Show 1 I 1 I GUILTY go lur iltz 1 OR ax J 01 el 6 I 1 j 01 I 1 II 11 INNOCENT I 1 i il 11 at by AMY BRAZIER lk ats f 11 X 1 k 1 CHAPTER VIII vill continued dr carter terribly agitated lays his hand on mrs airs bouverie s we may prepare tor for the very worst after the judges judge s charge they will bring him in guilty my poor friend it will be more than you can bear come with me no v the mother s head is bowed her lips form a faint no then with an et ef fort she raises herself and looks stead lly ily at her son who must know him self that his cause has been lost his counsel sits with bent head and moody face there is a mystery in the Por traven bank robbery that even he cannot fathom unless indeed the prisoner is the hardened criminal so aptly described by the judge as he thundered out to the jury the sin of one law tor for the rich and another tor for the poor there is not long to wait the jury come back to their box with their minds made up guilty every one expected it but yet a thrill as of horror shudders over the crowd as the wind sighs and waves over a field of corn a wave of feeling that makes itself felt then tor for the first time despair dark and terrible whitens the prisoner prisoners s face he hears his mothers broken utterance of his name and his eyes turn to her with a passion of regret then he nerves him elf to receive his sentence even sebastian saville tumi cumi cold as he listens the judge is a stern judge and de ter mined not to let the pr a s po stand in the way of being made an example of five years penal etude is the least he can give five sears in which this hardened sinner will have time to repent before he pronounces the sentence he delivers a homily on the sin of gambling the yearly increasing sin of betting on ev ery race he points out how in this case it has brought the prisoner at the bar to temptation and bin sin and finally to the awful position in which he now stands and then the dreadful sen tence five years penal servitude and george bouverie white as death like a man go ng to the scaffold goes from the dock out of the sight of his fellow men his ills mother mothers s eyes dry with an ag ony that Is tearless gaze after him will they let me see hima she says a little wildly my son my darling ay he the s the trial has proved him to be he Is hers still the mother love is his in spite of all I 1 will try and arrange an inter view dr carter says huskily my poor friend nothing I 1 can say can comfort you there there try and fight oft off the faintness let me take you into the air sympathetic voices whisper she is his mother as the doctor pushes his way out through the crowd half car crying mrs bouverie who feels as it if her heart were breaking they had told her not to hope that the crown was r sure of a colv action but the hope had not d ed till the words five years penal servitude fell on her ears up to that moment the mother had believed in some proof of george georges s innocence being produced it is all over now he has been led away a tree free man no longer to live out a hideous nightmare of days and weeks and years crushed ruined and disgraced and he had said he was in a at it is the same evening but the glad bright morning has turned to rain and the drops race down the window panes sebastian saville sits opposite his mother at the other end of the long dinner table his ills face bears an expression of satisfaction they are discussing the all absorbing topic of the bank robbery the judge charged dead against him sebastian says filling his wine glass the jury was not ten minutes out of their box mrs saville as usual regally attired in satin and lace smiles half dib disagree agree ably it is very fortunate it was all over before barbara s return she will hard ly care for going on with her farce of an engagement now hardly sneers mr saville lean ing back in luxurious contentment even barbara t be mad enough to wish to marry a convict then he stands up and strolls over to the window what a wet night I 1 suggest we try and forget the bou verle ep sode what do you say to our taking barbara to london or abroad or somewhere 7 9 she 11 get over it soon enough A very good suggestion mrs sa ville returns I 1 am sorry for mrs BOU bouvine VeTle of course but for her un principled son I 1 have no pity it will rest with yourself sebastian to win barbara I 1 think hink a tour on the con would be the bet plan being in mourning we could not go to any galet gaieties les and the court would be de pressing just now for barbara while mother and son are amicably arranging aver barbara a future bar bara herself Is 1 esitt batt ng on an board a homeward bound steamer her face full of hope as every throb of the screw brings her a moment nearer to seeing george again her father s death had been a shock but hardly in one sense a grief for she had not seen him since her childhood and retained only a very faint memory of an austere silent man who seldom spoke to her she has been told that she is r ch eh that her father s will has left her everything completely and unconditionally she may marry whom she chooses