Show ow anra 0 CD COPYRIGHT 1914 a of CHAPTER XVI continued and so with each new arrival 11 lie 1 neither turned nor moved at any ones ent ranft but left it to mr bir black to do the honora honors und ani make the best of a situation difficult it not inexplicable to all of them nor could it be seen that any of these men city officials kroml nent citizen citizens and old friends rt eads lecog nihed bla his figure or suspected bis his identity beyond a passing glance bis his way they betrayed neither curiosity nor interest belag being probably sufficient ly ir occupied in accounting for their own presence in the home of their once revered and now greally maligned compeer judge ostrander cr at tacked his son was about to say any or do something which each and every ono one of c them secretly thought had better be left unsaid or undone yet none showed any dispo disposition to leave the place and when alter after a short uneasy pause during which all attempts at converse tion tailed failed they heard beard a slow and weighty step approaching pr pro down the ball hall the suspense was such buch that no one but mr black noticed the quick whirl whiff with which oliver turned himself about por the look of at mortal anguish with which he awaited the opening of the door and his fathers entrance among them no one noticed I 1 say may until simultaneous ly IY with the appearance of at judge ostrander on the threshold a loud cry swept through the room of dentt don ta dentt and the man they had barely noticed flashed by thorn them all and fell at the judges feet with ft a smothered repetition of bla his appeal dont father don tl 11 then each man mau knew why he bad had been summoned there wid knowing gated earnestly at these two faces face twelve years of unapt ased longing long ng of smote smothered red love rising above doubts Pel persisting in spite of doubts were concentrated cent cont rated into that one instant of mutual recognition the eye of the t fir alor was upon that of at the eon son and that of the son upon that of the father and for them ct tt least la in this first instant of reunion the years were ore forgotten and sin sorrow and coming oncoming on doom effaced from their mutual con consciousness 8 clous then the tide of life flowed back the present and the judge motioning to his son to rise observed very distinctly ly dont don t Is an ambiguous word my son and lad on your lips at this juncture may illi mislead those whom I 1 have hei hie a to hear bear the truth from us and the truth only you have beard what hap bened here a few days ago how flow a long guarded long suppressed clon eo so guarded and so suppressed that I 1 had no intimation of its it existence even found vent at a moment at 0 public indignation and I 1 beard you you oliver ostrander accused to my f faco a co of hiving in bome fome some boyish fit tit of 14 rage ge struck down the man for whose death another bag has long since paid the penalty thi this you have already becea told ives aes the word tut sharply through the el al lence lenge but the fire with which the young man roae rose acs arl faced them 11 all II showed him at hie his best dut but burely surely no person present believes it it no one can who knows you and the principles in which I 1 have been raised this fellow whom I 1 beat bea s a boy has waited long to tart this damnable report surely he will gel get no hearing from unprejudiced d and intelligent men 4 the police havo have listened to him mr andrews who ie Is one of the gen flemen present baa has beard heard his story and yu you see that ho stands here silent my son and that Is not all mrs scoville who has loved you like a other nother n longs to believe la in your innocence and cannot A low cry from the ball hall it died awty and mr black her husbands husband a coun eel get continued the father in to the firm low tones of one who for or man lung long days and night bad arLo schooled oled ellms himself ailt for or the duty for thie this hour shares her feeling lie has his tried not to bul but he does they have found erl evidences dences you know them proofs which might not have amounted to much had it not been tor for the one mischievous fact which has jigs undermined public confidence and given ivan point to these attacks I 1 refer to the life we have led and the barriers we have our ourselves solves raised against our in mutual theae have undone us u to the these barriers 1 I I 1 can con find no to answer but the one w which ends this struggle succumbing bing myself I 1 ask you to do so also out on t of the past comes a voice the voice of 0 algernon etheridge demanding vengeance for his untimely end it will not be gainsaid not sat tailed with the toll tell we have both paid in these years of ruf fering and cepres i slon ion unmindful of the hermits life I 1 have led afta d of the tha heart disappoint ments 7 au a have borne its cry for punishment remains insistent gentlemen hoshi oliver it Is for me to cry dond bow dow john Sc OTIlle was a guilty man nana mana a murderer anti u a thief but he be did not wield the slick which 1 kule algernon Et etheridge beridge another hand raised that no do no cot t look at the boy H 1 X look beret look herel beret and with one awful gas lure turp be he stood till still while horror me rose like a wave ways and