The evening world. Newspaper, August 4, 1914, Page 13

Coles 7 OO0990SG900000% Georrieht, 1914, by George H. Doras Company.) SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CRAPTERS. ay fa ict ee ttt ‘of rane, and persuades f ‘Vye diame for the crime, iy ar Be Nate it Eee, hae, a q eS Wey ou a tbe BY v's CHAI TER V. (Continued) The Sentence of the Court. T had not lasted long, Lee’ examination of his witnesses —most of the forenoon had been taken up with the im- vaneliin. of a jury and the @ourt formalities, The Coroner had testifed that Dr. Merton had come to Bis death from the blow of a heavy in- etrument over the left side of his head; the fender bar had been put in evidence; Marston had testified to Varge's confession; Robson had given his eviden lowed; and after him, corroborating one point in his story, the disappear- ance of Varge from the house, had come Mrs. MacLaughiin—and that nad been all. Once only had there been any demonstration—and that no more than a low rustle, the rubbing of clothes on chair feet, as Harold Merton had taken the @tand. But this, Merton, for the first @oment or #0, had appeared to sense, for bis face bad seemed to pale a Uttle as bis restiess biack eyes bad @dot glances around the room, and Bis Gret words had come hoarse and Jerky, stumbiing. After that made an excellent wit tlon, faci holding And through it all, Varge had sat with scarcely a movement, his head ightly bowed, beside Handerile, the jeputy sheri eyos, except dur- Harold Merton's testimony, when rom between clasped hands they had eld the other magn dividing their attention for t Di e tween John Ran jong parcel that fore the youmg attorney. | There had, something of quiet confidence in the way Randall had each witness to step ged, implying something in reserve, a masked battery, to which ad) this was but extraneous and fu- Bey that bad troubled Varge more a more as the trial had progressed. “fbank God, 1 cau save you,” had been Kandali’s last words to him that morning. What bad Randall discov- ‘Hat was ip that unwieldy par. o@l on the attorney's table? Kandi could not have fre at the truth—b had Jet Harold Merton yo from the stand unquestioned. bat then? What was this thing that kept Han- dail sitting there so sure a master of bimseit? John Randall rose with slow de- Uberation from his chair. “Varge to the stand!” A murmur, instantly bushed, swept through the room. Varge stood uj and for the first time since the tris had begun, the eyes of the two men @ light that seemed to mingle determination a0d assurance with a lurki: of ironic command; in Varg nly grave scrutiny. began Randall, in a brisk, pleasant voice, “you have stated that 1 o'clock in the morning, believing all of the household in bed, you stole downstairs to the library for the pur- pee. of stealing Dr. Merton's cash box?" “y Varge answered quietly. “You did ths deliberately, premeditation?" egy with You knew that the cash box was in the wall cupboard?” os. cupboard usually locked ‘Was this or unlocked “Locked,” replied Varge—and a load @eomed suddenly swept trom his mind; he knew now what Randall's by if” wae—it was to come out after , to come out almost tronically. ‘Dr. Merton always carried the key ith him." "You expected, then, to find it locked es. ‘And that night when you it, was it locked or unlocked? “Locked.” it to low did you open it?” pried v open with the fender here, that has been put e?'—Kandall pointed te wi ae he bar lay on the table, "Yee, “Where did you find the bar when went into the room?" usual place—before the fre- ‘as it bent the! was straight. Randall's voice rove suddenly, caus: tleally. “If you deliberately, premeditative- or straight?” ly rted out to burglarize a re- ceptacle that you knew, or, amount- ing to the samo thing, expected would be locked, doesn't it seem @ rath strange thing that you went unpre- pared with any tool of implement With which to open it?” A low sound, indescribable, mor Nke a deep, prolonged sigh than anything else, swept through the courtroom. ‘Zid jury, a8 one man, ¥eaned forward more intently. “I knew the fender bar wi =I intended to use that,” answered Varge. “Ah, I aee aid Randall smoothly, “You stole across the room, and at once picked up the fender bar from the fireplace?” “Yes. “The bar, you have said, was etraight