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Show TP ' TlioHLiSToSaoio8S. Ji By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES dHAHgyaw. 'i CHAPTER. XLI. ) Fcldcr Walks With Doctor Brent, li Folder had been among the last to I) leave thu courtroom. Ho was dis- j ( comiitcd and angry. He hud meant to i make a telling point for tho, detenso, , Y and the unbalanced imagination ot a strolling, bigot gospeller bad undone him. His "own precipitate and m- $ considered action had uncovered an idiotic marc's nest, to taint Ins np- 1. peal with bathos and open ms cause with a farcical anti-climax. Ho tS' glumly fathered his scattered papers, H $ put thorn with the leaf of the news- paper from which the district uttoi- !- nev had road, and dispatched tho lot Ifl lo'his office by a messenger. $ At the door of the courthouse Doctor fl Brent slipped nu arm through "is. S "Too bad, Tom," ho said sympathiz- 'I tngly.- "I don't think you quite de- fcf served it." J Folder paced a moment without 'j speaking. "I eed ovidonco " ho said t then, anything thnt may help. I 4 made a mistake, lou heard all tho Jf testimony?" I The other nodded. ''What did you think or it?" m mW JS1 "What could any ono think? I givo -ill crodit to your motive,. Tom, but I it's a pity you're mixed up m it. Mq "Wbyr- "Because, if there's anything in H ; human evidence, he's :i thoroughly ;' worthless reprobate. He lay lor Hjr' Moreau and murdered him in cold fy). . blood, and ho ought to swing." ',4; "The casual view." said tho lawyer mW 4 gloomib. "Just what I should havo j H. said myself if this had happened a V month ago." 1 t His frioud looked at him with an mW Hi -unused expression. ' 'I begin to think f he must be a remarkable man!" he I't said. "Is it possible he has really J!, convinced you that bo isn't guilty?" Jj: Fcldcr turned upon the doctor square- 5 'v. -''Yes," ho returned bluntly. "He ? has. Whatovcr I may have believed i 1. when I took the case, I have come, to ,.') the conclusion against all my pro-res- V; sional instincts, mind you that he nrvcr kille'd Morcau. I belieyo no s as !fi! 'tmocnut as either you or I!' The physician looked puzzled. . "You ):j ntlifve MoTeau 's.hand didn 't write that Li "I, don't know." W "Do vou think ho lied?' cj' "I don't know what to tlunk. But !f T am convinced Hugh Stires isn't ly- f jji mg. . There 's a mvstery in tho thing 1 VL that ! C3nJt get hold of." Ho caught ft the physician's half-smile. "Oh, I Hl fi know what vou think." he said re- i) -entfully. rYou think it is Miss f-A' Holme. I assure yeni I am defending M. Hugh Stires for bis own sake." ri "She played vou a close second to- w; r'av," observed" the doctor shrewdly. "That carnation I never saw a thing if better done." Kj Feldor drew his arm away. "Auss r-l Holme." ho paid almost stiffly, "is as . far from acting " f' "My dear fellow!" exclaimed the j other. "Don't snap mo up. She's a r, gentlewoman, and everything that ' is u ovelv; If she were tho reason, I ( should -honor you for it. I'm very ilfe 'deeply sorry' lor her. For my4 part, k I'm sure. I wish you might get him 1 M oiV. She loves him, and doesn't care l.ji -vho sees it," and. if he were as bad-as he worst, a woman like that could 'tj make a man of hfm.. But I know j- ..nries. In. towns like this they take j : hemselves pathetically in earnest. On M the evidence so far, they'll convict l : fast enough." If . f'I know it." said the lawyer des- I; Tondently. "And yet he's innocent. li I'd stake- my life on it. It's worth- . less -as evidence . and I shan't iniro- t duco it. but he has as good as admitted f to her that he knows who did it." tj "Come, come! Putting bis head into B' ! tho noose for mere Quixotic feeling? 1 And who. ' pray, in this God-forsaken town, should ho sacrificing himself Bs forf" the doctor asked satirically. tl "That's the nib." said the lawyer. BB.. f ''Nobody. Yet I hang by my propo- Hu nlticn." 