| Show THE JlIDGES SECRET ByALlRBD fiLCH Copyright by American Press Association CHAPTER L l fV1 j t rl S 1 1 I = = r grhi If J f i v r m rf < > > f1 l r > 1I > > 1 1 t < Jb gJ < f rf rift fl ftJJ p 11 t f1 t t Jot Jo-t til ft 1 N = ffi3 t n18 I l R t t1jiti b Ili iil fIN J W I i P1iiwtfl 3 r I IJ I U 4r n 1 Iv fF t < tll f l r Mr Jackson picked up a half sheet of notepaper note-paper and handed it to his friend When Mr ATjner K Gardiner chairman chair-man of the Democratic county committee commit-tee prosperous so far as his real estate business was concerned portly of person per-son shrewd of eye and merry withal came down the stairs that Monday morning two weeks and a half before the election he was probably contented content-ed a man as could be found in the old Bay state And why should he not have been Mr Gardiner was one of the keenest politicians in the land loving the game for the power it gave and the delight of matching himself against the long headed policy of his oppenents but caring nothfcig whatever for office A story told of him will illustrate his character better than columns of descrip tion Vhen Mr Charles T Kerr the chairman of Republican county committee com-mittee found himself embarrassed his lumber business after the nreat flood in 81 the first man to come to his assistance assist-ance was Mr Gardiner The reason this thisI gentleman gave was characteristic Politics in this county would lose all their snap if Charlie Kerr went up he said and drew the check Now be it observed that this same Charlie Kerr had just elected his ticket and Mr Gardiner Gar-diner saw no really gucd reason why he should not repeat his success the next time but then Mr Gardiner loved a foeman worthy of his steel with an enduring love Honestly anxious as many politicians really are that good men and true should be elected to office to serve and rule the people Mr Gardiner prided himself him-self more on the nomination for county judge of William Truesdalo Jackson on the Democratic ticket than on all the other men before the people It had literally cost him years of work and thought to persuade Mr Jackson to allow his name to be used and when he at last succeeded he felt that he had added a tower of strength to his side For of all men in that section none stood higher high-er than the squire as they called him in kindlj country fashion A sound lawyer a just and conscientious man a good citizen a wise counselor he was one whom all respected and not a few loved A somewhat stern and grave man his massive face crowned with a forehead Lko Oi dome he looked the ideal judge Pcccessed of a ponderous land of elo quence with an extraordinary power of making the most intricate case clear to the minds of judge and jury his practice was naturally large and lucrative In fact the salary of the position which he sought was far less than that which he earned by his work It was the tribute he had honestly earned by his life that no man even among his opponents suggested > sug-gested that the squire wished the position po-sition for personal advantage If you will picture to yourself a somewhat tall man dressed in black a smoothly face hair rather thin and grizzled with deep thought keen yet kindly eyes which seemed to look through you a slight stoop of the shoulders a deep melodious me-lodious voice you will see the squire before you As Mr Gardiner entered the pleasant dining room of his home and greeted the noisy girls and boys who sprang forward to kiss him good morning his eye caught sight of a note lying on his plate Recognizing the handwriting of the squire he opened it and as he read an expression of extreme perplexity spread over his face Dropping the note he eagerly seized the morning paper and hurriedly looked through it until he found an item which when he had read he walked slowly toward the bow window win-dow of the room whistling softly to himself him-self the first few bars of an old hymn tune Men used to say that you could always tell that Abner Gardiner was puzzled when you heard that air Picking Pick-ing np the note once more he read it and whistled again What is it Abner asked Mrs Gardiner Gar-diner Nothing much the squire wants to fee me answered her husband absently absent-ly and Mrs Gardiner knew him too well to ask any more questions In order that you may see what it was that puzzled Mr Gardiner so much I will reprint the note SPCDiGHELD Mass Oct 24 Homer K Gardiner Esq DEAlt SIR An item in Tho Republican of this morning has attracted my attention You will find it in the fourth column of the first page under tho headline Can This Be Truer I should be glad to confer ritb you before I answer It faithfully WILLUM T JACESOK The item i question was short and read a follows CAN THIS BE TRUE CA T mU1 A correspondent has cent the following note to BE and it seems t call for a reply from Mr Jackson It once Without any information on the subjective cannot answer the query but we hope for the sake or 8 man who i generally respected spected i i not tre To the Editor of The Republican Sm Can you tell me whether the William Trufsdale Jackson who ha been nominated by the Demscrats for the responsible position of cotmtr jude 1 tho same William Truele Jackson who deserted from the Second Massachusetts Massa-chusetts infantry the night before the battle of Gettysburg and was condemned by 1 court martial mar-tial t suffer the penalty of desertion i the face of the enemy I to Is there a old soldier o enough hereabout t snow him under on