when you found it?" Yes.” ‘Where did you go then?” “I went to the cupboard in the wall where the cashbox was kept.” “Let us be exact on this point,” — Next Week’s Complete Novel in Harold Merton had fol- ‘pp, the faint shuffle of & The Evening World DDOQOOGDDODOHHDDHHDHHIODSHOHOSOO DOSS gaid Ran dail. “It is not more than two steps, three at the outside, the matter of a moment, to go from the fireplace without to the cupboard. You directly to the cupboard rr, golng anywhere sie im the sige Ta the room “The bat was still in your hand and haturally, then, atill straight when you reached the cupboard “Yes 'Y g004,' ir “Now, bet said Randall gently, tween the time you reached the cupboard and the time you say Doctor Merton room upon position ti “No," leaped across the you, did you leave your in front of the cupboard?” “And duting that time you pried open the ar? bi “Yes,” Randall box and was his ci conversat enrnestne: voice rang strong and clear, 4 thrill through the courtr “Gentlemen of the jur: cupboard door with this whirled from the witness faced the jury. Gone now alm, easy manner, his quiet, tonal tones — passionate 88 was in his face, and his carrying m. he cried impressively, “this man is innocent! je Court will tell you, the District- Attorney himself will tell you, that there is not a of evidence on which to convict him aside from his own confession, voluntaril; gives himself up to ti and confesses to a crime hag no rea. son to tell anythi story; It woul Now a man who ly and of his m free will authori but @ bona fide be absurd to imagine that he would do anythix : elne—if, crime, “There the prisoner except his own story, ntlemen, he really comm.tted that is no evidence, I say, against If you convict him, you must convict him on that—and yet I will prove to you beyond the shadow of a doubt that according to that story it is im- possible for him to hay this crime, What does it mean, tlemen of rlaoner. ‘im all your his clean, uprig! man le ror gratitud welt aside ive committed gen- ey You know the it of you have known ‘ou know him for it life. You know him who, through love and to his benefactors, has put and stayed with them be: the cause they needed him—a sacrifice the greater because, ambitious, a man whose int high our! while tho not leave years V lected no ellect would carry him to a lace in any sphere, he has series ie crushed it back two loved and would il lived, But during these rge has studied and neg- single opportunity for eelf- improvement. “Hoe hai Merton and I have say myself that if h studied medicine with Dr. rd Dr. Merton sould have af- forded it be would have sent Varge to college—but Dr, Merton could not af- ford it, gentlemen—and no one knew that better than Vargo himself. Look him, gentlemen of the jury! here for the man he is, a man utterly incapable of this thin, He you or I—but a man, a man, gentle- men, capa himself to shield another. ~ A buss louder, ble of taking t! thing upor stirred the court room, grew swelled into a suppressed cheer—and atilled to an expectant rush at command Randall fender bar and was holding it out be- th fore the “This & low, earnest voice, * Judge Crosswaite's for allence had taken up the bent stern jury. ar, gentlemen,” he sald in js the bar that struck down Dr. Merton; this bar is the bar that forced open the cupboard door. Th. at is positive, certain. The Prosecution has told you so, and It is a@ fact—the marks and indents on the door prove it. Vargo tells us that it was straight when he stepped with It in front of the cupboard. The prosecu- tlon appears to have assumed that It was bent in prying open the door, and it looks as thoue) that might be so. There is the bar—it might be nothing remarkable about looke as though that so, But examine it again carefully—note its size and weight. “Gentlemen, I am casting no re- flections on the prosecution that they overlooked the point I am going to bring out. was different. sion had ew in was innoc p ‘ally stood for gullt—with me, . Their position and mine With them the conf been voluntary and pre my soul that the prisoner ent: But be would not talk to me, gentiemen, “I knew that, clever as was life, gentlemen, was in my hands clever had to find that flaw. I thank God that Th men, thii open the before it ‘9 been able to do it. Gentle. bar was