'V : "Well, he'll hang bv something less H1! tenuous, I'm afraid. But it won't be HH u ; your fault. The crazy evangelist was H m only an incident. :Hc merely scn'cd to J i olt us back to the normal. By the J ft i "way, did -you hear him .splutter after i.H he got out?" fl "No." J h "You remember the story he told J fa. the other night of tho minister who Ji ,' was caught gnmbline on his own com- Ht' ' munion tabled Well, Hugh Stires is BHvi not on'y Reverend Henry Some- 1 thing-or-otber, but he is that man, BBf ill, toot The. crack-brained old idiot BBBritl would, have told the tale over again, BBJjiff only the crowd hustled him. BBJ-tt$ "'There he is now," he said sud- BBJfjfi denly, as a light sprang up and voices BBJ j broke qui on the opposite cornor. "The BHikr gang is standing by. I see your BBJ'jlT i,"riend Barnoj' AfcGinn," he added. (-( with, a grim enjoyment, "I doubt if PPJ m there are many converts tonight." PPJ In Even as he spoke there came a PPJ K shout of, laughter ,and warning. The PBJkl spoctators scattered in all directions. PPJ uj and a stream of water from a wcll- PPJ n directed hoso deluged the itinerant and PPJ y his music-box. PPJ d Ten minutes later tho street preacher, PPJ u drenched and furious, was trundling his PPJ D inolodeon toward Funeral nollow, on PPJ ft his way to the coast. 3 CHAPTEB XLIL Tho Eeckoniug. H. I As narry stood again in the obscuro BPJI; 1 half-darkness of his cell it came to PPJ i him that, the present had a far-reaching PPJ significance that it was but the handi- BPJj , work anil resultant of forces in his BBjK wa past. He himself had brewed tho BPJ, Litter wormwood he must drink. Jcs- PPJ Of p-icas quivering arraignment on that PPJ J lurid wedding day in tho white ho&c PPJ 1 in the. aspens it had been graven ever BBJ.! fl f-uce, on his buried memory rang in BBff' S his, mind: BBft fl i'ou were strong and he was PBJjw weak. You,. led and he followed. You BBpjvfl were "'Satan Sanderson,", Abbot of BBBJA1! Saints, the tcet in whic)i he learned BflflrM gambling. You helped to make him BBBJ' fl vhat he has become! Hi They had made variant- choice, and BBpj'a t liat, choice had .left Harry Sanderson BflWtt "a ,tru,Vmn.K C?r. t,,c Ca iters of a bishop, BBBJti u,1(l Hugh Stires treading the paths BBBJiIR. of dalliance and the gambler. But ho PPJjj himsi'lf had set Hugh's feet on the red BBBJ' B path that had pointed him to tho BBJl v hhanicfiil tcrntiuus. He had gambled BBJ) for Hugh 'r future, forgetting that his BBJ; pKt' remained, a thing that must 'be BBpJ covered. He had won Hugh 's counters, BBpJl : but his own right to be himself be had BBpJj ftaked and lost long before that game BBpJ n tho communion table under the BBpJS ' painted, crucifixion. BBpJi Tho words he had once said to BBpJf ; Hugh recurred .to him with a kind of BBBJ awe: "Put myself in your placoi I PPJI : wish 'to God I could! " BW I Fate or was it God? had taken him at his word. Ho had boon hurled like a stone from a catapult into Hugh 's place, to bear his knavery, to suffer his dishonor, aud to redeem tho baleful I reputation ho had mado. Ho had boon his brother's keeper and had failed in the trust; ntfTv tho circle of retribution, retribu-tion, noisolcss and inexorablo as tho wheeling of that vast scorpion cluster in tho sky. evened the score and brought him again to tho tost! And, in tho supremo strait, was he, a poor poltroon, io step aside, to cry j "enough," to yield ignobly1? Even if i to put asido tho temptation might . bring him fnco to face with the final shameful pcualiy? I This, then, waa tho meaning of tho straugo sequence of ovents through which he had been passing since the hour when ho had awakened in the boxcar! box-car! Living, he was not to betray j Hugh; tho Great Purpose behind all meant that he should go forward 'on the path ho had chosen to the end! A step outside tho cell, tho turning of tho lecv. Tho door oponed, and Icssica, palo and trembling, stood on the threshold. "I can not help it," she said, as she came toward him, "though you told mo not to como. I havo trusted all tho while, and waited, and ana prayed. But today T was afraid." She paused, locking her hands before her, lookiug at him in an ngony of entreaty. When she hnd tied from the courtroom to the open air she had walked straight away townrd the mountain, moun-tain, struggling in tho cool wind and motion against tho fooling of physical sickncs3 and anguish. But sho had only partly regained hor self-possession." Returning, the thinning I groups about tho dim-lit door had mado it clear that tho session was over. In her painful confusion of mind she had acted on a pcrcmntory impulso that drove her to the jail, whoro her face had quickly gained her entrance. "Surely, surely," sho went on. "tho man vou are protecting has had timo onougnl Hasn't he? Won't you tell them tho truth now?" ne knew not how to meet the piteous reproach and terror of that look. Sho