Show ILVEN mm I 1 hu she dared not refuse a refu refuge g e in nobility of a loyal soul the man was coia but there seemed to be no warmth nor shelter for 1 him his soul craved compassion a friendly word no one offered it he was wag hungry and weak through well lit it windows there showed tables groaning with the rich roast the steaming urn the tasteful delicacies and bright happy faces tho the refuse viands were tossed to the dogs but none to the gaunt thinly clad supplicant whom these very animals drove away into the biting blast with savage attacks there was a black shadow upon this forlorn beings face as aa upon his soul the prison blight told in tho the unnatural pallor tho the shrinking mien tho the pained eyes this man had been suddenly mysteriously snatched from work position and contentment with little or no explanation he bad just ended five years penal servitude the awful change to dreary solitude a slave chained existence the consciousness ot of utter helplessness had broken his spirit and stunned him no news from the outside world had reached him during his convict life he recalled his last day ot of liberty teller in a country bank he remembered a hideous charge of embezzlement bezz lement the case railroaded through he has sent for his closest friend tho the cashier of the bank ellis wood word was brought back to him that young wood was inas dangerously ill III with brain fever since the two four six eight monotonous steps up and down his cell far if 4 A what la a your name into the night the days even atts hours tallied off finally liberty the first move of the wretched convict was to visit the town where his life had been blighted he learned that ellis ellie wood had been abroad for five years a confirmed invalid and his father and sister had removed to sonic some other town then a dispirited almost purposeless wandering and now randal thorne a shivering outcast fronted the wild night storm he knocked at the door of a small humble cottage and asked for a meal but first the work to pay for it its mistress told a tale of r sickness Ic kness and destitution that fairly shamed his own solitary condition the wanderer battled the elements anew until he felt that he bo should succumb if he did not soon reach shelter and food he turned in desperately at the gate of a somewhat pretentious house necessity tho the urgings of his sufferings inspired him momentarily with a certain reckless audacity re he rang tho the door bell A tall fair woman about his own age responded to the summons madam ladam A he said simply 1 I am a stranger iw in a strange placa place I 1 have been just released from a prison I 1 dm bewildered stunned unable to find my way back into the world that has forgotten me since five years ago five years came in a strange gasp from the No mans lips I 1 ler her eyes seemed filled with a sudden dread an indefinable emotion what Is your name randal thorne she reeled but that she caught at the door she must have fallen her face had turned marble she seemed to shrink within herself then with a effort she wide the door come in she said oh ob the pity of it you aro are randal thorne I 1 am laura wood the sister of 0 your old friend was it a dream had the storm exposure utter despair brought illusions to his bis shattered mind randal torno asked himself the question one hour later as he sat before a warm prate grate fire a rejuvenated being with that same pallid face not with evasion yet with a dreadful shrinking as though some same terrible fear oppressed her the beautiful woman had led her invited guest into the parlor of the house bouse her gray haired housekeeper house keeper had been summoned to prepare a hasty meal now miss wood listened to his bis story with bowed head then the bho told of her brother you on were his friend she spoke never lifting her eyes to the face ot of Ili chorne orne that is enough tor for me had you not appeared here so strangely as you have I 1 should have sought you out DUL mir a convict bewilderment murmured thorne in ir profound 9 yes was tho the reply every word uttered as if it were an effort my aly brother died in wily italy where he ha has been a helpless invalid since since the time of your trouble my father died a year ago for a few days before his death my brother was rational he sent a last message to me regarding you mr thorne it was waa to say that that you were an innocent man a dark flush momentarily crossed the intense pallor of her face it was to direct me to take from my I 1 fathers estate two sums one to cover i the bank baak defalcation and for 1 yourself as a token of his hia undying friendship to you when randal Thorn Thern elett eleft the home of sorrow it was nearly midnight when he planned the next day to go to some far country where his disgrace was not known somehow he could not always the pitiful sorrowing face of laura wood came up lip before him always he felt that there i was some sentiment chain of mutual bereavement and lowliness lon liness between them ambition uninspired did not allure him ho he had not a friend in the world 1 I have come back ho he said on one evening a week later as with some soma wonderment laura led him into the house to which he had come not long since so strange a guest 1 I have something to say to you miss wood she sat with hands folded and down cast eyes she trembled and once more the gloom of a nameless dread seemed to rush her soul 1 I cannot face the world alone continued thorne to me after my Y terrible experience it is cold harsh unreal the generous gift of your houi brother does not help me he is a lost link oven even it if only a memory tc the old life he and you thorne paused his manner had grown unconsciously pleading his utterance had the ring of earnestness and intensity inte sity you have given me succor in the hour of my darkest need he went on but all outside of that seems unreal for your dead brothers sake give me your friends friendship bip it if you can your love I 1 am perishing for that the world else Is a wilderness to me she arose to her feet in direful dis tress you you ask that she cried bursting into tears of me so unworthy of the family that has so cruelly wronged you oh hero martyr that you are I 1 must tell you all or my heart will break it was for tho the crime of my brother that you suffered so nobly so unjustly it was not until after the death of my father that I 1 learned how well he had kept the wicked dreadful secret but ellis cried thorne his bis face illumined my poor sacrifice gave him five years of rest of safety if not of happiness thank god I 1 am con tent his weakened irresistible mind led him to an act he never realized oh it Is ie sweet sweet to know that I 1 could prove my friendship and bear his burden sho she put out her arms towards him tho the nobility of a loyal soul was a refuge she dared not refuse copyright 1313 1913 by W G Clia chapman |