engulfed the room choking back breath and speech iron from every living soul there and making a hence silence more awful than any sound or be they all felt till Ms bis voice roee rose again and they heard beard you have frusto tru sto to appearance i you must trust now to my word I 1 am the guilty man not scoville and not dot oliver though oliver may have been IL the ravine that night anil and even ten handled the bludgeon I 1 found at ray my feel feet in the recesses of at dark bollow then consternation poke spoke and muttered cries were heard beard of Mad madness I 1 la is not we who are needed here bj bt a Physic physician laal and dominating all t the ringing shout you cannot sa u me so father I 1 hated etheridge Ether trige and I 1 slow bini him gen tl clemen emen he be prayed in bis his agony corn com ing cloae close into their midst do not be misled for a M moment by a fathers devotion ills lifted head ble flashing eye drew every look honor confronted them la ta a founte countenance nance from which aich all reserve had bad melted away no guilt showed there be he stood among them a aerobic figure slowly and with a dread which no man might measure the glances which had just devoured his young but virile passed to that of the ta ther they ther did not tot leave it again sont son with what ten tenderness dorness he spoke but with what a ring of desola tion pa understand your effort and appreciate it but it la Is a useless one you cannot deceive these friends of ours men who have known my life if it you ceru IL the ravine that night tight was I 1 if it you bandied handled john villes stick so did 1 I and after youl you let us not struggle for the execration of mankind let lot it fall where it right fully belongs it can bring no abing keener than that to which my ar breast east has long been subject or and here bis his tons sank in a last recognition of all he was as losing forever it there Is suffering in a once proud man flinging from him the last rag of re with which be ought sought to cover the hideous nakedness of an unsuspected crime it Is lost in the joy oy it do ing justice to the son who would take advantage of circumstances to assume his fathers bulli dut but oliver with a lire which noth ing could damp spoke up again gentlemen will you see my f father so degrade himself he ile haw ba dwelt J gentlemen will you se S e my father so degrade Him himself so upon the knowledge knowledge which separated ui us A dozen years ago that he fit oo 00 longer can discriminate discriminate be i tween the guilty and ad the innocent would he be have sat at in court rould be bays uttered sentences enten cea ho he bare have kept ahls eat seat upon the bench ench for all these years it he bad borne botne within his tits breast this secret of personal ope ronal guilt N it la Is not riot in humia human nature to 40 pla such a part I 1 was guilty guilly and I 1 fled do let the act speak for itself the arto ct cue ue my father taut not bo be taken irta aron him ou and counter contusion t abt ere they to think I 1 alanson black aghast at this dread dilemma ran over in his hl mind all thu bad had ird him to abc atc accept 0 pt olivers gull ae do proved and sad then in immell ato to td it the details of c aft at old trw and the judge consequent life lite an and voicing the helpley hel bel plen pleAs contu confusion flou of tae others ob terrea yea with orca fir we tute heard much of Oll wanderings IA U the barlia on that fat fatal 41 night but blit nothing of youre your judge 0 arander it Is not enough for you to say that you were ere there you 10 it the proof la Is tn in my succumbing to 0 o the shock of hearing olivers Oll Tera nama name a as s Boc soc with this crime had be he been guilty had bad our separation come through bis his crime and not leh roy my own on I 1 should have bays been prepared pe pared for euch such a contingency and not riot over whelmed by it if and were you not prepared prepa no before gc I 1 it I 1 the the gesture accompanying thi this oath was a grand one in iti its tenor fervor ita its and power nut but facts are stubborn things and while most vt of those present were still thrilling under the effect ot at thia this oath the dry voice of district attorney andrews waa was heard beard for or the first time in these words A hy by then did buu on the night of belas death stop on your way across he the bridge to look back upon dark tollow hollow and cry in the bitterest tone tones aich escape human lips oliver oil veri verl you were heard beard to speak this nama judge ostrander Oat rander he hastily put it as the miserable father raised bis his end tu in protest A ran was lurking in the darkness behind you who both saw and beard you lie may not be the moat most prepossessing easing of at witness but we cannot discredit his altory mr andrew andrews you nive no children to the man who hae has I 1 III le la my last appeal mr renfrew you know the human heart both ua a father and a pastor do you find anything unnatural in a guilty soul bemoaning its loss 1035 rather than its lt sin in the spot which recalled both to his its overburdened spirit no the word came sharply and it sounded decisive but the ones emch wr ch followed from mr andrews were no less so go that Is in not enough we want evi art dence actual evidence evid enco that