had not heard tho street preacher's declaration, ho knew, but even if sho had. it would havo been to hor only air" echo of the old mooted likeness. like-ness. He had given her comfort onco but this was no more to be. No matter mat-ter what it meant to him, or to her! "Jessica. " he said steadily, "when you camo to mo hero that first day. and I told you not to fear for me, T did not mean to deceive you. I thought then that it would all como right. But something has happened sinco then somothiug that makes a difference. I can not tell who was tho murderer of Morenu. I can not toll you or any ono else, either now or at any time." Sho gazod at him startled. She had a sudden conception of some olemeut hitherto ungnessed in his make-up, something . inveterate and adamant. Could it be that he did not intend to tell at all? The very idea was monstrous! Yet that clearly was his meaning. Sho looked at him with flashing eyeF. "You mean you will not?" she exclaimed ex-claimed bitterly. "You aro bent on sacrificing yourself, then! Yon are go-jng go-jng to take this risk because you think it bravo and noble, bocauso somehow some-how it! fits your man's gospel! Can't vou ses how wicked and selfish it is? You are thinking only of him, and of yourself, not of me. "Jessica. Jessica!" ho protested with a groau. But in tho self-torture of her questionings she paid no heed. "Don't you think I suffer? Iluven 't I borne enough in tho months sinco ' I married you, for you to want to 6avc mo this? Do you owo me nothing, mo whom 3'ou so wronged, whose " She stopped suddenly at the look on his face of mortal pain, for she had struck harder than she knew. It pierced through ihe ficrco resentment to her deepest heart, and all her lovo and pity gushed back upon hor in a torrent. tor-rent. Sho threw herself' on her knees by the bare cot, crying passionately: "Oh. forgivo mo! Forget what I said! 1 did not mean it. T ha-e forgiven for-given you a thousand times over. . I never ceased to lovo ym. I love you now. more than all the world." "It is true." ho said, hoarse misery in his tone. "I have wronged you. If I could coin my blood drop by drop, to pay for the past. I could not set that right. If giving my life over and over again would save you pain, I would give it gladly. But what you ask now is tho one thing 1 can not do. It would make me a nitiful coward. T did not kill Morcau. That is all I can say to you or to those who try mo." "Your life!" she said with dry lips. "It will mean that. That counts so fearfully much to me more than my own life a hundred limes. Yet thoro is something that counts more than all that to you! " His face was that of a man who holds his hand in tho lire. "Jessica," he said, "it is liko this with mo. When yon found me hero the day I saw you on the balcony I wa3 a man whose soul had lost its compass and its bearing3. My conscience was asleep. You woke it, and it is fiercely alive now. And now with my memory has como back a debt of my past that I never paid. Whatever the outcome, out-come, for my soul's sake I must settle it now and wipe it from the score for ever. Nothing counts nothing can count more than you! But I must sail' by the needle; I must be truthful to the best that is in mo." She,, rose slowly to her feet with a despairing gesture. " 'Jle saved others.' " sho quoted in a hard voico, " ' himself he could not save!' I once heard a minister preach irom that text at home: it was 'our friend, the "Reverend Henry Sander-sou. Sander-sou. I thought it was a vury spiritual sermon then that was before I knew what his companionship had been to you!" In the oxclamation was tho old bitterness that had had its spring in that far-away evening at tho white I houso in the aspens, when Harry ! Sanderson had lifted the curtain from his college career. In spito of David btires s prcdiliction, sjneo that dav rIic had distrusted and dielikcd. at" moments mo-ments actively hated him. His mannerisms man-nerisms hnd seemed 11 pose and his pretensions pre-tensions hypocrisv. On her weddhi" day, when she had lashod him witfi tho blame of Hugh's ruin, this had become be-come an ingrained prejudice, im-prognable im-prognable because rooted deeper than reason, in the heritage of her sex. the eternal proclivity, which saw Harry Sanderson, his motley covered with tho sober domino of the church, stand in" self-rightconsly in surplice aud stole", while Hugh slid downward to disgrace. 