Show ut 1 H PiER WOMAN The western town o WhitesIde had one small rough avenn befitting the cluster of houses and cabins dignified by the name of a tow but the place was growing and had some good lumber lum-ber interests and was looked upon asa as-a prosperous pioneer settlement The tavern was called the Orient by that peculiar idiosyncrasy of nomenclature which distinguishes the rising west I was here that the night stage coach stopped on It way from Lapeer where it had met the train from the easq and left one passenger a young woman neatly and becomingly dressed who gave evidence of wealth and refinement refine-ment Something in her air bespoke Boston culture perhaps it was an undefined touch of severity that was expressed both in her dress and in her personal repression or in her absolute control of all emotion as she entered the hotel alone a stranger coming orr a most unpleasant errand the outcome out-come of which was to affect her whole future life Her satchel was taKen by a grinning factotum of the House who showed her into the parlor While hO < went to secure a room for her The parlor of the hotel was typical of the prosperity of the town I had a haircloth suite and a tall stove that was nearly all nickel There were several laceshroudefl windows and atone at-one of these a girl was sitting She stated at the woman entering the room ana advanced to meet her The girl was still in her teens but looked if some great sorrow had overtaken over-taken her Her eyes were red with weeping Her pretty pink cheeks looked shrivelled and wan in the morning morn-ing light Her blonde hair was care lessly arranged She did not offer any form of recognition to the stranger but asked in an etn6tional voice You have come to save him Lam his wife said the newcomer itt cold incisive tones whQ are you 1Ithought I was his wife we were so happy and he never told me of any other Oh I can not believe it He was too good too kind to deceive me There must be some dreadful mis take The court will decide that replied the other wonian coldly 03ut you will save him You have money and can buy off these people You will not let him be kept in jail when he loved me so much and we were so happy Peace girl He never loved you and youhow dare you talk to me of loving the man who is my husband I dare say he was taken with your baby face but that he should have gone through any mock ceremony of marriage mar-riage I can not believe I he did it is for that he will to prison and go le wi prson you are the cause of i That I am nQt cruel woman I tell you he loved me and I loved him well enough to go away and never look upon his dear face again if you will save him from the punishment you punishment have brought upon him Is that not proof that I love him There was no emotion visible upon the face of the woman appealed to except a more determined tension of the muscles Her eyes held no tears nor was there any tremor in her voice She turned upon the girl Have you no shame that you openly avow your love for a man to whom you have no claihi How will you answer an-swer to the court for the position you have taken Now at least you are not deceived since your victim is be hind the bars of the county jail Who placed him there Not I proud woman but yoHrycm yourself who are his legal wife as you say while I Ioh if I could die to save you from this my darling I would be glad thankful for the pnvilegel Oh said the dther in a repressed voice and raising a clenched hand small but like a hand of iron as if she would strike the other woman to the earth But shedid not strike That was beneath h r dignitjr to tOuch such a creature as this And the girl who had dream d every hour of her life away beneath Her fathers roof ffood j facing herwjttrptl care iVh tHer4 the blow felt or noh 1 In her hart were only love and conscious f innocence al that moment That she had been cruelly cru-elly deceived did not seem to matter in view uf the greater calamity the loss of her love There was a consultation of lawyers law-yers in which the real wife gave hhr credentials and produced her certificate certifi-cate jhoporable marriage with the man acqused af < rtgamy deciding the criminality of tWs prisoner before the judge of jury should have the case cse The repudiated wife the girl with the pink cheek and blonde hair who had only the characteristic of great loving be though tlisr of a way to save the man who was more to her than home or heaven at that moment She knelt at the tall stove and opened its shining door There was a temporary furnaca within and Into it she dropped a folded paper There No deed of mine shall send him to a prison cell I will bear the blame the shame of it all There was no courthouse in Whitij Wlh side but in lieu of It there was a barracks bar-racks of a place where justice was ad ministered by the most informal methods The judge was rated in a chair that tipped back comfortably against the wall The two lawyers who were more accustomed to horse thieves than more polite clients wre ient making a pretense of being busy They had each an itching palm for money and they intended to be as lenient as possible with the prisoner who was not as yet proved guilty Their palms had been crossed with silver pams wih slver shape of mtaining fees The two womerf came into court separately Each > was met by a law yer and a whispered conference was held Vas The wife ° bl < 1a calm and rigidly cold The other woman had recovered her color and Ii spirits Her 1 spiris yes swam an tears while her lips were Wlt swam In smiles She was telling a story to the lawyer that contradicted all her evidence but sh6 was thbre al said to tell the truth the wKole truth and nothing but the truth She was ready to perjure herself with a divine wih con sidlney The officers were ordered fcers by the cpurt to bring in the prisOner and place him at the bar His wIfe asked a question of her 1 awycr queston Will he b able to leave me on the evening train 7 Doubtless madam The confession 2tth e other woman has virtually set him free virtualy Then the woman of ice melted A single tear ran down her face and fell ° il her wedding ring She brushed fel hess elf hastily as an evidence of weak hessA A deputy entered and addressed the judge May It please the court Prisoner at the bar Interrupted the judge who was deaf as well as blind There was a buzz of excite ment excie Silence in the court roared his honor Then their a a crya woman wo-man wailing heartbroken cry The deputy stepped forward and whispered whisper-ed in the judges ear 1De dYes d-Yes your honor by his own hand The trial ended befoie iT was begun The prisoner wd s free He had ap pealed his case to higher court The lawyers and th couvt were profuse in expressions of sympathy to the wife whose cry for justice had ached to this distant point and they l 6ked askance at that other woman who could not see them for her blind ing tears At last the law gave him to the wife who would bear him away to her eastern home Each wOman in turn asked a question unknown to the other of his jailer The wife had inquired in-quired in calm passionless tones Did he speak afteryou found hlnYesbe Yes he asked for Helen My name Thank you The other woman flung3 herself on her knees at the jailers feet Theyr say hetcspoke once < He did He callexTHelen caUe lel 1 My name Oh thank Gbd He Pres loved meMrs Rayne in Detroit Free 6 a r |