Show 1 11 ca A I 1 6 d I 1 d arta I 1 I 1 C I 1 1 I J I 1 lud idiom 0 C D miodo 15 w ad V sj com COMPA Pm 7 15 SYNOPSIS A curious crowd ot of neighbors invade file lio 11 1 home of judge ostrander aunt bounty y judge and eccentric recluse following a veiled woman who proves proven to bu be alio llio lie widow of 0 a titan tried before tile the judge and e electrocuted I 1 tor for murder years before ifer laughter daughter la Is engaged enea seil t to 0 tile tha judg judela a on ion from whom lio lie Is estranged but t tha a murder la in between tile the lovers lovera site pla plana a t to 0 clear I 1 her er hus husbands banda memory anil and asks hie file judges aid deborah scoville reads tile I 1 lie newspaper n clippings tellin g tile llie story glory tit nf ilie lie murder inu riler of algernon Etherl etheridge dge by ohn bohn le in dark hollow twelve tears tear before tile llie judge and mrs hirs alle lilt meet al ai spencers olly lolly l and she I 1 hows him auw on tile day of the murder e r a alie I 1 to saw I 1 lie a a lutzow lia ilow of a man child whit R n stick and wearing a ion long peak en cap 1 th atia 0 judge engages 1 her ter anil and her tin ter euther to live with ill him fit in ills his home deborah and her lawyer billack alack KU go to tile s tation station and see roe the ie stick used to murder I 1 theirld silo blie discovers a broken kalte klado blado point elli embedded bedded in ill it deborah and reuther euther ll go ga to 0 o live with the judge delorah deborah sees IL a portrait of oliver the judges ton son with a lack band painted across tile eyes ayea that ahl stio she rinds finds in olivers ers room a cap w a mak like ilke the ho shado tha dowed weI one and a re wl alth t h it br brcci en alm blide lepoint le point aaion noua lettera c tera t a and n d a talk with MIN e ka increase IIPP and fears she alda that hat 01 er was wan in wa alia ravine on oil file I 1 ho murder night billack warns tier lier anil chos her other anonymous 9 letters lettera willing ot at olivers guilt in tile court room tin judge if 19 handed an anonymous anonym oui tinte note tile alio not la is pitied up tip anil and reail read aloud A mob follows tile the judge to till ills home leborah tells him why suspicion it ims Hs been tiro usei ng a it is t alif 0 oliver ver tile judge shown deborah Dc borati a statement written by bv oliver years ago telling liow how he saw tier her husband nui riler spencer at spen ria 8 F polly 0 ily on oil the ilia night the hie house was waa bur i d CHAPTER XIII continued claymore CI tavern did change owners when I 1 heard that a nian man py by tile name anne of scoville had bought it I 1 went over to see bee scoville ile ie was the ruan man then I 1 began to ask myself what I 1 ought to do with my knowledge and tile the more I 1 naked asked myself this quei queinton iton wid and the lie more I 1 brooded blooded over the matter the less lesa did I 1 feel like taking not the lie public but my fattier father into rny my con I 1 had never doubted doubled his loye love for me but I 1 lad had always stood in great awe of lila ills reproof and I 1 did not know ft where hero I 1 was as to find courage to tell him all ill the details detail of this adventure there la Is one thing I 1 did do lim however sever I 1 made certain inquiries hero here and there and soon satisfied myself as to itow how Sc savillo vIllo had been able to come into boin own commit this thin horrid berrid deed and without any one but myself being ln g lie ho wiser spencer and he had bad it he found deborah standing guard over an ill III conditioned fellow come from the west en route to now york without Vilt hout any intention of stopping ott off tit in shelby but once involved in fit play they had bad got so interested that when within a few miles of the town ton spencer proposed that they should leave the train and finish the game in his own house whether circumstances cum stances aided them or spencer took some extraordinary precautions against belne being recognized will ill never bo be known hut but certain it Is IH that h escaped all observation at the stalls find and even upon the road when sri villo ville returned alone the storm hid ra ranched ched such a height that the were deserted and he being an ar tilro are estranger Et ranger here at that time attracted no attention and so wg as able I 1 to slip away on the next toalii with ith just the ul alback of buying a new ticket 1 EL boy of fifteen trespassing tres passing here I 1 did not belong was the only living witness of what had happened on this night of dreadful storm in the he house which was now a ruin I 1 realized the unpleasantness of the position pont llon in hah which this put me but nol its responsibility it if I 1 were vero v ero going to do anything I 1 have done it at farst so I 1 I 1 reasoned and let the matter slide I 1 became interested Into rosted in i d lical and study und and the years passed and I 1 had almost forgotten the oe oc ir ti rence when hen suddenly the full ra r came cama back upon me with a n i aim nv tubers friend 4 was found murdered murde reil in sight of this spot of old time horror anil and scoville was accused of 0 the net I 1 was older now and saw my fault in all its I 1 was guilty of 0 that calmo or so I 1 felt in the first heat of my