election I dy Yours A REPUBLICAN Mr Gardiner finished his breakfast with a light heart and made his way down to Mr Jacksons house He never doubted for a second the squire had prepared pre-pared a positive denial of the story and I he found himself wondering with a vague curiosity who the deserter could I be Entering Mr Jacksons house he found that gentleman in h library each other Mr Jackson After greeting M n picked up a half sheet of note paper ana handed it to his friend On it Mr Gardiner Gar-diner read To the Editor of The Republican SinIn answer t tho query contained in your columns this morning permit mo to inform you that T am tho William Traesdalo Jackson who de carted not the night before but two nights before the battle of Gettysburg from the Second Massachusetts Massa-chusetts infantry and who W subsequently condemned to the penalty of tho military crime My reasons for that act wera and are personal t myself I have only to add that although I was then much younger than I ara now and with much less experience than I now have I would were I placed in the same position today again desert before night had fallen I remain sir your obedient servant WILLIAM T JACKSON M Gardiner looked up his mouth shaping itself for the hymn tune and a he looked a faint wave of color for a moment rose to the squires cheek You are not going to send this I hope said Mr Gardiner Most certainly I am I my fellow citizens choose to honor me with their suffrages they shall do so with no false pretenses on my part But my dear squire it The thing is true why should I deny There i no use of a denial Let it hone say nothing and there is not a man i the county who will believe it Mr Johnson smiled somewhat sadly My friend he said a suppressio yen will not help me I this matter It is better t tell the truth better because it i right and better policy as well I is easy t identify me with the deserter in fact I have no doubt this ha been done already But even were it not I were that paragraph the last of it now the question has been raised I could not I consent to be silent But the ticket broke in the unhappy unhap-py chairman I I I think it would be better that I resign re-sign i Not for a moment That would be absolutely fatal But squire if you must acknowledge it why not tell your i reasons for leaving the service Im j sure they were good ones Then it i i would be a right But that note is so i curt it flaunts your desertion in the face of men as though you were proud of it i it fairly defies all public opinion I am proud of it sir and I thank my God that he permitted me to desert broke in the lawyer in his deepest tone through which there rang an accent of I strong emotion But neither to you nor any other man living will I tell why I deserted It must suffice you that I j did and have never regretted it Understand Un-derstand me Mr Gardiner and as he I spoke the faint color once more showed itself I know as well as you the disgrace I dis-grace which attaches to the name of a man who deserts on the eve of a great battle I know ho is called a coward I and a poltroon I am of no sterner stuff 1 than other men and it has required all the trust I have in One who is wiser than I I to make it clear tome that the burden cear I j was laid on me for some good purpose I I have thought that perhaps some I other way might have been found and I I I have been spared but it was not to be I I do not regret the act but I mourn over I the necessity for it My name as a man I is as dear to me as yours to you I make no vain boast Mr Gardiner when I say to you that if my life would benefit niy country I would give it gladly Yet I I stand before men a one who fled at a supreme moment of that countrys peril This i not easy for ms for I am a proud man sir and I am not a coward but I console mysel as best I may by the consciousness con-sciousness that there is One who knows I better than men and that he in his wisdom wis-dom has afflicted me But sir while this is hard enough it would be far worse were I to descend to falsehood for then I should be ashamed in mine own eyes eyesMr Gardiners eyes were moist as he I grasped the lawyers hand and stammered stam-mered out an apology for his mistaken though well meant advice He offered to carry the note t the office of The Republican Re-publican himself and the squire visibly gratified by th acquiesced gladly To say that Mr Jacksons answer to The Republican created a storm of talk is to put things in the mildest way The orators opposed to the Democratic ticket made the most of the weapon which had been given into their hands Able editorials gven torials filled the Republican papers and the machinery of the Grand Army was used to increase the excitement While enemies taunted the deserter friends implored Mr Jackson to speak but to no purpose Entreaties and abuse seemed to pass him by with equal lack of effect When he appeared at public meetingsfor as the j soon a county committee com-mittee had decided he should not withdraw I with-draw the squire showed he was not afraid to face any music goingthere I was at first a disposition to hiss on the part of somo who were there This however was speedily put down by the majority It a impossible for these people among whom he had lived true and blameless for many years to tolerate tol-erate open disrespect when shown to h and once the man got a hearing there was little danger of his audience thinking of aught save his spoken i thoughts 1 Mr Gardiner shrewd a usual and since that talk with