| Show WHEN THE JUDGE DG STOOPED V V By Edison V r lIE biggest thing in f T 1 I was as the new First National V m. m bank building V The most active was wa Emith's tore store and by general opinion the ho most impregnable the reputation o of ot Judge Phineas Thatcher V The law aw business of ot the town was I unequally divided I A A. man with an honest grievance I walked boldly up three short shor steps bent lo to avoid the low entrance and was In tho the Judges Judge's office j If his intentions were wera were otherwise he walked waked waked furtively into the quarters of ot l Kd Ed d Sloat across the street who street who was a lawyer of ot another kind c f The rho Judge had stormed his way righteously through thirty years lof of practice It I is a tribute to the corn corn- cot cot- integrity of ot that thata te HI a got most of ot its is legal business V Ho Hf was wa of the Puritanical sternly upright type with wih the compound aUrl- aUrl utes of Abe Lincoln and Daniel Web Web- Bier fter though his resemblance to IAn IAn- oln coln was chiefly physical and he was vas perhaps homelier His Ills face intuitively suggested hands that were big and calloused calloused calloused cal cal- loused and muscular and feet that were large larce and arid V The Tho Judge had both Also his legal I kept ept him the judgeship at the county seat Ret and increased his clientele Into the musty office one day walked fa a A figure that was distantly f familiar miar Thatcher who had been blowing blowing- his ose lose with an efflorescent red chief suddenly stopped and stared at atIF atis ils is IF visitor Hello Helo Crewe he said with wih the dry dr Inflection n of or one not intensely pleased pleasEd What ar are you doing he here e I j thought ou had bad made up your our mind to stay slay in foreign parts parts V Crewe looked about him with a gaze that rested on everything and noted nothing Ills His eyes bore that look of in- in ensho brooding that has such a lively fascination asci naton for street urchins and connects connects connects con- con the Juvenile mind with wih the bought of or witches and the supernatural There herc was a deep seated sealed misery in his face ace Ree Oblique lines that started stared from rio lie quivering nostrils drew the corners corner tot of his mouth down In a perpetual scowl of f pain The fesh fleshless les cheeks checks drooped flopping in tiny bags bas and the skin tagged fagged a led from his eyes He lie was harried and troubled and his glance when not introspectively quiet quiet ad the nervous suspicion of a caged animal At last It 11 rested on th the neutral point let cf cC the thc judges judge's brace of ot squat inkwells and he began began to talk Yes I thought I would stay abroad ie e returned in a voice which was weak Rod nd husky as though It had never been sed but that was two years ago I simply imply could not do it i. i Not that j I was in he flared fared I traveled around quite quie free almost hopin h pin that they would ketch me but they nev never did It was too hey though I J kept seem things things long long awful aw aw- aw- aw ful ul nights of and wondern and ind about it i. i Then it was up again the next morning and chasm chasin iway away to else to try and forget but the damned thing never left eft me God it ft was awful awful V Now Ive I've Ive come back to give myself lup up I you was his hs friend frend and anda a a. judge too and I come right here whose Those hose two years years have been a alivin tor tor- ture re V Judge Thatcher resting one booted leg on an opened desk drawer and still holding Ills Ills' ii handkerchief suspended ded dropped both suddenly and sat up in his chair Great he exclaimed Man what whal are you talking about Do hold yourself re responsible in you rou ourel anyway any ariy way for the death of Gideon Weeks I Is that that what youre you're at s f Sure Surer Didn't I kill ki him and didn't i I get away with it Ive I've Ive been chasm chasin around ever since and nobody ever stopped me What in blazes ar are you staring at 7 5 V Crewes Crowe's taut nerves thrummed in ir ir ir- V But Weeks wasn't killed Idled that Is nobody killed d him but himself re retorted re- re the tho judge judg starting from his chair but still stU retaining a grip on the handles hancs lie He le was found Christmas night and the next we knew you were gone But It was as' as suicide all al right for he W was It still holdin the tle gun in his hand and andon andon andon i on the floor foor beside him was wa a long scrawled out note sayin goodbye to his hisson hison hisson son son on and anda anda a part partin in word to all aU his friends frends jit It was a a g genuine document for there Isn't a a soul could imitate his The flaccid countenance of ot Crewe grew vivid In astonishment and ne tie sank into a chair His eye eyes were closed t When he opened them their dullness iwas was as gone and they shone with feverish brilliancy His flis Is lips muttered Incoherent ent words and he started up but slumped back again in an exhaustion of ot relief V For him the Judges Judge's words has been the trumpets of paradise To h have ve lived lunder inder und r the tyranny of a gnawing conscience conscience con con- science for or two years and then to find fears and terror groundless Is to open Elysium J l V Comp