sorrow and despair I 1 may oven even have said so in dreams or in some borne of my self absorbed broo breedings dings though I 1 certainly had not lifted the stick against mr air etheridge I 1 had bad loft the hand free which did and this was it a sufficient occasion occa alin for remorse or so I 1 truly felt I 1 was so BO affected by tile the thought that oven my father with his fits own weight of troubles noticed my careworn face and asked ached me for an explanation but I 1 held field him off until tile the verdict was reached and then I 1 told him I 1 had not liked ills his looks for some time almo they seemed to convoy convey some doubt of 0 the justice of this mans sentence and I 1 felt that list it if he had such doubts they might bo be eased by this certainty of villes murderous tendencies and unquestionable greed and they were but as scoville was already doomed we decided that it was unnecessary to make public his past offenses fenaes of however with an eye upon future contingencies my fattier father exacted from me in writing this full account of my adventure which with all the solemnity of an oath I 1 here declare to bo be the true tnie story of what befell mo me in the house called spencers cers e folly on the night tit of awful storm september 11 1895 OLIVER OSTRANDER witnesses to above signature ARCHIBALD ARCHin ALD OSTRANDER ER DELA JEFFERSON shelby november 7 1888 1898 C CHAPTER XIV the telegram this was tho the document and these the ho words which debor deborah ah w widow of the he nion man thus doubly denounced had been glien ghon to read by the father of abu writer in the darkened r room 0 om which had been and still was to tier her an abode of brooding thought and unfathomable a mystery mastery no wonder that during its reading more thau than one exclamation of terror and dismay escaped tier her there were so go many reasons for believing this record to be an absolute relation of the truth incoherent phrases which had fallen front from those long closed lips took on new meaning with alth this unveiling of an unknown past ances for which sho she could not account in those old days she alto now saw explained ile he would never even in passing give a look at the ruin rain on oil the bluff bliff bl iff so attractive to every eye but ills his own As for entering tin ita gates sho had n vor ver cared so BO much as to ask him ij 0 so then tho the watch deborah mew well that watch site she had often asked him ly by what stroke or of luck ho he had got so fine a timepiece god was tier her mind veering back to tier her old idea as to tits ills responsibility for tile the crime corn cam emitted in dark hollow yes she could not help it denial from a monster like this a anan who with huoh sui h memories and such spoil could return home to wife and c hild child with some gay and confused story of a great stroke in speculation which had brought him in the price of the tavern it had long been ill his 11 ambition to own what was denial from such lips worth the judge was right oliver whose in tenuous story had restored his image to her mind with some of its old graces had been the victim of circum stances and not john scoville her thoughts had reached this stage and her hand in obedience to ahn abo now new mood was lightly ruffling up the pages before her when she felt a light touch on oil her shoulder and turned with a start tho the judge was at her back how flow long he had stood thero there she did not know nor did he say but when upon feeling his hand band upon her shoulder she ahe tur turned vied lie he was there and while his lips tailed failed to speak his eyes were eloquent and their question single and imperative pera tive what do you ou think of him now they seemed to ask and rising to her deet sho she met him with a smile ghastly perhaps with tho the lividness of the shadows through which she bho had find been groping but encouraging withal and soothing beyond measure to his anxious and harassed soul oliver Is innocent sho she declared turning bouce more to lay her hand upon the sheets containing his naive confession the dastard who could shoot his host tor for plunder la Is capable of a second crime holding out a similar inducement nothing now will ever inako roe me connect oliver with the crime at tho the bridge As s you ou said he was simply near enough tho the hollow to toss into it the stick ho he had been whittling I 1 am his advocate from this minute her buyes were still resting median mcchan icalla upon that last page lying spread out before her bar and she till not cv pj serve in its ita full glory the first gleam of triumphant lo JO which in all ability judge Ost randers countenance had bad shown in years nor did he see la in the tha glad contusion confusion of the moment tile the quick shudder with which she lifted her trembling hand band away from those papers and looked up squarely ot at last into hla his transfigured trans figured visage mrs le ie I 1 lovo love my boy I 1 that the front doorbell was ringing in a flash deborah was out of the room when the judge at last came forth tt it was at bidding A gentleman m an wished to see him in the parlor with a dark glance not directed against her however tho the judge bade her run away to the kitchen and as far from rom all these troubles as she could then locking