the squire respecting respect-ing him as he never had before was the first to see the tide had turned and seeing see-ing rejoiced greatly I became apparent appa-rent a the days went on and tho first shock wore off that the impassioned appeals ap-peals and able denunciations were rapidly rapid-ly heir effect Three days before the election a speaker who began a diatribe dia-tribe against the coward and traitor was fairly hissed into silence Men said to each other that while desertion was a mighty bad thing no doubt the squire said it was right for him to desert and L likely Q not he knew Others thought the man could never have deserted because be-cause he a afraid or disloyal it was not i him Once the reaction set in it grew as rapidly as the feeling at first and when the results of the election were declared there were many who fet no surprise For it was Judge William Truesdale Jackson now and his majority was larger than that of any candidate on either side Whereat Mr Abner K Gardiner smiled and chuckled and smiled again agaCHTER CHAPTER I I the month of May 1841 a woman lay dying in thelittle cottage which use Ito I-to stand oh the old main road just outside the then limits of the town o fLynn f-Lynn Kneeling by her bedside was a boy of about ten years and on his head the wasted hand of his mother rested L the fingers twining gently through h hair She w speaking this mother who was passing awayand the boy drank in every word She told him in every feeble and broken sentences h little sister had no One but him to look to for protection and she asked him t promise that so long a he should live that pro Tr f1 Wiiusa4u I I Knccling by her bedside was a boy of about ten wars tectlon would be given faatisned Dy tao unspoken pledge in his eyes as he looked at her for she knew what he was she spoke of the comfort he had been to her since his fathers death of that father who had been taken away so suddenly and of her own joy at the prospect of seeing her husband once more Her sorrow sor-row too at leaving her children dwelt in her mind at times and then he tried to soothe her by telling her he would be brave and true And so with a prayer for them on her lips she became silent and the boy knew when he once more looked at her that the ears that had never been deaf to him were deaf now The two children Willie aged ten and May aged not quite half a year were not left penniless Their father Dr William Jackson had accumulated a little money and their mother had owned property when she married Their only living relation a brother of Mrs Jackson lived in New York and he at once asked them to come and live with him For five years Willie went 1 tn the New York schools and May grew up into as charming a little girl as one could find Then Mr Truesdalo died leaving his money to his nephew and niece and Willie made up his mind they would move back to Lynn Hero they lived in the house of their guardian Judge Black and Willie in due time went to Harvard and winning his degree de-gree in arts passed into the law school He old for his was singularly age Even a a boy he was grave self con tamed and generally silent and he cared little for tho amusements which filled the time of his fellows He was Qxceed ingly fond of reading and fairly devoured de-voured all the books he could fnd Studying hard he stood well up in his classes at all times but it was not until he got into the law school that he really showed the stuff in him To the mind of Mr Jackson it was curious how soon the use of his first name was dropped by his friends the law assimilated as its natural food The dryest of dry treatises possessed an interest for him that nothing j noth-ing else had He used to astonish his guardian by reading the code for pleas ure For Judge Black was one of those easy going men who drift forward in lifes race rather than push doing their work respectably and living in a thoroughly respectable way However the judge knew a man when he saw one and he was only too glad to offer his ward D partnership a soon as he had passed the bar It was not long before the new firm of Black Jackson began to attract attention in the courts The senior parter was without a particle of jealousy and was only too glad to give the credit for the manner in which gve their cases were presented to his earnest i laborious painstaking junior After La year or two men said with a shake of the head Lynn could not keep the young judge as they called him that in the natural course of events he would go to Boston and seek a wider field for i his abilities I All this while May Jackson was growing grow-ing up into the most winsome little j creature imaginable She was utterly < unlike her brother She was capricious exceedingly pretty as full of coquetry as she could live whimsical but just a charming as a sweet bright lovable American girl should be and she loved gr her grave stern brother as she loved no human being From a time beyond which she could remember nothing he had been father and mother and brother all in one He was never too busy to listen to her wants and wishes never unwilling to do things for her He comforted com-forted her in her troubles rejoiced when she was glad To him she brought all things that interested her sure of interest inter-est and help from him And this feeling feel-ing for her was an odd compound of paternal pa-ternal and fraternal love He had never i for one moment forgotten his pledge to I his dying mother nor had it in truth I been difficult to keep for his love