Show c 1 DARK HOLLOW By Y ANNA NA KATHARINE GREEN GREENf Author of ot Cue The House of ot the f Pinos 1 Initials Only Masterpieces o of Mystery etc A Serial story controlled by the McClure McClur SyndIcate I V J It at was meet 1 i was at last I could now give my whole boJ mind t to my ono ODe duty daty I liv lived d only wh while whilo a aon on oIl the Bench March 1893 1895 There is a dream which comes to mo mc often a n vision ision which I often see It 16 26 that of two broken and irre irregular walls standing apart against a background background back back- ground round of sky Between these walls the 1 figures of a a. a woman and child chUd turning about to go The bridge I 1 never noyer sec see nor the tie face faco of tho man who died for my sin sin but this I see ece always the ruins of at Spencer's Spencers ors or's Folly and the figure figuro of a woman leading lending away a little child That woman lives I know now who abe Rho is Her testimony was uttered before bo- bo fore me in in court hn and was not one ono to toJ J rouse my ray apprehensions My crime crimo was wasI wasI I by her ari ami arnI for ye years rs she sheI I I has been a stranger er to this town But ButI Butr r I I havo have a superstitious horror of seeing Boeing her a again ain while believing that the tho day will ivill como coma when I shall do so When this occurs occurs when when I look up and find nd her in in my path I shall know that in my 1 has found mo out and that the tho en end endis endis is 15 near 1909 0 o shade shado of Algernon Etheridge un un- forgetting and unforgiving The Tho woman has appeared I She stood in this room today Verily years are nothing with God Added later I 1 thou thought ht I knew what awaited me mc if my hour ever came But who can understand understand understand un un- un- un the tho ways of Providence or where whore the tho finger of retributive Justice Jus tice ice will wm point It is Olivers Oliver's name and not mine which winch has become the of calumny Could the their ir irony ny of life go o further Olivers Oliver's There is nothing against him and I such puch folly must soon oon die out outi but to to o see eee doubt in Mrs S eves oyes is horrible in n. n itself and to eliminate it I may Jia have lia ye to show sho her Olivers Oliver's account of that lon fot gotten otten night of crime in m Spencers Spencer's Poll Folly It Jt is naively written and nd reveals rc a clean if reticent nature but hut that that its effect may mW be he unquestionable 1 able lo I will vill insert a n Ie few Jin lines to cover any possible misinterpretation n of his or There is ig an an open space and our handwritings s were alv ale al- v ways a s elj alike Only our es e's cr not and I will be careful l with the tho cs ea Her confidence mu mint t be e restored at all hazards s My M My last foolish attempt has undone inc mc juc Nothing remains no now but that sacrifice of or self which should bould have been een twelve c 3 years cars ago 4 S ti rv It I I do o not wish to seem selfish h Olier Oliver Oli Oli- ver xer er but sit a little nearer tho window I tan can an sec rice ce you rou whenever cr I r open my 03 es Twelve years is a lon long tune time timeto to make Dp lIP and anil J l t I t have such a little while in which to do it 1 Oliver OH moved mo The Tho sprang to his eyes as ho did so o. o H HA had hail cau caught bt a glimpse of tho the faco face o on tho the pillow and anti the chan changes cs made in a week were very veri apparent Ah Always RS erect his them then father bad had towered to above e c even cn in in his self abasement but he looked now as IS though twenty tw years tars instead instead in in- stead of or a few days had passed over o his stately head and antI bowed his incomparable incomparable parable figure And AnI not that alone expression was v different Had Hid Oliver not Inot seen him in hit hilS old likeness for tor that ono terrible half hour bo ho would not know thc these o features so sunken Bunken yet so eloquent with the peace of one for whom all an struggle lo is iA over sad and the haven en of his lone lont rest near Tho The heart henri which had ht held ld tr to its task tasU through h ever every stress stressor yf ur tiel torture succumbed under the relief of o 1 and as he be himself had sa said l th there rc was waa hut but time left hihi to lill his hi and heart with th the tho si sight ht of this strong man who had replaced re reo re- re placed his boy Oliver He lIe had hun hungered so 80 for his presence oven even in those days of ot final shrinking and dismay And now the tho doubts doubt the thc dread the thc humiliation are aro a all all 1 in tho the past and there thero remain only this this to to feast his eyes eves where where- his heart has so 50 lon long feasted and to thank God for tor the blessedness of a speedy going go go- o. o iti jug ing hi 1 which h has hns taken tho the sword from tho the hand of Justice and saved Oliver tho anguished