'If there were any justice in the universe. " she added, "it should bo he immolating himself now. not you!" His face was not toward her and she could not 6ee it go deadly white. Tho sudden shift, she had given tho conversation had startled hinr. llo turned to tho tiny barred window that looked out across the court yard squaro whoro such a little timo sinco he had found his lost self. "I think," ho said, "that iu my place, ho would do tho same." "You always admired him," she went on, ilio hard ring of misery in hor tone. "You admire him yet. Oh, men liko him have such strange and wicked power! Satan Snndorson it was n fit name. What right has ho to be rector of St. James, whilo 3'ou " Ho put ouL a hand in flinching protest. pro-test. "Jessica! Don't!" ho begged. "Why should I not say it?" she re-j re-j lortcd. with quivering lips. "But for him you would never bo hcrel Ho ruined your lilV and mino, and I hate and despiso him for a selfish hypocrite!" hypo-crite!" 1 That was what he himself had seemed to, her in thoso old davs. The edge of a flush touched his forehead as he said slowly, almost appcalingly: "Ho was not a hypocrite, Jessica. ! Whatever he was it was not that. At 1 college he did what ho did too oponlv. That was his failing not caring what others thought. Ho despised weakness in others; ho thought it none of his affair. So othors wore influenced. But after ho came to see things differently, from another standpoint when he went into the ministry ho would havo given the world to undo it." I ''That may have been tho Harry Sanderson you know," she said stonilv. "Tho ono I know drovo an imported motor car and had a dozen fads that peonlo were always imitating. You ar still loyal to tho old collego worship. As mon go,, you count him still your friend." "As mon go," ho echoed, "tho very closest! " "Men's likings aro strango." sho said. 'Because ho never had temptations tempta-tions like yours, and has novor douo what the law calls wrong, you think he is as noblo as you noble enough to 8lncldva murderer to his own danger." "Ah, no, Jossica." ho interposed gently. "I only said that in my placo ho would do the same." "But you aro shielding a murderer," she insisted Gorccly. "You will not admit it. but I know! Thero can bo no justice or right in that! If Harry Sanderson is all you think him if ho stood here now and know tho wholo he would say it was wicked. Not brave and noble, but wicked and cruel!" Ho shook his head, and tho sad shadow of a bitter smile touched his hps. "He would not say so," he said. A dry sob answered him. He turned and loaned his elbow3 on the uarrow window-sill, every nervo aching, but powerless to comfort. Ho heard her eton tho door closed sharply. Then he faced into the empty coll, sat down on the cot and threw out his arms with a hopeless cry: , "Jessica, Jessica!" CIIAPTEE XLIIL j Tho Llttlo Gold Gross. Jessica left tho jail with despair in her heart. Tho hopo on which eho had fed those past days had failed hor. What was there left for her to do? i Like a swift wind sho went up tho street to Feldor 's office. A block beyond the courthouse a crowd was enjoying tho watery discomfiture dis-comfiture of Hallelujah J.ones, and shrinking from recognition even m the darkness for the arclights were still black ho crossed tho roadway and ran on to tho unpretentious building whero the lawyer had his sanctum. Sho groped her way up the unlighted stair I and tapped on the door. There was.no answor. She pushed it open and entered the empty outer room, where a study lamp burned on tho desk. A pilo of legal looking papers had been set beside it, and with them lay a torn page of a newspaper whoso fa- 1 miliar caption gavo her a stab of -pain. Perhaps the news of the trial ' had found its way across the ranges, to 1 where the names of Stires nnd Morcau had been known. Perhaps ovcry ouc at Aniston already knew of. it, was reading about it, pitying her! She ! picked it up and scanned it hastily. I There was no hint of the trial, but hir ' eye caught tho news which had played its role in tho courtroom, and sho read it to the end. Even in hor own trouble sho read it with a shiver. Yet. awful as tho faio which Harry Sanderson had eq narrowly narrow-ly missed, it was not to be compared with that which awaited Hugh, for, awful as it was, it held no shame. In a gust of feeling she slipped to her knees by the one sofa the room contained and prayed passionately. As