for his sister was a part of Will Jacksons very I being She amused him intensely as she I grew up Her capriciousness was a source of wonder and she had the charm ror mm 0 a constant series or surprises The two attractd every one that met them and the love they felt for each other was a very beautiful thing I 1858 Will Jackson was 27 and May was a young lady just going into society The brother had been a partner in the firm for six years and had built up for himself a business which paid him a handsome income It was at this time that Miss Carrie Farnham a connection of Judge Beach came t Lynn and Will Jackson met his fate Ho fell in love with her as strong men fall in love he fairly worshiped the ground she walked on She too had not known him very long before she thought she had never seen such a man before When she went homo to Springfield she left tho memory of a look from her dark blue eyes for Will Jackson to ponder over and when in the following August he followed her to her home arid a they walked along a lane one evening asked her a question the answer was Yes To h dying day Will Jackson never forgot that lane and the smell of the twilight time Friends and relatives approved ap-proved and the day was set for the wedding wed-ding I is probable that May would have alternated between jealousy and gladness were it not that her pretty little head was filled with thought of her own just then The time came for the wedding wed-ding and Carrie Farnham went to Boston Bos-ton to do some shopping I must hurry over this part of the story There were big leadlines in the paper one morning overthe story of the railroad wreck and L Will Jackson followed the body of the girl he loved as the agony of tho dead L march wailed and sobbed from the great organ He went back to his desk and plunged L into work to find distraction from his sorrow He never spoke of the girl to gl any one repulsing for the first time in his life his sister May Except that he was graver than before there was little chance in the man The following year Slay was married to Charlie Farnham I a younger brother of the girl who was gone and Will Jackson rejoiced over Ms sisters happiness He behaved very generously he transferred all the property I prop-erty they had together inherited in trust for her and her children As Mr Far ham was employed in a bank in Boston May went there to live with her husband hus-band but every week letters from Will and herself crossed each other I When the gun which was fired on Fort Sumter 1861 echoed round the world Will Jackson was one of the first men in Lynn to volunteer To such a man the call issued by President Lincoln Lin-coln came a an order from heaven and when the Second Massachusetts infantry in-fantry was recruited he at once signed the rol His choice of a regiment was natural for one of its officers Capt and afterward Lieut Col C R Mudge who died at Gettysburg on July 3 1863 and to whose memory the beautiful church of St Stephens was afterward built in Lynn was his greatest personal friend Through the long weary months of fighting and marching Will Jackson went steadily on doing his duty as he might did most things in this life with all h mght mghtCHTR CHAPTER EL L C 9I i1qi 7 g 1k i k l A Hold the little one for Will to take He had never seen the child before When Gen Lee invaded Pennsylvania and the armies of the north gathered hastily together under Gen Meade to repel the onward march of the flag with i single star the Second Massachusetts Massa-chusetts was in its place prepared to take part in what was to be one of the most momentous and most bloody battles of the civil war And with his regiment was Will Jackson a private still for promotion had been offered to him in vain The last time when his lieutenant colonel had urged him to accept for these two were fast friends as ever head h he-ad said with a laugh Old man after this is there will be war over wl mighty few privates and Im after all the distinction dis-tinction I can get So the subject was dropped forever as it turned out It was two days before the line of fire which was to end the lives of so many brave men on each side began a Reynolds Reyn-olds corps struck Heths men that Will I Jackson coming in from sentry duty found the mail had arrived and recognized recog-nized the handwriting of h sister Air he read the letter his face grew very stern and he more than once clenched L his fist unconsciously I was a long letter l full of repetitions and contradictions dictions but he made out that May had L discovered her husband was in the power of a lot of men who were urging him to do something she knew ugng exactly what but which would utterly ruin him I one sentence she declared that Charlie was innocent of wrong doing and in the next she implored her brother by all the lovehe had always shown for her by his love for his mother by his love for the I girl who was gone by his love for tho baby his sister held in her arms to save that babys father She came to him she said when sho could go to no one elsehe alone could do anything As Will Jackson sat there far into the night heedless of military calls a fearful struggle went on within him He knew as every man in the fast gathering hosts knew that a great battle was pending His sense of duty to his country his pride in his own good name his soldiers instinct alike made the idea of desertion intolerable to him And yetit was Mays husband and Carries brother As he thought he took out the picture ot his dead love and