| Show Cb3udg iEauesdropping A Loye StO aul the Reward of FiTlity < BY GEORGE LiNCOLN IS The judge fell Into the way of watching watch-Ing the naturally eough After the court adjourned In the early aero he always took a rIde on hIs bicycle and never failed to visIt the beluttUl stretch of boulevard recently opened along the strng of lake The both came or good families or t at lest weltodo families and their manner led him to thInk there was breeding behind them How ter did he come to know that they love each l other you ask 110w was it poosible pbl not to know i He was not always pas 50 and be had a god memOry I So when the judge noticed the way he looked at her and the way shC I looked at him and the tenderness at I the young mans courtC the judge I knew well enough how matters were She was a beautiful woman not over 20 and gave one an Impression ot trig ness and neatness A woman would say she wore a becoming suIt that fitted her She was petite with one If those fresh sparkling face s seldom seen among overworked society girls He was a manly chap of 2 athletic bronzed and thoroughiy fit as my nephew says My nephew plays on the varsity football team and ne 19 authority au-thority in our family on such mater And they noticed the judge After awhile a-while he ga into the way of bowIng to them although they dldnt know he was Judge Storow and hedidnt know them One dream IndIan summer ateroon the judge went up among the trees on the aide of the lake to a shelter nook he knew and lay down to rest There hM bee a puzzling case before hIm that morning and while thinking It over he must have fallen asleep He was suddenly aware that just outside out-sIde his shelter 0 man and woman were talking He knew not what to dQ He son discovered that they were his lover a he called them and they weredlscusslng some unhappy cir Ctmstan regarding their affection What should he dQ There was no way out except pas them Would I be better to com out and s let the know he had herd theIr tak or would it not be more delicate to remaIn till the had gone not listening and they would neveI know anyone had ever overheard them He decIded oct the latter lat-ter alternative and remained perfectly quIet i But try as he would it was impsI ble not to hear their whole conversation conversa-tion tonBut But what difference does that make asked the young man You know perfectly well Alice that i it were a thousand tIme wore that i it were you yourself I would marry you ouOh Oh but think of it Ned ThIn what your friends would say Ned Grant married the daughter of an embezzler bezler serving his time In jaiL The judge couldnt help wondering If this were the son of Grant on the supreme su-preme bench whom he had never met although he knew his father intimately The girls gentle voice broke as she saId thIs and Ned cried cre Oh Alice I wIsh you wouldnt thInk of that I just breaks me up t see you cry you know Ten followed a silence durIng which Alice must have been In someway some-way comforted for she sId In a steady voice voiceNo No my dear boy I have been very weak to see you so often and have the rides I should have refused and tried to forget you But Ned I cOuldnt I cant thInk of anything but ound I do love you so More silence len And Ned thIs rely must be the lat I cant marry you Xo dear pleas dont go allover I again I know that it would be a great wrong to you to say yes I would always be a hindrance to you We would have no frIends and a young lawyer must have frIends Who would come to your house if they knew your wife was Ihe daughter daugh-ter ot Rand the embezzler Tat was where he judge a cs discovered dIs-covered hImself He sentenced Rand to twenty yes hard labor and he had still fifteen ear to serve It was a queer case and not quI clear So this was the motherless gIrl he had hear so much about Now see here Alice the young man said you know It takes two to mae a separation So while you my thInk it bet not to see me again I sal not give you uP and I shall see you eeropporunI I can so long a I it dost bother you Dad knows all about I and hes with me I The judge wanted to shout God for dad but he dldnt Then they go up to g and after another longer silence they left hIm alone He knew all about the trouble and prty mean he felt about It to As he rode slowly home he turned the little tragedy over and over in his mind and tie more he thought about It the more he felt that he had made a mistake by ataying and lteIng At lat he evolved a plan calculate to ease hIs own conscience and give the young man some courage So the judge sent hIm thIs letter Mr EdwIn Grant 1 had the misfortune to overhear par of your conversation with Is Rand today although In quIte an accidental manner I as I surmise you are the son of Grant of te 5pree you are made of the right sr ot stuff to regard MIss Rads views a only a temporary obstacle to your happiness 1 sentenced Rand and If you care to cal on me I ttould be glad to see you Perhaps we may thin of some arguments to make Sties Rand look at the ce differently At any rte I agree with his honor your father and am also with you Your ROBERT STORROW The next day the judge was obliged to go to a dIstant city to act as referee in a case The Rand caSe wa almost pureh a circumstantial ope and hung on the handwriting in whII the false entries had bee made in the books The handwriting hand-writing exacrta all agreed that the entries had been made by Rand indeed the prisoner admitted as much He had plead not guilty and when he admitted the identity of the handwriting hand-writing thee was little left to do for him HIs counsel was completely I baffled by the admIssIon and Rand refuse to explaIn It In any way 1r a he would I the lawer could elicit othlng further I md the jury had to brIng In a verdict of guilty I I could never be found how Rand ha disposed of the sum he embezzled In fact not 0 penn of the missing money was ever found ad the bank charged it to profit and loss Hooper th president of the bank was In constant atendmie