she drew out her handkerchief to stanch tho tears that came, something some-thing foil with a musical tinkle at her feet. It was tho little cross she had found in front of tho hillside cabin, that had lain forgotten in her pocket during the past auxious da3s. Sho I picked it up now and held it lightly in her hand, as if tho tangible symbol brought her closer to the Infinite Svm-pathy Svm-pathy to which she turned in "hor misery. As 6he pressed it, tho ring at the top turned aud tho cross parted in halves. Words were engraved on the inside of, the arms a dale and tho name Henry Sanderson. The recurrence of tho name jarred and surprised her. Hugh had dropped it an old keepsake of the friend who had. been his beau ideal, his exemplar, and whoso ancient influence was still dominant. He had clung loyally to the memento, blind in his constant liking, lik-ing, to the wrong that friend had done him. She looked at the dato; it was May 23. She shuddered, for that was the month and day on which Doctor Moroau had been killed tho point had boon clearly established today to-day by tho prosecution. To tho original owner of that cross, perhaps, the date thnt had como into Hugh's life with such a sinister meaning, waa a glad anniversary. 1 Suddenly she caught her -hand to hor cheek. A weird idea had rushod through her brain. The religious symbol had atood for Harry Sanderson 1 aud tho chance coincidence of date had irresistibly pointed to tho murder, i To hor excited senses the juxtaposition held a bizarre, uncanny suggestion. This cross the very emblem of vicarious vi-carious sacrifice suppose Harry Sanderson San-derson had never given it to Hugh! Suppose ho had lost it on tho hillside himself! She snalchod up the paper again: "Who has been for some months on a prolonged vacation" tho phrase stared sardonically at hor. That might carry far back she said it under her breath, fearfully beyond the murder of Doctor Moroau. Her face burned and her breath came sharp and fast. Why, when sho brought her warning to tho cabin, had Hugh been so anxious to get her away, unless to prevent her sight of the man who was there to whom had, he taken her horse'.' Who was thoro in Smoky Mountain whom he would protect at hazard of his own : 1 I life? Yot in this crisis, oven, her appeal ap-peal to his love had been fruitless, llo had called Harry Sanderson his closest friend, hnd said that in his place Harry would do tho same. Sho I rcmombcrod his cry: "What you ask I is tho one tiling I cau not do. It would make me .a pitiful coward!" She hnd asked only that ho tell tho truth. To protect a vulgar murderer waa not courageous. But what if they were bound by ties of old friendship and college comaradcrie? Men had their standards, Jessica's veins wcro all aflro. A roclor-inurdcrer? A double caroer? Was it beyond possibility? At tho sanatorium sho had reread "Tho Mystery Mys-tery of Edwin Drood"; now she thought of John Jasper, the choirmaster, choir-master, stealing away from tho cathedral to tho Loudon opium den to plan the murder of his nephew. Tho mud thought gripped her imagination, narry Sanderson had been wild and lawless in his university days, a gamester, a skeptic the Abbot of tho Saints! To her his pretensions had never seemed more than a gracoful sham, tho generalities of religion ho .spread for tho delectation of fashion-nhlo fashion-nhlo St. James only "as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." He had been a hard drinker in those days. What if the old desire had run on beneath the fair exterior, denied aud repressed till it had burst control till ho had lied from those who knew him, to Hugh, in whoso loyaltv he trusted, to give it roin in n debauch? Say that this had happened, aud that in tho midst of it Morcau, whom ho had known in Aniston, had como upon him. Anticipating recognition, to covor his own shamo and savo his career, in drunken frenzy porhaps. ho inicht havo fired tho shot on the hillside that Morcau, taken unawares, had thought was Hugh 's. It camo to hor like an impinging ray of light the old curious likeness that had sometimes boon mado a jest of at tho white houso in the aspens. Moroau und Prondorgas't had believed it to bo Huh. So had tho town, for the body had been found on his ground. But on tho night when the real murderer camo again to tho cabin perhaps per-haps it was his coming that had brought back the lost memory Hugh had known tho truth. In tho