kissed it passionately I he waited for the battle he might bo killed and then May was right there was no one else who could do this thing But the shame of it the bitter intolerable intol-erable shame Men would say and say with apparent reason that he had deserted coward fashion He Will Jackson through whose veins no drop of cowards blood ever ran He would be false to his country when it needed Mm I false to that flag he loved and idolized idol-ized as he loved and idolized the memory mem-ory of his mother He would be false to the oath he swore before God and man to tight for the Union until the end he who had never consciously broken Ins lightest word would do this thing I was too much to ask too much to demand de-mand of him and burying his head in his hands he prayed the cup might pass from him Carries brother Mays husband I Mays husband Carries brother I rang through his brain like a dull refrain of torture Could he refuse to sacrifice himself It was true he was asked to lay himself on the altar and with his own hands he was asked to tear out his pride his loyalty his honor But could he refuse Could ho refuse It was Mays husband aud Carries brother who would gowho would drown before his eyes in the foul waters of crime and shane unless he jumped in to save Could he refuse Could he refuse To give his life for tho man who had gve brought this misery on him would he thought havo been so easy But to give himself his honor his word Ms loyalty it was hard It character very very was charcter istic of tho man that he spoke nor thought no word of curse against his brotlierinlaw To him the supreme decision he was called on to make was all in all On the one side were his pledge t Ms mother and in the still night ho I seemed to hear her words again his love for the sister and his love for his dead on the other were his honor his loyalty his pride his plighted faith I No wonder when he rose from his scab and walked down the long line of the bivouac he should have staggered as one who has taken strong drink For when the morning roll call rang out Private Will iam Jackson was absent A hurried search and a yet more hurried court martial followed but Gettysburg was I but one day off and men had too much to think of to spend time in wonder i oyer the absence of one His fiend I mourned for a brief space but many of l I them died in the angle or along the thin lines of blue which charged and repelled alternately ana tile desertion was nor gotten save and except for a brief paragraph graph in the note book of the adjutant of the regiment That May should weep and laugh a she felt the strong arms of her brother around her once more and with the childlike faith she always had in him should know it was all right now was but natural It was natural too that she should send for her baby and with the air of a queen bestowing the most cherished of all decorations hold the little lit-tle one out for Will to take He had never seen the child before and he was conscious as she looked up at him with her dark blue eyesthis little Carriea with the other Carries eyesand laughed at the grave sorrow worn face that bent over her of a great wave of love swelling in his heart God was good t Will Jackson Already he felt his sacrifice had been accepted The deep lines which suffering had graven on his countenance with her firmest touch attracted Mays attention but beyond be-yond exclaiming Why Will how old you look I and supposing it came from this awful war she thought little of it Her brother as he answered her gently smiled somewhat bitterly He had reached his sisters house about 10 oclock in the morning and Charlie Farnham did not come back until dinner i din-ner at 6 When he saw his brotherin law he flushed up rather uneasily for while he had known nothing of Mays letter he instinctively felt something was coming After dinner he proposed to take Will around to the club and the latter went gladly enough I a hotel corridor afterward Will noticed that Charlie was hailed by two or three men who looked decidedly fast One of them in particular a Mr Cochran Mr Jack felt sudden dislike for The son a dislko man was tall well dressed with a blonde mustache mus-tache and a sufficiently pleasant manner i man-ner but he had shifty eyes About half past I the two went home where they saw May for a few moments and she then bid them good night As she kissed her brother she whispered You promised prom-ised and he satisfied her with a look For all day long May had pleaded with I him that ho make it easy for Charlie like many women she had called in a power of which when it came she was genuinely genuine-ly afraid The two men went into the librarylighted their cigars and as Charlie walked up and down the room somewhat nervously Will sat at the table absently drawing heads on the blotting pad Charlie he said at last without looking up when your sister Carrie died I thought there was nothing more for me in this life Then you and May loved each other and I gave her gladly to You two and little Carrie you lttle Cae are all I have in the world I would give my life for either of you my gve I The deep music of the tones ceased a the hand went idly on sketching heads on the blotting pad Charlie Farnham stood still his hand pressed on his heart his face very pale and the cigar burning on the hearth where he had thrown it It sometimes happens in this life began Will again that a man becomes entangled in the nets of scoundrels without with-out intentional wrong on his part Then it is the