his bis door behind him as no be always did he be strode towards the tha front ile he found deborah standing guard over an III conditioned fellow whose slouching figure slouched still more under his eye but give gave no other acknowledgment know of his presence passing him film without a second look judge ostrander found mr air black awaiting him there was no bad blood between these two whatever their past relations or present suspicions and they were vero soon shaking hands with every appearance of mutual cordiality the judge won was especially courteous I 1 am glad said ho he of any occasion which brings you again under my root roof though from the tha appearance of your compa companion tilon I 1 judge the present one to be of 0 no very agreeable character judge im your friend thus mr air black began thinking you must wish to know who started the riotous procedure which disgraced our town today I 1 have brought tile the ringleader hero to answer for himself that to Is it if you wish to question him judge ostrander wheeled about gave the man a searching look and tailing falling to recognize him film as any one he had ever seen before beckoned him in 1 suppose said lie when the loung ing and insolent figure was fairly before their eyes ees that this Is not the first time you have been asked to ex plain your enmity to my long absent son naw ive had my talk wherever and whenever I 1 took tile the notion oliver ostrander lilt hit me once I 1 was jost jest a little chap then and deanin no harm to any one I 1 kept a pester ln of im and he hit me hed a better have hit a teller feller who h a ant my memory ive never forgiven that hit ami I 1 never w ill thava thais why im hattin him now its just my turn thata all your tural your turn and what d do 0 you think has given you an opportunity to turn tura on him 1 I im m not in n the mood just now the fellow drawled frankly insolent not only in his tone but in hij hearing bearing to all present nor can you make it worth my while gents ill not to t take money im an honest hard bard man wro can earn his own livin and you cant pay me to keep a still till or tu to go away from shelby a day sooner coner than I 1 want to I 1 was goin away but I 1 gave it up when they told me that things were ft ere ba binnin to look black against 01 ostrander that a woman had come into town who wa a up things generally about that old murder for which a feller had already been electrocuted and knowin so methin myself about that murder and 01 ostrander I 1 well I 1 tile tho quiet threat the suggested pos the attack which wraps its itself elf in vague uncertainty are ever the most effective As tits hla raucous voice dry i with ith sinister purpose which no man mail could shake died out in an often offen give alve drawl mr black edged a step nearer the judge before he sprang slid and caught the oung fellow by the coat collar and gave him a 0 very vigo vigorous roua shako shake see here heie lie he threatened behave yourself and treat trea t the judge like a gentleman or hut but tile tho judge was not ready for this the judge had gained a new lease of life in the last half hour and ho he felt no fear of this sullen bill poster for all his bis sly lar inc ila he therefore hindered the lawyer from his purpose by a quick gesture of so much dignity and resolve that even the lout hIni himself self was impressed and dropped some of tits his sullen bravado 1 I 1 have something to say to this fellow lo 10 ho he announced perhaps he be does not know ills his folly perhaps lie he thinks because I 1 was thrown aback today by those public charges against my son and a string of insults for chic no fattier father could be prepared pro pared that I 1 cm am seriously disturbed jv ertho tho position portion into which such unthinking men as himself ba have V a pushed mr air oil viar ver ostrander I 1 might bo be it if there were truth in these charges or any serious reason tor for conducting my upright end and honorable son with the low crime of a highwayman but there Is not I 1 aver it and so BO will this lady hero whon whom you have doubtless recognized for the one who has stirred this matter up you con can bring no evidence to show guilt on iny n y sons part these words he direct d straight at tho the dlo din comfit ed post jr jj of bills because there la Is no evidence to bring mr air blacks eyes eves sparkled with admiration ile he aoud not have used this method with the lad but ho be recognized the insight of the man who could bribes were a sign of weakness so were force and counterattack but scorn a calm ignoring of tile the power of any ono one to seriously ahnita oliver Ost randers cra established position that might rouse wrath and bring avowal certainly it bad shaken the man he looked much less aggressive and self confident than before however Ilo waver though impressed Impress rid lie he was not yet ready to give in shuttling about with ills feet but not yet shrinking from ram an encounter few men of his fits blanp would have cared to subject themselves ives to he be answered with a irk mark delivered with a little more elf civil uy ity than any of bis big previous a 0 onea n a 3 what you call evidence may not be the samo same as I 1 calls evidence it if youre satisfied at my words so no good your business I 1 know how I 1 should |