not bent in pr; ing cupboard door; it was ben ir went r it—or, in other words, before the door could be prise open with this bar, as it was yond question, the Bee Deen bent. bar must bave gentlem see how simple is the proof of that state- ment. Randall up the pai Ject of so stepped to the table, picked reel that had been the sub- much curlosity and specu- jantion, removed the wrapping and ex- hibited a drawing, some five feet long by three feot wid “I have drawn to here,” he said, “a sketch, scale, of the cupboard and the end wall itself between the fire- Place and and here"— the side wall of the room; he picked up a little pointer that had been enclosed with the packa that Is the exact len, bar, if th ened out. Here is e—"'l have a piece of atick h of the fender e fender bar were atraight- See, then, what we have. the lock of the cupboard where the end of the bar was in- serted, I t is just one foot and six inches from the side wall, The bar is four feot long. We stick the thin end of the straight bar in by the lock to pry the door open, See, like this"— he set the drawing on end on the floor, and, holding it by one hand, dropped t end of his tion, wall proj course. 0 his knees and placed one stick at the indicated posi- “The floor represents the side jecting at right onnies, of What happens? jothing, The bar is too long. “There is absolutely no levera, not enough even to take up the little slack in t The bar | he crack of tho door itaeif, js too long—Iit must first be bent before it oan be of any service, But wait! There must be no posel- 799899809009050OHT9HTIHOONOAGIOSGHI GLE OIHTOIUGOHT9OHIDI9OIHOIOIOOBOO. =) THE BEST DOG STORY EVER WRITTEN. AN IDEAL SUMMER ROMANCE OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS By JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD A Eventag The Story of a Nameless Hero’s Sacrifice and of a Love That Would Not Be Sacrificed }GROATER LOVE HATH NO MAN © bility of error here. You may say that, while the door could only be opened from this side and that the bar had to be bent to do it, the bar might first have been inserted and t! levered the other way, or even up- ward or downward, where there is more 8} nd so bent. But that, wailvii all consideration of the strength and thickness of the bar, which to begin with would make it improbaole, is, with a moment's con- sideration, proved to be a fallacy. There was room only to insert the thin, flattened, spear-shaped ends of the nywhere around the casing, between the door and the door casing, and these would have bent or broken jong before the thicker part of the bar, the middle of tne bar, yielded to the strain—and yet thesc ends are as ht to-day as the day they were ry forged.” Randall rose to his feet, put aside the drawing, took up the fender bar again and walked directly to the jury box. “Gentlemen, the man who bent that ‘bet.-is-the.man who murdered Dr.. Merton—but it was not the prisone at the bar. { have told you befor convict him on his own story, that story from his lips. He stood fore the cupboard holding ight bar, he had nothing to bend it with except his bare hands, and yet he must have bent it before he could pry open the ci.pb door with it, ‘ake the bar shoved it suddenly into the fo ‘a handa—"try to bend it agains! the floor, with your hands, your knees, in any possible way that wal ossible to him—struggle with it, I beg you with all reverence in God's name, for a man’s life is at stake.” A breathless silence fell upon the room, From one to another of the twelve men’s hands the bar passed, each in his own way exerting futilely all his strength upon it. The foreman returned it gravely to Randall, “You cannot bend it,” sald Ran- Gall passionately. “Of course you cannot bend it—it requires mechan- feal means to bend It. I belleve that dead—murdered, gentlemen, at the hands of some one Varge is offerin; his own life to save—murdered a the hands of the man who, for some urpose that Varge is trying to Bonceal, had previously bent that bar, Yet wait! You are sone men and jet us ‘ou cannot bend it, but put io still further proof.” Randall turned from the fury, walked rapidly acroas the room and halted before the local blacksmith, seated on the front bench. “Joe Malloch,” he said quickly, “you are the strongest man T know in Berley Falls, Can