place the duty the privilege of those who love him to set him free I there anything that I have a right to do for you you who are the brother of my dead love and the husband of my sister sis-ter terThe The man spoken to paced rapidly back and forward while the man who spoke did not look up to see the others shame I deserted from the army Charlie started and looked at Will as the latter moistened his dry lips because I heard you were in trouble It was a great sacrifice sac-rifice I made for you my brother and now I am here to help you and to save CHAPTER Iv CT1 I I j7 1 i If i 1 Tt 7 I il < Ilri h l I i M G l V i i li ll la l i I < 1 Y II t U jfj a I f i rl r iJ f h > f 3 IIf I q 1 I I I 1jU P < tl L J 4 r Charlie Farnham broke down Charlie Farnhain broke down He flung himself on his knees beside Will md with the latters arm around him brokenly told his tory He had one evening at the club when he was with Cochran written the signature of Mr Floyd the president of the bank in which he was a teller on a piece of paper The paper was blank at the time and he had done this thing more to show he could than anything else He had no thought of harm and had forgotten for-gotten the whole business until a week afterward when Cochran had shown it to him with a note written above it at s days time payable to h own order or-der and indorsed on the back to Cochran Coch-ran The signature on the back was as much a forgery as was that of Mr Floyd but the forgery was very good and one of Cochraus friends was ready to swear he saw Farnham write the in dorsement Since then they had been making life a misery to Mm demanding demand-ing that he give them the combination of the safe gve had been so afraid he might yield that he had gone to the cashier and asked him to change the combination so that now he did not know it When he told Cochran of the change that individual had become very angry and had ordered him to find out the new series at once or take the consequences conse-quences Why did you not go to M Floyd and tell him the whole story asked WillBecause Because they threatened t have the note discounted in New York and the bank which cashed it would have held me Will Jackson was silent marveling in his own soul that men could be so weak Where is this note ho asked at last I think Cochran has it in his rooms He says it is in New York but he is I such a liar 1 do not believe him Oh Will can you get me out of this scrape I swear 1 will never get into another as I long as I live For Mays sake and little Carries you will do it wont you Will Yes for Games sake whispered L Will pressing his arm against the side where the picture rested Where does this man live he asked I He has rooms at 17 Milk street and i you can always find him before 1 I Long and earnestly two men talked the one protesting again and again his rpnentoncsft and his rfisnlva tn lafl g hot I ter life and the other counseling in kindly fashion At last they separated and Charlie after seeing his brotherin I law to his room went to his own with a i i i lighter heart than he had known for I many a day May was awake and before I be-fore he slept he had told his wife the tory but they were both happy for was not Will thereIn I there-In the mean time Will Jackson threw himself on his bed and lay there thinking think-ing I seemed to him that the cause for the awful trial he had gone through I was so pitiful so mean He could seethe see-the men together foolish Charlie excited with wine and full ofa miserable bravado while the others sat there and lured him into their net And then a little courage cour-age a little open dealing and he would have been left with his oath to his country coun-try unbroken But he was there to save and through the silence of the night he seemed to hear D dead girls voice fu of gratitude and love grs After breakfast Will Jackson walked down tow and reaching Milk street rang the bell at No 17 From a man who opened the door he found out where Mr Cochrans rooms were and saying he had business with that person walked upstairs and knocked at the door A sleepy voice called out Come in and passing through the door Will Jackson locked it behind him Tho man in the bed sat up at this and stared Will walked over to him and drawing a re volver covered him with it it I CHAPTER V a r I have come here to get that piece of j paper or to kill you Mr Cochran he began in a voice which was as harsh as the sound of I sharpening a saw my brother Charles I Farnham tells me that you and your I accomplices have procured from him by fraud a certain document purporting to i be a note signed by John Floyd the president of the bank in which my I brother is employed The signature to this note is a forgery executed by my I brother but the note itself was added after the signature was written and the aftr sigature I indorsement has my brothers name 1 forged to it I have come to get that note from you I Cochran looked at his visitor and as he looked it seemed to him that Will Jacksons eyes blazed with constrained repressed ferocity in their deep sockets I He shuddered a he looked II know nothing he stammered involuntarily shrinking away from those awful eyes Do not give yourself the trouble of lying to gve Mr Cochran because a man of the world like yourself will recognize the uselessness of it I repeat I am here for that paper I I i in New York began Cochran eagerly For Gods sake Mr Jackson dont point that thing at me i t It is in New York repeated the visitor vis-itor slowly Then I am sorry