you are not pitying playing the part your son ascribes to you the judges eyes glared then suddenly and ily softened till the quick fear four that his mind as an well as his memory had gone astray vanished dished in a feeling none of them could have characterized but which gave to them all an expression of awe 1 I have such evidence announced the judge I 1 come turning he stepped stopped into the hall oliver with bended banded head and a die dis cour cou agod raged mien quickly followed alanson black and the others cast log ing startled and looks at each other brought up the rt air r deb orah scoville ScoY llla was wa nowhere to be een seen at the door of his own room bs judge mused and with hie his band os ca the curtain remarked with unexpected composure you have all ill wondered and other others with you why tor for the list ten years I 1 bare have kept the gates of my house hut abut against every comer I 1 am going to how you and with no ito further word or look scarcely even giving attention to oil vere vers anguished presence pree ence be led them into the study and from there oa on to that inner door known and talked of through the town as the door of at mystery thi this he slowly opened with the key he took from hij his pocket then pausing with the knob in his hand ho he aaa in to the year years which are past but persona persons crossed this threshold and thoe these only under my eye ita its secret was w tor for my own breast judge what my n norse baa has been judge the power of ray my own secret belt self condemnation by what you eee see beral here and entering be he reached up and pull d arlda the carpet be had strung up avei one end of at the room disclosing amid a number ot at loosened looe ened boards the barred cell of c ft a cond convil this was my 14 gent gentlemen lemet till a stranger coming 1 c my lome nude made such an acknowledgment of my sin ln im CHAPTER dark hellow liter when the boards he had loot ned in anticipation of tote this hour were all removed re they came upon a packet of closely written words bidden hidden in the framework of the bed it read as a follow ti whosoever lay lays on thia this MS ma will already bo be acquainted with my crime if it be he would also know ita its cause and the full ial story of my hypocrisy let hira him read cheso lines written aa as it were with my hearts blood I 1 loved algernon etheridge Etherl dge I 1 shall never have a dearer friend ida ills odd way ways bis his lank possibly unsafely ungainly fig uro ure crowned by a head of scholarly refinement bis his amiability when pleased his 11 when crossed formed a character char arter attractive to mo me from its very contradict tons and after my fifee death and before ray my son oliver reached a companionable ae age it was in my with this roan man I 1 found my most solid yet we often quarreled ilia ills dog frequently ran counter to xay my view views and being myself a nan man of at quick and violent temper bard hard words sometimes passed between uc us to be 04 forgotten the next minute in a band shake or some other token of mutual esteem libere dissension sIf it such i they could U called never took place excerpt in the privacy of his bit study or mine we thought too much of each other to disi display plaY our difference of at opinion abroad or even fa in the presence pie ence sence of oliver and however heated our arguments or our topic we invariably part parted ed friends till oae one late fat tul ful eight night 0 god abat years of repentance self hatred and secret immolation can never undo the deed of an infuriated moment eternity way console but I 1 can never clever make me innocent of at be blood of in my Y heart beans brother we had bed hd bad car our usual diga els agreement cre gre ement over some som petty ubert la which be was DO no nam II 11 bk I 1 any nearer right than we baj hatt been many times before but for som arsa BOU son I 1 found it harder to pardon hill him for the first time in our long lon acquaintance I 1 let algernon etheridge Etherl dg leave me without any attempt at coo con cil dilation lation if it only I 1 had halted there theral t if it at eight sight of my empty tudy study I 1 bad had not conceived the mad notion of waylaying him at the bridge for the he band shake I 1 missed I 1 might have bare been A happy man now and oliver but why dwell upon these might have beetsi what happened was this disturbed in mind and finding my self elf alone in the house oliver having evidently gone out bile we two were disputing I 1 decided to tu follow out the lampula I 1 have mentioned leaving by the rear I 1 went down the lane to the path which serves as a abort short cut to the bridge that I 1 did this unseen unseat by anybody Is not so strange when you consider the hour and how the only person then living la ia the lane wae was in all probability in her kitchen it would have been better for me little as I 1 might bavo have recognized it at the time had she been where shu could have witnessed both my going and coming and faced roe me with the tact fact john scoville in his statement say says that af cr er giving up his search for his little pl he wandered up the ravine before taking the path back which led him through dark I 1 hollow lallow this was false as well as the story be he told ot at lowing lewing |