the town, had met no one on the road—Robson then had not ygt started back. urried Inside the building, Varge was barely more than a couple of minutes behind him. The sheriff's door was wide open as Varge stopped Into the corridor, Handeriie, the deputy sheriff, the last arrival, his hands deep in his over- Crickey, I tell you, CHAPTER IV. awe-stricken gloom, gathered In litte knots on perhay oped for, Varge was guilty. To Marston it seemed loss positive, and he still wavered, impressions and watched tho formal, routine progress of the law—the find- ing of the Coroner's inquest against Varge; the finding, tho next morning ree’ friend, undertook chargo for the de- fense. For the first two days Randall haunted Vargo in the jail, alternately cajoling, threatening, pleading in an effort to make him talk. “IT am guilty, John. I did it, There is nothing more to say,” Varge told to the extent that, appar- ently giving It up as hopeless, Ran- some unexpected, unanticipated way, result in supplying @ line of defer to the other that would shatter structure he himself had a In through the grated bars caught a glint of gold In the brown of his hair, seemed to caress the massive, splen- Varee monotonously, x “That is final?’ \ and rattled for Handerlie, who a fot him in, ‘Then he turned amd ; in the Bibl, floor and he did not look up, Handerlie’s sep | soto along the o corridor. poke again. “You' Ing to that verse, there aren't bigger, And so—well, so thank T can save you,” rumpling in habit through his gray late, court room—and a tremulous, sibilaat sound, the involuntary Intake of many breaths, seemed to waver, tenes, had called them, and now the State's case was at an end, One by one as hurry? ‘You have promised, Varge.” with that long fender bar. I think as you intended—but tuere are two | you wi rh a Gt ay the street corns Mi woud egultantly and: play warty L4e had finished with his witnesses be Warge’s hands went out and resteé in he meant to snatch it from my hand, things you must do. First, you ee asc t 9 complete Hee fl a Aan jet some old book 21 square, in their various places of busl- Sy) pence att haath tase te had glanced toward Randall ah@ reassuring pressure on Merton's two just with angry tmpetuosity, We must telephone the Sheriff: if you untry r has not been able to sell, but the finest up-to-date fiction } ness, and taiked in hushed, subdued he leaned a little forward, his chin nodded, signifying t hey were af ded, signifying that they a oulders. aie a struggled and—at, wasn't Sold bled, cannot get him, do not waste time [by the foremost living authors, cupped tn one hand. For perhaps five tho disposal of the defense for cross. “I have promised, Harold,” he said Varge. —we' een Qi! elling. over it—you must have tr that in mi 5 . ‘ A minutes he sat there without motion, . gravely, “and T will do this thing what. I didn't know avhat I did, I struck {s the Important thing, ‘Then you Bear this in mind, not only for yourself but for any of your friends} V with the Sheriff and burlod in thought, and then asa key examination, but each time Randall ever it may be: I will go anywhere If him on the side of the head with the must go at once for MacLaugh. | Who expect to spend their vacations in the country. District-Attorney, camo back to the grated in the lock he turned his head had merely shaken his head, it 1s necessary—but you are talking bar and he—he fell.” lin, your mother's friend, and bring rton house. There he was brought in calm inquiry. (To Be Continued.) ae ne —- POOCCOOGDOHOQDOOQGHDDH*EGQOGHSODSFODHTEDOHODOGIDOHNFOPDHGAGHGHOHHHTDHOOHSSEODSDTOTEHGOD: COO CEOODODWHGOOEGDFH LHDHOHPHGODOGOOS'OHHHGODDOHASGHHTDHHODOOGOOIDGODSE: Next Week's Complete Novel in ae The Evening World DORIDARAHAANTETDAIADAANANIN DADDAA KA THE BEST DOG STORY EVER WRITTEN. AN IDEAL SUMMER ROMANCE OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS ZAN NDE HN ET FOFODEOOAHLGE OLOCOO DODOC TOOL EOOSOOSOOIO ! OLIVER CURWOOD, By JAMES This Book on the Stands Will Cost You $1.25. You Get It for 6c