sight of a 1 fathers father's public public pub pub- lic lie humiliation Had ho he been able ablo able at nt this moment mo o. ment meat to look beyond tho the fences which his fear had reared he would havo have seen Been at either gate te a silent figure guarding tho walk and recalled perhaps per per- naps haps aps the horror of oC other days when at the contemplation of such Auch a prospect prospect pros pros- his bis spirit recoil recoiled cd upon itself in in I unimaginable horror and revolt And yet et who hO knows 1 Lifes Life's passions fade when tho heart is at peace And Archibald heart was wag at peace Why his next words will show U Oliver Oli his his voice w was ws s low but very distinct t never have a n. secret never hide within your bosom a thou thought ht you fear the tho world to know If youve you've done dono wron wrong wrong wrong-if if if you have dia- dia obeyed the tho law either of God or or mann man sock seek not to hide what can never bo ho hidden so 80 long IonA as ns God reigns ns or men mako make laws aw aws I have haTe suffered Buffered as few men have havo avo suffered and ko ke kop their reason rca rea son intact Now that my w wickedness is n the tho whole pa page e of my lifo life defaced content has como come a again I Iam Iam Iam am no lon longer cr a deceiver my may ver very I worst is known Oliver This This some minutes I later Aro wo we alone I u Quite alone father Mrs Mra is busy and Reuther Heather is in the room above I can enn hear her light j ht step overhead Tho The jud judge o was silent He Ho was gazing gaz zin z- z in ing wistfully at the tho wall where hun hung the tho portrait of his young youn wife He was no longer on cr in in his own room but in tho the cheery front parlor This D Deborah borah had insisted upon There was therefore nothing to distract him from the contemplation con conS I hare havo mentioned There are aTe things s I want ant to say to you Not man many you already know m my mI story But I do not know yours and I cannot die till I do What took you into tho the ravine that evening evenin Oliver and wh why having picked up the stick did you flint fling it from you and fly back to tho highway t For tho the reason reason I ascribed to Tell mo me that no cloud may amy remain between us Let mo me know your heart as well as you now know mine The reply brought tho the blood back in into to his fading cheek Father Fa i I 1 ha have havo vo already all this to Mr Andrews Androws and now I will win explain it to you I never nover liked Mr o as well as you did and I brooded incessantly in those e days o over r the tho influence O which ho seemed d to exert over ocr you TOU ou in regard to my mJ future career But 1 I never dreamed of doing him a harm and never never supposed that I could so BO much as any ar argument with him on on my 10 own behalf till that very er night of infernal complications an and coincidences Tho The cau cause causo e of or this thi chau change ri was as follows I had gone one upstairs upstairs up- up stairs you you vou remember leaY leaving ng you alone w with th him himl as I 1 knew you ou desired How I came to bo be in the room above I dont don't remember but I was ther there and leaning out of tho the window directly over o the porch when v you ou and Mr Etheridge Ethe- Ethe rid ridge e came out and stood in some final debate on OnI I tho the steps stops below He was talking and you were listening and never noyer shall shaH I forget tho the effect his words word and tones had upon me I had supposed him devoted to you s and hero here he was addressing you tartly and in inan inan inan an ungracious manner which bespoke a aman aman aman man very different from the one I h had been bren tau taught ht to look upon as superior Tho The awe awo of years ear yielded before this display and finding in him just lust human liko like tho rest of us the tho courage e which I I. I had always lacked in iii approaching him took instant possession ot of me an anI and ana andI anaI I determined with a boys boy's unreasoning sonin impulse to subject him to a 1 personal appeal not to add his influence to tho the you at present felt for tho the career ca en- rear reer upon which I had bad set my ray heart Nothing could have been more foolish and nothing more natural p perhaps than the act which followed I ran down into the ravine with tho the wild intention intention intention in in- in- in so strangely ely duplicated in in yourself a a. few fow minutes later of meeting meet lag ing and pleading my mr cause causo with him at atthe atthe atthe the brid bridge o but unlike you I took the middle of the ravine for my mJ road and not tho secluded path at the tho side It was this which determined our fate father father- for here I ran up a against the chestnut tree saw the stick and andt catching catch catch- in ing it up without further thou thought bt than of tho the facility it offered for whittling started with it down the ravine yule