It is in New York I swear it is I Because its absence from Boston will cost you your life within five minutes I time Mr Cochran u Whatwhat do you mean asked j the other quaveringly I I mean th I have come here to get that piece of paper or to Mil you and I will have it or your life before five minutes min-utes I shall not look at my watch you can trust me not to make the time too long he added grimly Cochran gave one look at Will Jack sons face saw murder there and knew it was death to refuse I you will wait until I get up he said hastily you shall have it Very good that is what I want The man climbed out of the bed and going to a desk in the corner opened it Be careful Dont touch that revolver re-volver or I will press the trigger came in cold harsh tones from the visitor vstor I wasnt going to hastily replied Cochran I only want to get the note A here it is and turning he held a slip of paper out Hold it up so that I can read it Now the other side Yes that is right and taking the paper Will Jackson put it in h pocket Then walking over to the desk he picked up the revolver lying there I will give this to the man down stairs he said Now Mr Cochran Coch-ran I have the honor of bidding you good day I think you will be able to find pleasanter places of residence than Boston for the future and passing through the door he went down the stairway stair-way rang the bell and gave the revolver to the servant and then walked quietly home where he played with little Carrie Car-rie came and home chatted with May until Charlie There Charlie he said is your note which you had better burn Remember Re-member it has cost a great price and you will be careful for the future How on earth did you get i asked the brotherinlaw after many protest lions of gratitude and promises Mr Cochran listened to argument replied Will grimly and that was all they ever heard A might have been expected Will Jackson announced his intention of returning re-turning t his regiment the next day where he proposed to face the inevitable trial confess his desertion and submit t his punishment But it was not to be The next morning after a sleepless night he complained of pain in his head and when the physician came the patient was in a raging fever Before forty eight hours ragng elapsed it was evident that brain fever had him in its clutch The trial and suffering the mental strain he had gone throngh had been too much for Mm and it became a question whether wheth-er he had not in fact laid down his life that his brother might remain unstained h reman ed Day after day and through the long watches of the night he tossed and L talked and tossed again Charlie Far ham and his wife learned to know the sacrifice which Will Jackson had made t as they listened t his pitiful pleading to be spared During that time too Charlie Char-lie Farnham had an impression produced Ion I-on him which never wore away there was little fear that he would again put himself in jeopardy When the patient recovered from the physical sickness it was found that Ms mind had received a shock from which it would take years to recover He was f I not exactly insane but be seemed dull I and stupid and he remembered nothing I at all of the past The physicians who 4 attended him prescribed absolute rest I I from every kind of labor and a home i was found for him in one of those nay i 1 lums where kindness rules the application I applica-tion of scientific treatment Here ha remained four years patient and uncomplaining uncom-plaining and gradually Ms mental poweu i came back to im With it came mem lor j faint at first but clearer and stronger 1 strong-er a the days went by Had it not been for the deeply religions nature of the man it i probable that with tho recollection of the sacrifice a relapse would have driven him back and this was greatly feared by his physicians One day when Charlie was with him a chance paragraph in the newspaper telling tell-ing of the arrest of Cochran in Chicago caught Wills eye He seemed dazed for a moment and then like a flash he remembered re-membered all And with the memory an expression came over his face that made Charlie cry out Will rose paced I hurriedly up and down the walk his j features working violently and when Ii Dr Armstrong hurried up to him and took his arm ho shook Mm off with a gesture of intense anger The physician I watched him carefully and Charlie sat there almost sick with apprehension At last Will paused and thinking deeply stood for a moment Then coming com-ing up to his brotherinlaw he held out Ms hand God saw fit to humble me Charlie he said solemnly and who am I that I should question Ms wisdom or his love The physician gave a sigh of relief as Charlie bent Ms head the tears falling on the hand he held Three months after this Will left the asylum and settled in Springfield where he began the practice of the law once more As Ms mental power returned more fully he slowly built up for himself a business which gave him more money than he cared to spend Charlie and May and little Carrie and other little ones that came to them lived happily and there was no other lapse on the husband and fathers part The work which Will Jackson had been called on to do had been done well and thoroughly and as he looked back nt it all he was able to say in time he was glad And this is the story which Mr Abner K Gardiner the chairman of the Democratic Demo-cratic county committee who prided himself on the nomination of William Truesdale Jackson never heard told TH END |