you bend this bar?” och rose from his chair, took the bar, swung it over his shoulders and strained with it against his thick bull neck, then against the floor, across his knees, across his chest. His face was purple as he shook his head and, handing it back, sat down, Btraight, then, Randall strode to the witness box and extended the bar to Varge. His face wax flushed with emotion and he swept the hair, strag- ling into his eyes, away with a jerky motion of his hand, but his voice rose vibrant, strong with tri- umph, “Vargo, you stand there you have the same opportunity to ac- complish what you must have done ae you had that night. If you are ity you bent this bar. Show the jury how you did t Vargo took It quietly from the hands, he sald in a low, grave unt Tam guilty. Have you for- gotten what happened in the cell this morning?” A sudden, startled look flashed Into Randall's eyes, the color fled from his face, leaving him deadly pale, and he stumbled back a step, Varge raised the bar. Neither court nor court room om- cers could stop it—as one, from the rear bench to the front, n rose to their feet and craned forward The veins on Varge's neck and Dilly Muguste DECOSDOOH ©090000001 With gruff kindness. “Rut you do What they tell you in there—that's the only way to get along. That's of the outside patrol— never Been known to 6. topped. Marston took arm and got out. They were in front of a large atone building set forward a little from the penitentiary walls which joined it on either side. is sheriff ed the way up the short ight of steps to t rance. x short Hallway before them, and at its end, the entrance to rison proper, was massive steel- arred door. Halfway down the hall room opened off on the left hand The door of this room was , and the sheriff, nodding famil- larly to the guard and with bis hand @tiil on Varge's arm, turned toward it at once and stepped inside. Three persona were in the room. A young dark uniform at tl ding, her back hal ned, ned close to the chair, in which sat & short, broad-houldered man in g0ld-trimmed uniform, with clean- ®haven face and iron-gray hair. The girl turned quickly, aie aoe lithe and graceful, they entered. jarston bich taking some papers his pocket fre jood morning, Made albage rn he he laid on tho des! ello, Bhert™ returned the warden, rising and shoving his hand out cordially to Marston; then, halt turning: “Janet, you know Sherif Mars"—— “Indeed I do, daa”—the girl was al- rendy moving around the desk to meet the big, kindly faced county offic Fo t Varge's blankly and by 27m by—there wan neither frougnt for concern hor cognizance of his presence In the look, an 6 of the sheriff, of his wifo and family of friends in Berley Falls. th them. and Ren talline fald, extending them to the clerk at the other desk Varge from Nead to foot Varwmoment the look held, then the warden pushed a button on hia desk wrists were standing out like great knotted cords, his wrists seemed to 60 as white as the color of milk, a sweat beud burst from bis forehead, en another—and the bar was straight in bis hands. The wild confusion died finally away in a sullen murotur. minutes passed, Five, tem go, Voices, somehow in- congruous, unnatural, broke the oth- orwise tense silence—those ef Judge, the District. Attorney, and ence Randall's in @ broken plea for clem- ency to the jury. And then Varge stood up to face the twelve men who Varge raised hie shackled hands and brushed them across his eyes. A woman's voloe—here! The ward- to Sheriff Marato! coo eee your receipt, Sheri®” be 1d. had not left the box, and the single, °*| Varge on tho ominous words fall’ from the fore: Some, ome touched Yessy oo waa sate whats The District-Attorney rose from his chair. “May it please the Court, it comes my duty to move that sente bow. Marston took @ key from te ‘a wide. pt CN wes to ‘os Heol came tne hot mad, Duraiag face—it cam tide, as he held out hie wrists. bax Pe ‘Marston preseed his hands aa the Parse iiteees i hate latens manecics lipped oTe7eaid in a low, than any that had pi vt Upon the room as he “Varge, have you anything to say why sentence should not be passed ir > upon you ited bis ‘and looke “Nothing,” Varge answered, in @ ace—t » It wae low voice—and bowed his head. tate Oe See ae aallbately an incident to her, fibred chivalry