at the trial and expressed great sorrow for Rand eXJrsed get Shortly after the sentence Hooper left the banc and went to another cI j where he engaged In a pHvate banking and hroker e business It was in this city that Judge Siorr was now sit tin tn tinOne One night a1 hIs club the coter ton drifted rund tononeyandbank Ing The judge made the rmark that he wIsed to procure a letter of credt for his nIece who was goIng abroad and same one suggested Hoop house a the best place to get I By the way mid his advisor yOU sentenced the cashier of the bank of I which Hooper used te be president dldnt you The judge staid he did Well continued the man tha15 I the way some men treat those who have been kind to them My wife I grew up in the village hee Hooper acid Band were boys together Rand w not In vm good cirmstane while Hooper had plenty ofmoney At that time Hopper was quietly buying up a get del of land through which he knew a railroad was projected He let Rand in on the ground foor lent hIm money and then when they realized collected RluIds notes and in W this n way they both made money and Rds share was a moderate fortune t a i I mann in his circumstances It wasnt i many years before Rand had lost his money in foolish investments Then Hooper rot hIm the position of cashier r In the bank where he was president It 5Eflhs pretty tough for Rand to have stolen all that money The directors i asked Hooper for his resignation a course and he was obliged to come here and star fresh Now thIs was a part of the story tat the judge had never heard before I little agreed with his personal Im presons which of course has nothing to do wIth the law and evIdence He had an idea that Rand was not that sort of a man and curIously enough Hooper he had acquired a atpty for That h wake the r I nIght h thinking of case Gradually he found himself I fore to a conclusion for which there was little reason He somehow I thought that Hooper was the guilty man and Rand the innocent lie had I known a few similar I cases of quixotic gratitude The net day hI called at the ban I ing hose of Hooper Co As he was leaving he met Hooper face to face I The man went white and staggered against the boor jamb as If lId bad beea struck Whyhow dy do Why dldt aspect to see you he stammered Anything we can do for you The judge looked him square In the eye and said No Mr Hoer nothIng noth-Ing you ca do unlessbut never mInd now an he gave him a peculiar look under whIch Hop quailed The judge had not gone two blocks before one of the clerk came rushing after hIm and saId lIr Hooper wante him to come back He found Hooper t the floor and mumbling to hImself cried y God judge do you know he I know you are a scoundrel the judge control replied surprised out of hIs self r did it judge I did I 1 know I calmly replied the judge r came to thIs city because I couldnt stand meeting you and I have never had a happy or a easy moment since Ive e in constant fear pf apprehension The judge looked at him and could r scare restrain hIs cntempt and Indlg nHon Stepping back he turned the key in the lock and put It Into his pocket Then he wet to the telephone and told police headquarters who he was and asked tem to send hIm an inspector In-spector at the banking office Now he saId before other of us leave thIs rom you are going to write the whole story You will sign It in the prerence of witnesses and InsIde of two weeks Rand will be a free man You will be arrested at once but fa tw weeks for my own reasons you will continue to conduct you business and a headquarters man will b always with you You ca explain his presence In any way that you like Nov sit down and write Hooper shrank from the task but the judge insisted When he had finished and was ready to sign the came a tap at the door and a stranger a ushered In He locke the door after him and the jude had n low conversation conver-sation with hIm The confession was duly signed and wItnessed It set forth Hopers necessity to obtain ob-tain funds further tan those available and how hE had taken from time to time showIng Rand fictitious notes so that Rand ha every reason to suppose the bank was makIng loans In short he had madethe entrIes In perfect good faith and then when the stealing was made known he had kept silence remembering re-memberIng all the benefits received It was of course a questionable thIng for hIm to do considering his family But there was no doubting the nobility of the mans character That nIght the judge started for home havIng disposed oC the case There the next day he laId the confession before the governor and hIs council who took the preliminary steps to release Rand That evening Ned Grant cabled saying say-ing he had failed to find the judge at home on the previous evening He knew enough of law to appreciate somethIng some-thIng the judge told hIm Non saId the judge thIs tangle can be straightened out You brIng Alice here two weeks from tonight and Ill try to change her vies At last the night came The judge was decidedly nervous The bell rang and in came Ned and Alice He had told her about the judge anSI she blushed prettily when he was introduced Intro-duced After he had explaIned at some length that hIs eavesdropping was quite accidental acci-dental he began to age again wIt her on the mater She took the same hIgh ground as beforethat it was doIng Ned a wrong And she ha a pretty goo case to At last he sad So there is no way of turning you You would mhrry if your father were not in prison for embezzlement She nodded and the judge ntlety handed her a long typewritten deco meat I was the witnessed confessIon Rand had ben living quIet with the judge for the last few days and knew the whole story Ned stood near careuly watchIng her and as the door opened noiselessly he saw John Rand waiting for his daughter to look up and see him She rend it through without looking up Then as she lay back in the chair she caught his eye and ran to him with a cry of Father Father Hooper is still serving his time |