Compared red with ith this the ord ordinary aI troubles troubIe of m mankind are as the In Infinitesimal In- In mustard seed But there might be some mistake His face ee sharpened d in anxious inquiry Did DI say it i was ivas a a. gun he held u i. i i his fits hand judge Was Vas it a gun Wh Where re i iwas was ho lie when they round found him He was found in the room Sam Kara Weeks Weeks' little tte boy the Judge re V turned You know the te little Ute feller eler w wa the only one of em er that old oI Gideon Gideo would abide in his later days And when Sam sent his son up toward dusk 0 b Christmas with a little basket o 0 pud- pud din and a pie and some turkey and the kid came back sere min mur mur- der er You was having dinner with the at the Uie time I believe beleve V Complete satisfaction now was ex expressed expressed ex- ex pressed in the countenance of Emmet Emmel rewe The limp mouth went upward Jn Ti a a happy smirk and the narrow eyes widened i ene a bit i j Ho He folded fat at hands landA across his a h and straightened up comfortably tn It 1 his chair I There was silence for a minute or orYo Wo Yo wo It 1 was evident that he was wa gong gong go- go ng hg to s say ay nothing further in ion V Judge Judge Thatcher Thatcher who was pacing pacU the in the solemn contemplative he be used when deep in thought turned on him V f J It I appears to me Crewe Crews thet thel you aint playing fair You come here lero tor- tor by guilt and I set about and take I a i. i hul hull lot lot of ot worriment off ot your con- con clence No Now youve you've got to tell tel me meal ill all al the tho st story ry from first to last V In the first place why did dd you try tryo tr o 0 kill ki him what him what hi-what what was the reason reson The Judge as an n afterthought led the he w way y Into a smaller room room which he iced as a consulting office and closed the he door His visitor flopped sullenly Into a n chair hair V Theres nothing much to t tell tel he complainingly I 1 simply poured few drops of ot into his Coffee at af luncheon and then thon beat It I. I 1 I slipped lipped the bottle holding the rest of J I fc i stuff tuli u into InJo his bl jacket so 50 o a as io 20 t make mak it I seem as though he had taken it i on a sudden impulse But impulse why reiterated the j judge g. g Why were you fixin to o kill ki him He lIe made a will will will- wil- wil Crewe paused and his eyes widened as a he be stared at at the entirely conventional conventional conven conven- pattern patter of the judges judge's wall wal paper with an unseeing wih eye Upon his hla mind came the breaking light of a a new discovery which the lighting shift shUt of circumstances had ha not permitted him to notice before He saw it i now and It t was a veritable golden aura aur V For heavens heaven's sake he gasped rising rising ris ris- ris ing from his seat Did they find li lithe U- U the the the-the the will wi V What will wJ he asked stupidly Crewe Immediately showed every evi ever ev- ev dence of ot happy lunacy lunac and clumped up and down the the room in a crescendo of ot shake heavy hea footfalls that made the office He Ho Puffed outrageously and dove his hands into his pockets and then ran rn them suddenly through his hair or to to- to gether getner In swift friction Of i course not he ch chortled That will wJ aint been found 01 Old Od l Gideon locked It up in a secret place pla e in n his laboratory along alone wih with M nn n v n Co pers that he didn't wante at hand to discover And I 1 was the only one that knew about It Ill I'll bet Its It's there yet Why shouldn't It I Il be J Whoop ee hi P eel Every Ever d doggone cent the old ld fellow left is mine Judge congratulate con con- me Im I'm a rich Im man w wretch He was that no 2 had longer comein the poor poor- POOl a fe few sniveling minutes before every overy nerve quivering in feat fe lie He t exercised J for u now uW his W a a whole sort of ot manner jubilant bilant had au authority nu- nu changed and is his voice V wa was loud and insolent in the midst of his ecstatIc hand rUbbings He looked at the judge with squared shoulders shoulder and threw at him hi a mean defiance de- de fiance Do you hear that he said Tho Th money is mine That will is all regular and true tre Say listen wi 1 Cat Cant Can't al we so go o down to the house and It get now Eh V V A few minutes later seated in the tho judges judge's top lop buggy bugg and behind ir the I judges judge's a newest mare they were driving rapidly toward the grim secretive house in which old Gideon Weeks had passed his last days You say this will wi l leaves aves everything to you Thatcher asked as they passed down the aisle of tall tl elms that lined the main thoroughfare of the village He sure did did everything Humph I always thought the old man was queer queer eccentric eccentric his son I called caled him though I say he was as quee and more than that that but but that there will wJ was sure the queerest thing he ever did What do you think made him do it i V The irony of the speech was lost en entirely entirely en- en trel upon Crewe whose mind was then in rapturous musings But even if i it i had not been been hi his thick wit would never have grasped it Well V el he was plain disgusted with his sons son's marriage to the Maybie Mayble girl girl I If It there