of tne man, that held all womanhood in reverence leaped now into sudden cor her—ehe could have sa’ him this added hurt s0 easily—so easily—just to have turned her head. The guard led him from the room and out into the hallway, The mass- ive, steel-barred door swung back. A murmur of yorces followed him from the warden's ofice—and then, in & Bud exclamation, @ world of “The extreme penalty under the statutes of this commonwealth for the orlme you have committed,” said Judge Crosawaite, in astern, grave tones, “ia death. But your previous your voluntary confession, for invoking There was a pause, then came the solemn words: “The sentence of this Court ts that you be taken to the town of Hebron and be there confined in the Btate record, Penitentiary, for the reat of your nity, of infinite mercy in the low, natural life. shocked tones, thi girl's voice reached him, CHAPTER VI. “Oh—for life!” And behind him, oold, dull, moreeless, ringing ike echo to the woi door clanged and shut. CHAPTER VII. The Wheel. The Grey Place. RGE saw it first, as the horses, tolling up the long hill over the heavy, snow- banked road, gained the summit. It was only a it was ben: by some mechanical thing of stone, inanimate, reared by IN neither a day nor yet ina 1 means outside and brought there human hands, but it lived as a cold, week did Varge find him- before Varge ever entered that room: dead thing lives, as death lives in its If, Bat 4 I believe that when he entered } self. ting, battll that room Dr. Merton was already *Wful finality. battling incessantly —at For life. Black hour of bitterness! LIFE—it stretched away through the years in @ soul-sickening vista. “God, in Thy mercy, give me strength,” he prayed. A mounted man in uniform had swung his horse to Varge' was keeping pace with tl short-barrelled carbine lay pommel of his saddle. not speak. He edged little nearer to the sleig! night in his cell, by day in the carpenter shop where he had been put to work—the fight went on within him, And it was an uneven combat; for, fine-grained, keenly sen- itive, delicately strung, even his A mental faculties revolted at every de- tall of the life about him, and joined {asue with the full-veined, red blood within him that would not know re- id leaned from tho saddle for a long and closer straint, view o: arge's face—as thou; to note the minutest detall of every fea. , Pittiless Gaye—that ate into the ture. And but once, during a full five minutes, did the man remove his eyes from Varge—to pick up his borse as the animal stumbled, Then bie eyes came back fgaln instantly, A slow flush crépt to Varge's face— and died away, @ understood well enough—too well. It was the first searing touch of the brane ne fron that marked him as one of a herd— and {t was more than that. It was the first touch of the whip—from the master. “It ain't pleasant,” iron of bis soul as remorsclessly as drops of acid eat to the metal's core, Ev the alr around bim, the alr he breathed, was different from the air of the world without—It was heavy, always heavy, charged with the nau- seating odor of disinfectant. And al- ways, ever, there were bars of steel, and tron doors, and wall of stone— and eyes upon him, watching him with cold relentless vigilance even in his sleap. At night be would awaken and lis- said Marston, Are You Going Away for Vacation? When you go out of town for vacation you may find it is difficult and costly to provide yourself with the right sort of reading matter, Why send to the city for novels at $1.25 or $1.50 each or buy them at a fancy price in some country store? You can supply yourself with the best, most delightful summer reading for six cents a week. By subscribing to The Evening World for the rest of the summer you will secure a complete novel each week. Not some old book a country dealer has not been able to sell, but the finest up-to-date fiction by the foremost living authors, Bear this in mind, not only for yourself but for any of your friends who expect to spend their vacations in the country, A Complete Novel Each Week in © The Evening World ne ware fraction of a second ickly asked a few homely ques. } ‘Warden Rand picked up the papera ¥ eyos were sweeping Ps and turned to hie daughter and Mars- a n, en's daughter was still talking un- fi at ale Fe August