the news of so much wealth had come as a surprise on barbara she can hardly realize it yet in her deep mourning she sits on a deck with grave steady eyes looking over the tossing waves and thinking of george what a surprise it will be to him to find he Is to have a rich wife wifel I 1 will help him to use this money wisely and well muses barbara lit tie tle dreaming that behind prison bars barg he the man she loves is living through the first awful days of his sentence days when despair clutches at the heart when the terrible realization of the horror of the life breaks down the manhood when even trust in the mercy of god seems seem but a mod ery CHAPTER IX have you quite made maae up your mind to resign mr kelly the bank manager puts the question to the cashier who has asked tor for an interview and has an bounced his intention of resigning his post at the bank in answer to mr kelly s question mr grey lifts his eyes from the con temptation temp lation of the carpet yes sir I 1 have made up my mind I 1 have never been the same since that day every time the bank door opens my heart beats it has affected my health mr kelly indeed it has in that case you had better go says the manager what do you think of doing I 1 have a brother in america he will get me work mr grey says rather evasively and mr kelly I 1 never told you that I 1 am a married man my wife was beneath me in po and I 1 kept it secret it is chiefly to please her I 1 am going to A america merica well I 1 hope you will get on re plies mr kelly but you have a good berth here and would be likely to get a raise I 1 know all that but my wife is ex trava gant I 1 give her all my salary oh you don t know what an anxiety it all is explains the cashier glanc glane ing round with his frightened gaze you don t look well mr grey and I 1 am sorry your marri marr lige ige is an py one perhaps you are wise to emi grate after all the interview is ended and mr air grey goes back to his work a crushed depressed looking figure he ile Is nerv ous and starting at every sound he ile has never been the same since the at tack made on him at the time of the robbery the shock left him a perfect wreck A carriage rolls down the street and passes the bank mr grey sees it driving by as he looks over the wire blind of the bank window it is the carriage from the court with two men on the box in faded claret livery and in it are heated seated mrs saville and her ion en route tor for london to meet bar bara on her return from tasmania the court is to be half shut up and the few servants remaining in charge are to be left on board wages for it is not mrs saville s intention to return until the marriage between barbaaa and sebastian has taken place three days later barbara herself stands before her aunt with blazing blue eyes looking out from the white ness of her face she has landed only this morning and sebastian met her and brought her straight to the hotel where his mother is staying mrs saville with heartless callous ness has told her niece of the bank robbery and the crime and punish ment of george bouverie anger and pity swell the girl a heart to bursting george in prison words seem to choke her she cannot speak but stands with her hands locked to gather gother staring at her aunt Pe sebastian bastian regards her critically my dear barbara bouverie anas aa al ways a bad lot he sas calmly tol drably good looking I 1 grant you but quite unprincipled he was bound to come to grief barbara turns slowly you are not speaking the truth and you know it bhe cries with sud den passion it if I 1 had only known it if I 1 had only known her eyes wide and full of pain mrs saville in her sable draperies sweeps across the room my dear child try and be thankful that you have escaped without having your name mentioned such a man not a soul knows of any fool ish nonsense between you it was no nonsense barbara says firmly I 1 was engaged to george bouverie when I 1 left home I 1 am en to him still there Is pride and determination in the young face i mrs saville gives a short laugh you will have plenty of time dear to test your constancy and his five years Is a good slice out ot of a lire life and they say convict life has a degrading influence where are you going aar bara as with one wounded indar nant look barbara moves towards the rhe door I 1 am going to save george the girl says her voice rising with a hind kind ot of triumphant ring I 1 shall crosa over to dublin tonight no sebastian do not say one word I 1 am going to prove george Boj verle s innocence I 1 tear fear you are attempting an imps teat feat inears Se bolan baian a dull dul flush spreading over hi lit race face barbara with her hand on tho door lifts her glorious eyes he ile is innocent it was I 1 who lent him nim the money I 1 forced him to take it and it was for my saly he kept silence oh I 1 see it arnow she cries with a little irrepressible sob if I 1 had been there it could never have happened the hundred pounds was mine only he was too honorable to make my ray name public a loving tender 1001 sweeping sAe oer her face to be continued |