was not in sight ht The moment was tho the one ono when ho had quit lookin looking for Reuther and wandered away up the tho ra ra- ra vine I have ha thon thought bt since since that perhaps perhaps per per- haps the glimpse ho he had got ot of his littie lit lit- tie tle ono one peering from the scene of ot his crime may have stirred even een his bis guilty conscience and sent him off on this th thU purposeless ramble ramble- but however this was I did not see him nim or anybody else as I took my way leisurely down toward toward to to- toward ward the brid bridge c whittling at th tho stick and thinking pf what I should say Tay say to Mr Etheridge when I met him And now Fates Fate's final and most fatal Nothing which came into my mind struck me quite quito favorably The encounter encounter encounter en en- counter which seemed such a very s simple sim pIe matter when I first it be began n to assume quite a different aspect as the moment for it ap ap- ap preached By the time I had come abreast of ot the Hollow I was tired of the whole business and hearing bearing his bis whistle and knowing by it that he be was very verr near I plunged up the slope to avoid avold him and hurried straight ht awa away into town That is is my story father If I r I hoard beard steps approaching as 1 I pun plunged ed across the tho path into w which nf ich I had had thrown th the stick in my anger anjer at having broken the point of my knife knife- blade upon upon it i I thought nothing of them then Afterward I believed them to be bo Scoville's which may account account ac ac- ac- ac count to you for my ray s silence ence about this whole matter both before and during the trial I was afraid of tho the witness stand and of what mi might ht be elicited from me rae if I once got ot into the hands of the lawyers My abominable reticence cence in m regard to his former crime would be brought up against me mer and I was yet yot too young too shy an and ana uninformed uninformed uninformed formed to faco face such fluch an ordeal of my own volition Unha Unhappily I was nol forced torud into it and But and But wo we will not tak of ot that lather father Son Son a a lon long silence had inter inter- there ened- ened there therA is one ono thing more When hoW did how did you first learn my ray real reason for sending you from home f I saw lIaw that my position was understood by you when our eyes first m met t in this room But twelve years had passed since Bince you left this house in i ignorance norance of all but mv my unnatural attitude toward to ward war yo you When Oliver when 7 That TEat I cannot answer father it was just mst n a conviction which dawned gradually upon me inc Now it seems as if it I had known it always but that isn't so A Aboy boy doesn't reason j and it took reasoning for tor me to to to accept accept- II Yes I understand And that was your secret Oh Oliver I shall shun never ask for your forgiveness I 1 am not worth worthy it I only ask aek that you Jou will not lot Jot pride or any other evil passion stand in th tho way of tho the happiness I see in in the future for you I cannot take from Torn 3 you ou tho the shame of my crime and long iong tion but spare me this final sorrow I There is in nothing to part you yon from Reuther Reu Reu- ther now DOW Alike unhappy In your parentage paren tage you yon can start on equal terms and lovo Jove wi will do the tho thorest rest Say that you will marry her Oliver and let me see sec ec her smile before I die Marry her Oh father will such an anan an angel cl marT marry me met H No No but such a 11 woman mightY might I Oliver can ramo near and stooped over o er his fathers father's bed bcd I Father if it love and attention to iny my I profession can make mako a success of ot the lifo liCe you yon yo prize they shall have their op op-I op Tho father smiled If 11 it fell feU to others to remember him as RS he be appeared in his mysterious prime to Oliver it was given iven to recall him as ho he looked then with theli tho the li light ht on his faco face and the last tear ho hoW howan W wan waa J ever to shed glittering in hi his fading eye II God God is good came camo from the bed then thon tho the solemnity of or death settled over the room The soft footballs l overhead ceased The lon long hush had bad brought the tho two women to the door where they stood sobbing Oliver was on his knees beside the bed bcd his head buried in in his arms arme On the tho face so near him there thero rested a a. a ray from the w sun but hut tho the glitter was was gono zono from tho the eye eo and the unrest from tho heart hoart No Ne more moro weary vigils in in a room dedicated to remorse and self punishment No mora more weary circling of the house bouse in the tho dark lane lanc whose fences barred out tho the hurrying figure within from every eye ee but that of heaven Peace for him ham and for and Oh- Oh ve vcr i hope Tho 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