UOOOU0OOUUK PODOGOODOOHHHOHNN ten—a terrible silence around him; then a would be ing a sympathetic nse from the oft tread would other, “and so ‘any lemency or favor mount the tron ste) Up one tier, or anythi that a little money’— then anoth come along t steel Merton took out hie tbook— bridge and stand like a black shadow iil procure bim t would before the burs of his cell. brighten” —— mot Warden Rand shook his head. “Phere are no favors here, Mr. Mer- ton,” he said gravely, ‘It does you credit; do not thisk I am insensible to that, but it ie impoanibie.” “Dut” sald Merton, “surely there ia something that’ Again the warden shook his head. “No,” he anid; “there ia nothing.” Merton put his podketbook slowly back into his pocket. “Then, if I can't do anything else” — tous age) ha bed vely—"perhaps nd bread from the could ace Varge and as caged beaste ate it “Why, yee,” enid the warden their keepers watching from high promptly, “Would yeu like to see stools between the long bare tables him now?” against the walls, In look- “Yes,” eald Merton they went to their work Warden Rand's ateel-grey eyes ross the yard again tothe played for a moment over Merton ap- carpenter shop close to the oentre race ively. ‘ 6 heart, 2spten, of the rear wall. At noon in they “You've got a good hea: Ow & good heart—iik ir father,” he ate their tins of food; at event again they ate their tine of food waid; then to the : “Stall, have then the same ugly, huge, steel gates Number Seven-seventy-seven bro: before the corridors closed behind to the visitors’ room and send Willett them ae eez amined loot nap each to me.” “ 1a etal, efore his cell entered, pulled “Yes, air,” eal and, rising, red door shut behind him and left the office. the locks from end to end of the tier A moment later @ guard entered fell into place—another leaden day and saluted. was at an end. “Willett,” sald the warden, “this ie 8 @ @ Merton. “Soeven-sevon-seven,” aaid Twisty venty-seven.” Then to Mer- Connors, and he leaned in clone, fur- "The guard will ta! co toward Varge across visitors’ room, Mr. Merton. rward; it ie nearty It never changed—that march to the prison yard in the morning, one hand on the next. man's shoulder, carrying their night-buckets in the other—the first, deep-drawn Intake of fresh air robbed of all its sweet- ness, for even here there were gray walls everywhere; and men, sharp- eyed and keen, leaning on grounded carbines, looked down on them from above, They morched back; they filed by tho kitchen and took their tin pana of ‘hed it from le drive home before I Youre "t hall expect you to come youse? Well, mine's ten spaces; but over to thé house and have it with say, #0 help me, I'd swop wid youse my daughter and me, I'll see that quick, Any guy dat can pull dat your horse is looked after.” in de bull-pen lottery don’t eee © @ © n' he's got de luck wid him fer Twisty Connors dropped bis low, guarded tones to @ a mabbe there's some- in on ono of these i, Connors’ shrewd, ittle face drew eud- the prisoner face to face behind closed doors, a @uard pacing outside in the eorrid “I know why 704 Dare Col oald ai td Varge quietly. By Frank L. Packard He is to see Number ym, @ you to the ‘Come Maat OOODOOIDOEG bea been a yrindtall of luck; he nad 0 meet any one “ Janet she was @ mighty ‘geod ° ooking girl, trim-fgured and di ® picture of gold hair, and la yen and lips, and charmingly rc! ed arms exposed by the Balf-s! dress she wore. Ye a ot rs Rand. was quite late in the aft Be nd the warden b-4@ co back te the house with a guard and two eeme 4 victa to have some work which he wanted done when Mi left for his drive back to Berley Palle Janet, from the front window, watched him drive away; then she little trows to ber fath “I can't make up my mina i 1 itke bim or not, dad,” ard 7 Pe oi he Cath ge quite i” tral, perhaps ; toed Thad pa that may be ae 0OOGO: b fectly splendid of it was,” agreed th “Yea; o0 it was. it's a curious T've never @ man like confess I'm are you talki “Why, wha about, dad? a Sith, Merton? i'd ane sayin so very extraord| ‘x’? about Sim” ‘No; not lerton”—We Rand proched ‘Mla daughters _. man urdered Mi as a was very sorry Sim—efter he it out. What the warden soberly, taking « turn ron thar cane prplain, it q ate tt eee | ez and had had enough cunning, pinched I've unds