was one man that Weeks hated hated I it was Mayble Maybie They had an awful row once and it i made the old man terribly sore to think that of all aU persons his hisson hisson I Ison son should pick to marry it i should be I her He never spoke to him after that tat and some time later he lie told me he would never leave Sam a a dollar dolar And that was wa why he lie left all al his money to you 7 Sure And after I saw that will wi I felt telf pretty prett g good od od- toward the the old man min He said this as though it showed ampie ample ample am am- pie evidence of ot a kindly nature But It was wa so lonely up there in that big house on the hI hill And besides little Id I'd Id a seen of the money with wih him spendin ft it all aU on chemicals and costly costy experiments and such He might have lived to be a hundred And he was devilish cross at times Ures wouldn't think thin anything of ot a book or or a a. inkstand at me if he was mad mad I got sick of it i all al and ana thought Id I'd Id get the money while he had it and before he changed his mind However after I thought I had killed kled him I got scared and ran off oft V Sam has ha been doin doln niely nicely since ne is e got the money the judge remarked suddenly The kid goes to school now V Huh Huh Sam Sam the poor dub i Crewe chuckled Hes one of those kind of or fellers that was wa naturally intended to to be loaded with wih more kinds of ot hard luck than Job ever thought of ot The old man mn certainly had it in for him him He told me Id I'd Id be fired if I ever mentioned his I name The poor poor V boy has l a wheel chair now flow ost cost cost 65 65 continued d Thatcher He doesn't have to lay on the sofy and stare out the winder any more He gets around considerable too in the big thing His wife is gettin back bak some somo of the good gooC looks she lost since she married maried him Its It's Is I's because she hasn't hant got any worries now I guess The judge dropped guess one leg reflectively reflectively over over the side of ot the buggy She was always thin and starved looking Crewe answered with wih a a snort ing of ot disgust for tor such a contemptible fall fail ai- ai She was was that that is is from the time of ot Sams Sam's accident and there was plenty of rca reason on No help elp ever eyer came to them from ron old Gideon he acted right mean It I was hard lines for tor them and the lit littIe little lit lit- Jt- Jt tIe tle te woman was her fingers fing ing 52 ers off of to make male things go You J 11 how ow she was was always always doin cloin odd and own her garden and even a a. turn ht at t the plow If I it hadn't been for kind kindhearted hearted neighbors they'd a a never never managed man man- aged Thatcher Thatch r was wa fighting hard in in a a cause cuse in which his sympathies whole wholeheartedly wholeheartedly heartedly were enlisted It I was wa a a part par of ot his quiet Quie optimism that no soil soi is unproductive properly worked it must give back some Bore good And even in the te most sterile of ot natures there Is always that desideratum of kindly feeling to be quickened into life by the right treatment I I A sudden impulse came cams to himL him him I L was he io said Raid Sam bela bein the only legatee of ot 6 course he be got the big bijj house se hp along with the rest of the stuff st Well We'll Wel have to drop in on him h and andge ge get gt th the key Good thing ting I thought 0 o that or we mightn't been able to git gt in inthe inthe inthe the place place lied led glibly with ith the knowledge that a duplicate of f the te same key rested rested rest rest- ed cd snugly in his own pocket Crewe grunted something that might have been taken for agreement to this and their course deflected defected Sharply onto a a narrow narow road that ran toward V the base of th the mountain They drew up at a a. neat net cottage that had a a cropped close cropped cose-cropped private hed hedge e bordering bordering bordering bor bor- dering the te cement sidewalk and in m The house was painted white ad wa of ot I front of it was a tiny moon haf-moon moon half lawn with a segment of ot gras eras gs sat eat eat either I Iside side side each with wit a a flower fower bed in it very ver prim pm and neatly cut like the te cameo ceo neaty cut brooch waist of a little on the spotless cn a ayoung ayoung ayoung at the rear old lady jady In a paddock colt flirted his tall tail up tIP young tl his heels col and stared at them in wonder repeated the thrifty the house Inside on tb the tha out out out- Prevailed orderliness that of th at side aide The floor o Ue tM hg lide flor a 4 they entered was whitened to that degree degree degree de de- de- de gree of cleanliness that can only be obtained by the tho method of knees to to kees-to- the floor the the-foor and a willing supply of elbow elbow elbow el el bow gease grease The kettle kette sang sang- on the bright stove and the cat cat on the hearth dozed to its is murmur At t their entrance a young woman of about 28 who was wa ironing clicked pier her er instrument upon its is holder Her face tace lighted up and she extended a hot band hand to the judge jUde Her greeting was heard eard elsewhere for in a brief moment a wheel chair propelled by its is occupant ran swiftly into the room and there was V a a masculine line |