light of this supposition his strained manner then, his present determination not to speak, all stood plain. What had he meant by a dobt of his' past that he had never paid? Ho could owe no dobt to Harry Sanderson. If ho owed any dobt, it was to his dead father, a thousand times more than tho draft ho had repaid. Could ho be thinking in his remorse that his father had cast him off counting himself nothing, remembering only that narry Sanderson had been David Stires 's favorite, fa-vorite, and St. James, which, must bo smirched by the odium of its rector, the apple of his eye? Jessica had snatched at a straw, because be-cause it was tho only buoyant thing afloat in the dragging tide; now with a blind fatuousness sho hugged it tighter to her bosom. Tho joints of her reasoning seemed to dovetail with fateful fate-ful accuracy. She was swayed by instinct, in-stinct, and apparent fallacies were glozed by old mistrust and terror of the outcome which was driving her to any desperate expedient. Beside Hugh's salvation the wholo univorso counted as nothing. She was in the grip of that fierce passion of love's defense which feels the romance of the world. One purpose possessed her to confront Harry Sanderson. What matter though she missed the remainder of tho trial? She could do nothing hor hands wore tied. If the truth lay at Aniston sho would find it. She thought no further than this. Onco in Harry Sanderson 's presence, what she would say or do sho scarcely imagined. The horrifying question filled her thought to the exclusion ex-clusion of all that must follow its answer. It was surety and self-conviction she craved only to read in his eves the truth about the murder of Murcau. She suddenly began to tremble Would tho doctors let her sec him? What excuse could she give? If ho was the man who had boon in Hugh 's. cabin that night, he had heard her speak, had known she was there. He must not know beforehand of her coming, com-ing, lesi he have suspicion of her errand. er-rand. Bishop Ludlow ho could gain her access to him. Injured, dying, perhaps, maybo he did not guess that Hugh was in jeopardy for his crime. Guilty and dying, if he know this, he would surely tell the trulh. But if ho diod bclore she could reach him? Tho paper was some days old; he might bo dead already. She took heart, however, how-ever, from tho statement of his improved im-proved condition. Sho sprang to her feet and looked at her chatelaine watch. ihe east-bound east-bound express was overdue There was no time to lose minutes might count. Sho examined her purse sho bad money enough with hor. Fivo minutes later she was at tho station, a scribbled note was on its way to, Mrs. nalloran, and before a swinging red lantern, tho long incoming incom-ing train was shuddering to a stop. CHAPTEB XLTV. The Impostor. In the long hospital tho air was cool anil filtered, drab figures passed with soft footfalls and voices wcro measured and hushed. But no sense of coolness or ronoso had como to the mah whose racked body had been tondcry borne there in the snowy dawn vhieh saw the blackened ruins of Aniston 's most perfect edifice. Bucauso of him tongues clacked on tho street corner and bulletins were posted in newspnper windows; carriages car-riages of tasteful equipment halted at tho hospital portecochorc, messages flew back and forth, and the telephone tele-phone in the outer office whirred busily at unseasonable hours, but from tne clean screened room where he lay, all this was shut out. Onlv tho surgeons sur-geons came and went, deftly refreshing refresh-ing the bandages which swathed one side of his face, where tho disfiguriii"-flame disfiguriii"-flame had smitten tho other sido was untouched, save for a line across tho ! brow, seemingly a thin, rod mark of cxconalion. Hugh had sunk into unconsciousness willi tho awestruck oxclamation ringing ring-ing in his ears: "Good God! It's Harry Snndorson" lie had drifted back to conscious knowledge with the same words racing in his brain. They implied im-plied that,, so far as capture wont, the old, curious resemblance would stand his friend till he betraj-cd himself, or till the cxistenco of the real Harry Sanderson at Smoky Mountain did so ! for him. The delusion must hold till ho could have himself moved to some placo whero his secret would bo safer till he could get away! This thought grew swiftly paramount it overlapped the ricrid agony of his. burnn that made tho