nly 5 Fin he cast a sullen look sooner or later you ou yes Hed even in front Mg Se cen’ coll—he aleope an eweetly ff he looked at Varge me; but that day’— deniy in the ohon nan ae y minute before he apok: “No, Varge,” Merton broke in him he waa off his bol t . quickly; “it ten't only that—I mean it never @ start ef tremor. He'd NY pon his curled lips. fen't that at all. wanted te clean-eyed | ‘rot something for them that wanted to try und bolero Rand ‘and looked at 4 fgood-conduct time to “But that day bas passed, the day tfully. at when I might have done what you he ought to ¥- sur- fear now"—Varge epoke on, calmly, complained Ji Fone to eee you making up with eveniy, enor Merton's interrup- dad. I isty—he's the worst we've & fon” “What day Was ‘past with innocent.” Keep on, and I'll get you-—under- the first week here. You have noth- Warden Rand's fine, ruddy face re. stand?" ing to fear—I shall never ” Jaxed and a whimsical smile But Varge’s eyes, dropped to his know it, Ve ” be eald, husk into his eyes and flickered on pocket, were studying pao | “I know it. But there nose be e.,. ‘ ree 4 stam) img I cam do for know ly dear,” said seven across one of the wide grey stripes hand; there must be some: Rundred and ninety: tree oA nd he ma sai) ey pee) ind this man is the fo nothing,” said Vai one among them.” wit Bute ns ree Why, dedi” ‘exclaimed J “There is nothing,” Fegeates Varge, thing to say—you t ‘ou have got you think it is “except for you to £ all you came for. easy for me to stand here and look at mptod Wenger viciously. said Convict Number 777. And Wenger, with.'& short-funi ? One queation—and then brutal laurt firmed ow his heel and ZOU apswer that question with a aati Hand, why. Mire, "Merton—ie eve an why. ra. jertol e CHAPTER VIII. well?” ret" “Yea,” eald Merton, and the hoarse. neas in bis voice this time was not assumed. “You are allowed thirty minutes for a visit,” sald Varge, “and they may think it atiange If, without rea- son, you stay only five, for you are going now—#o I am going to mak: disturbance in order that no sus- picion may be directed against you, do you understand ?"—he ward the guard outalde in the corrt- dor, then he raised his fat brought it down with « crash on the steel mesh in front of him, “I don't nt to tal jo you h anyway! The guard jumped forward into the room. “Shut up, youl” Ne flung at Varge. “What's the matter with you, you surly, cuss? Shut up—don't anewer A Coward Soul. AROLD MERTON had not left Berley Falls after the trial. Associations that he did not care to face in Now York, together with Mother's persuasions, had led him to decide, for the time being at least, to remain where he was. The eatate brought to hia mother a sumM- cient, if modest, competence, which, too, was no emall factor in his de termination, ao, with an eye to publie opinion, he announced bis Intention of practising his profession—that of law—in his home town. Gratitude toward Varge he had; but it was a strange gratitude that lost itself In the wish—that even he f you can’t appreciate a gen- ehudder from ‘s kindness in"——— Ce ee Oe ee said Merton hastily, formulating in 80 many words, but which lived dominant in hia consct- ousness—that Varge’a sentence had been—death, Supposing Varge should weaken!— I'd beter go. 1" t esa you might as wel nt= 4 the guard, “They're all Sine you only waste your breath.” Fava teeny. Merton wanted to Jaugh when they got out into the cor- @ clutch at his heart, and hot fear ridor; his spirit ‘an would hava him in its grip. air; ‘he he could At times, he argued pitiful, specious Justification to himaeif, ‘He had with a never anked Varge to do what he had @mile, last very done; Vurge had brought that on jong, but it seems to have done you himself; all he had asked Varge to da do was to run away—just to run Yea"—Merton need at the gray away. Poor, miserable cavil, of a@ 4 Ittle avail da to lin worth!