bed on which li- lay a fiory furnace: it. gavo method lo iiis every word and look, llo look up the difficult part, and after tho tuper flcial anguish dulled complained no more and successfully countcrf oiled cheerfulness cheerful-ness aud bollorment. Ho said nothing noth-ing of tho curiously re:uriont and sickening stab of pain, senrphing aud (loop-seated, . that took his breath an I left each time an increasing giddinos:'. Whatever innor hurt this niiuht betoken, beto-ken, he must hido it. tho sooner u leave the hospital, whero each hour brought nearer tho iuevilablo disclosure. disclos-ure. 1 llu thanked fortuno now for tho chapel game; few enough in Aniston would caro to aeo the unfrocked, disgraced dis-graced rector of St. James. Ho did not know thaL tho secret was Bishop LirI-low's LirI-low's own, until tho hour when ho oponed his eyes, after a fitful sleep, upon tho latler's fnce. . Tho bishop was the first visitor ami it, was his first visit, for he liad been 111 a distant cif-- ut the timo of the fire, Waiting tho waking, he had bcou mystified at tho chaii"o a few montos had wrought in tho countenance of tho man whoso disa '""ranee had cosl hi" so many rloepless hours. The months of indulgenco andrich living on iha money ho had won from Harry hud taken nway Hugh's slightncfta, and his fuller cheeks were now of the contour of Harry's own. But flic bishop distinguished dis-tinguished new lines in the face on tho pillow, an expression unfamiliar and puzzling; the firmness and strength wore gone, and in their placo was a haunting something that gavo hip: a fitting suggestion of tho discarded that ho could not shake off. Wakinr'. tho unexpected sight of the bishop startled Hugh; to tho good man's pain ho had turned his xaco away. "My dear bov," the bishop had said, they toll mo you aro stronger and bettor. bet-tor. I thank Ood for it." Ho spoko gently and with deep feeling. feel-ing. How could ho tell to what extent ex-tent ho himself, in mistaken severity, had been responsible for that unaccustomed unaccus-tomed look? Wkon Hugh did not answer, an-swer, the bishop misconstrued tho silence si-lence Ho leairod ovor tho bed; tho big, cool hand touched the fevered ono on tho white coverlid, whero thu ruby ring glowed, a coal in snow. "Harry," he said, "you havo suffered suf-fered 3'ou aro suffering now. But think of 1110 only as your friend. I ask no questions. We "are going to begin be-gin again whero wc left off." Tho words and tono had shown Hugh tho situation and givon him his cue. Ho could put himself fairly in Ilarry's placo, and with tho instinct of the actor ho did so now, meeting the other's friendliness with a hesitant eagorncbs. "I would liko to do that," ho said, " to begin again. But tho chapel is gone. "Novor mind that," said tho bishop cheerfully. "You aro onlv to -ol well. Wo aro going to rebuild soon, and we want your judgment on tho plans. An- j iston is hanging on your condition, Harry," ho went on. "There's a small cartload of visiting cards downstairs down-stairs for you. But I imagino you havo not begun to rcccivo yet, oh?' "I I've seen nobody." Hugh spoko hurriedly and hoarsely. "Tell tho doctor doc-tor to let no one come no ono but you. I I'm not uo to it." "Why, of course not," said tho bishop bish-op quickly. "You need quiet, and the peoplo can wait." Tho bishop chatted a whilo of tho parish, Hugh replying only when lie must, and went away heartened. Be- fore he left Hugh saw his way to hasten I his own going. On tho next visit tho sood was droned in tho bishop's mind 10 cleverly that ho thought tho idea his own. That daj- he said to tho surgeon sur-geon in charge: "Ho is gaining so rapidl-. I havo j I been wondering if he couldn't bo taken away whore tho climate will benefit him. Will bo he able to travel soon?" "I think so," answered tho surgeon. "We suspected internal injury at first, but I imacino tho worst ho has to fear I is the disfigurement. Mountain or sea : air would do him good." ho added re- flectivelv. MWhat he will need is tonic j and building up." Tho bishop had rovolvod this in his mind. He knew a placo on tho coast, I tucked away in tho cypresses, which would be admirable for convalescence. Ho could arrango a snecial car and ho himself could make tho journey with him. He proposed this to tho surgeon and .villi his approval nut his plan in motion. In two days moro Hugh found his going fullv sottled. The idea admirably fitted his necessity. neces-sity. The spot the bishop had selected was quiet and retired, and more, was near the port at which ho could most readily take ship for South America. Only one reflection made him shiver: tho roufo lay throuh tho town of Smoky Mountain. Yot who would dream of lookincr for a fucitivo from I Iho law in tho secluded car that carried car-ried a sick man? The risk would T)o small enough, and it was the ono way orii. On that last afternoon before the tie narturo Huah asked' for tho clothes ho had worn when ho was brought to tin hospital, found tho gold pieces he had snatched in tho burning chapel, and tied fhem in a handkerchief about his mck. They would suffice to buy his .sou passage pass-age Tho ono red counter ho had kont it was from henceforth to bo a reminder re-minder of the good resolutions ho had mado so long ago he slipped it into a pocket of the clothes ho was to wear away, a suit of loose, comfortable tweed. Waiting restlessly for tho hour of his goiher. Tlugh asked for tho nowo-papers. nowo-papers. Sinco tho first he had them read to him each day, listening fearfully fear-fully for tho huo and cry. -But today tho surgeon put his request asido. "After you aro thoro," he said, "if Bishop Ludlow will lot you. Not uow. You are almost out of niv clutches, and I must tvrannize while I can." A quick look passed from him to his assistant as ho spoke, for the newspapers newspa-pers that pftcrnoon had worn staitling headlines. The sordid affairs of a mining min-ing town across the ranges had littlo interest for niston. but tho names of Stires and Morcau on Iho clicking wire I had waked it, thus .late, to tho sensa-1 sensa-1 tion. Tho professional caution of the tinker of human bodies wished, however, how-ever, that 110 excitonieul should bo ; added to the unavoidable fatigue of his patient 's departure. This fatigue was near to spoiling defeat, de-feat, aftor all, for the exertion brought acrain tho dreadful, stabbing pain, and this timo it carried Hugh iuto a rccion whero feeling ceased, consciousness passed, and from which ho strugelcd back finally to find the surgeon bonding auxiouly over him. "I don't like that sinking spoil," the latter confided to hiu assistant an hour later as they stood looking through tho window aftor tho receding earriacc. "It was too pronounced. Yet ho has complained of no "aiu. Ho will bo in good hands at any rate." Ho tu-"ed the glass musingly with his foro-finger. foro-finger. "It's curious," ho said after a pauso; "I always liked Sandorsou in the pulpit. Somehow he doesn't appeal ap-peal to me at close raiipc." The special car which the bishop had ready had been a pleasant interior; fern-boxes wore in the corridors, a caged canary swung from a bracket and a softly cushioned conch had been Erepared for tho idck man. A moment eforo the start, as it was being be-ing coupled to Iho rear of tho resting train, whilo tho bishop chatted with tho conductor, a llustercu mesaen-gor mesaen-gor boy handed him , a telegram. It read : I arrive In Aniston tomorrow five. Confidential. Con-fidential. Must ace you. Urpont. JESSICA. Tho bishop read it in some perplexity. perplex-ity. It was the first word ho had received re-ceived from her sinco her marriaec, but, awar of Hugh's forgery and disgrace, dis-grace, ho had not wondered at this. Since tho news of David Stires 's death ho had looked for hor return, for sho was tho old man's heir and mistress now of Iho white houso in tho aspens. But ho realized that it would need all her courago to come back to this town whence she had tied with her trouble to lay bare an unsuspected and shameful shame-ful secret, to moot old friends, and answer an-swer questions that must bo asked. Tho newspapers today pictured a still worse shame for her, in the position of tho man who, in name still, was her husband hus-band who had trod so swiftly tho downward path from thievery to the worst of crimes. Could Jessica's coming com-ing have to do with that? Ho must sec her, yet his departure could ' not be delayed. 'Ho consulted with the conductor con-ductor nnd tho latter pored over his tablets. tab-lets. As a result, his answering message flashed along tho wires to Jessica fa faraway far-away train: Sanderson injured. Taklnc him to coast train forty-eight due Twin Pcak3 two tomorrow afternoon. And thus the fateful moment approached ap-proached when the great appeal should bo made. (To be continued.) |