~Varge {ee faw the frank amile and amiled loomed up ever before him. What cant gay that It has been quite as was he to do? What attitude was 1° nod intended and hoped—-Varse he to adopt toward Varge? He dared seemed to resent my coming—Dul f not Ignore him. feci at least that T have done my Spurred on by craven fear, he went one day to the penitentiary, A glance at bis card, a duty.” ‘arden Rend nodded hia head, 1 Warden Rand, shaking hands, pulled up a * he said, with unaffected sin- chair for him beside the desk and : “and you have a right to feel waved him into it, yould have acted as you “I'm giad to sea you, Mr. Merton," He rove from the Gage, fald the warden with unaffected core ait) ih he fanenee, plone % diality, leaning back in his own aeat, Gismiasing tho subject, “duty ene “You've come over In reference to YOU te ready we'll Ko over to the house and have dinner.” The hour that followed for Merton over the warden's table waa an hour that seemed strangely genuine com- pared with the hours of the month Varge, 1 suppone?" "Yeu," Merton answered, He pulled himself toxether and looked up, “Yes; I wanted to see you about Varge. don't know whether you know ail the PY ‘ HW : circumstances, rather strange ones tiked” neetahie alle mane win how he 6 to be with us, the yoars Janet Rand. And after dinner he he wast stayed on, while the warden returned “I kno rden Rand. to his oMce, "Tt isa 5 Sheri “He wan a good talker, pleasant Marston mannered, and now, with ‘the uplift “Then, fon, forcing a sober upon him and the presence of this u'll understand WHY girl who attracted him, he exerted is not bad at himself to the utmost to be ente tal hi what he did was if the hot rt; ne and agrees or perhap nl ti Impulse of the moment, and though t way unrestrainedly to a he hag brought « terriby row upon easy spontaneity in an effort us, his own punishment ts terrible too, to please and impress her favorably, I do not know just how to explain Janet Rand was pretty and good myself, [am afraid, He was almost fun. He decided mentally that be one of us—like ne of the family. would see more of hi In the mean- Neither my mother nor myself can time, the day that he had dreaded to harbor any vindictive feelings—there face, in anticipation of which he had in only great rrow and-—pity for jain sleepless the night before—and him." more than one night before that—| “I understand,” sald Warden Rand out to be a red-letter day. He quietly, was sate; Varge would never speak— “And #0"-—Merton was more con- Vargo had sald so; he had heard it fident now, surer of hin ground, feel- from Varge's lips, And the afternoon ZA OO COGHE GON to- Wi 1." aid the warden, “T’ taking hin own say-so for tke other seven hundred and ninety: are ready to swear they're ti until they're black in the ft Janet laughed, then sho slipped het arm through her father’s, “What else is there, dad? You know I'm chief confidant. The mas {a worrying you.” “No; not worrying me, dear—he’e Puzzling me," said the warden. “There's nothing else, except, curi- enough, while he's a model Up with the Seat hop, according te chided Warden Rasé, dislike him, but”—— ital and overbearing,” tm “You neededn’t , dad. I wish he lome day there'll be a that's probably’ ul at's pro! he's taken a against bottom of it.” “I've never found now— on ewege thta man, and that's at with Wenger,” sala Warden Tasd gravel: “No,” sald Janet, “and for @ very geod reason—Wenger is a gublime hypocrite.” CHAPTER [X. A Proposal. AROLD MERTON'’S Gret visit to the warden’s house was but the prelude te Many more. He drove often during the following twe months from Berley Falle to the iittle penitentiary town; but on these es- casions, while he never fatled to ask Warden Rand about Varge, he @@ not ask again to ace the other, His interest in Janet Rand hea grown to passion; and he fostered that passion feverishly, as & man drinks whiskey sometimes for two reasons—for the glass itself, and for the open door it offera through whies he mey pass and—forget. Janet Rand became to him Iiterally am im toxication in which he -sougmt ts steep and lose himself, oe © © © «© @ It was the first oreath of epring- in the hollows ana the shady plages . snow still lingered; but the reads” were drying, green was tingeing the faded coloring of the flolds, asd @ fresh, sweet, vernal scent was im the alr. out on the wide ver. eo warden'’s hi Merton was making pi ing Janet to arrange some rut y on which was to be trained the e «inia Creeper she had planted a a suddenly in the midget She stoppe of a plaintive little air she was bum ming. spring ever affect e asked abruptly, Fted ag she spoke, 1PDAGDOOOWDOH This Book on the Stands Will Cost You $1.25. You Get It for