Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-04-20

"John Millerp she said, in a suppressed
tone. He started "John Miller, know
We. Common name-I want sure afore
today. When you pulled that money out
o yer pocket, see that in yer face that
satisfied me. It's f,r the good name O. the
dead I've come. Elseways I'd never'd ha'
troubled ye. The astonished Colonel
shifted his position painfully, prepared to
speak or listen. "There yer girl lies in
the light O. heaven. Mex room my boy
lies in the shadder an dark. He don't
know, an he never will John Miller,
married as honest an as good a man as
ever you see. Folks has come to me in
sickness an trouble, an gone benin my
back to talk. Some said had done right
to take him-'twas Christian in me. Some
said must ha' been fool Some said we
want married a-tall. Wasn't l Peables /?
Didn't know 'twould be flung up to my
face? Wasn't l prouder'n any on 'em p
A moments confusion and doubling Of
senses; then, as the suppressed voice went
on, the Colonel remembered. A dozen
years ago, before he had meddled with
railroads; back in the old town soon after
taking his fathers shop; he was plaintiff /;
Ruggles worked in the first roun Porter's
testimony; Becky Peables the sweetheart
Of both; burglary; loss trifiing; George
Ruggles, tor one year; came back and
married when released; went West. The
old case had scarce crossed his mind for
years
Yes, you sent him, an I waited for
him. The day he come out married him.
We had to dig hard. I'd do it ag'in. Now
his boys saved yer girls life to pay ye for
fsv,t l. sa g. r.
year ago didn't Bill Porter--sick an a-dyin'
hunt till he found me here? Didn't he
go an swear? Done for spite. Didn't he
SEN me the afydavy ?-an' I've got it safe.
Got it sworc to by him, with the Justice o
nessis, an the Judges red seal on top O.
that Could I go back an show that
paper n tell how twas. BY folks Almost
disowned me when / took him I said
then / never'd step my foot into their
doors. Them chat gives me the col
shoulder once don't do it no more Come
to me ?--well an good. Go to them p
never"
The bewildered Colonel promising every
reparation, would have thrown himself at
her feet, could he have done so, for the
part he had taken in the prosecution. But
she permitted no interruption, and con-
tinucd: "He lay by the winder where
bed as it does on her'n. In the night
where he died, feel his sperit in the
where it's darker. I want good enough
to lie there. But twas on his mind. He
said, Becky, if / could prove it to you
afore l died! An say, Georges sperit
sent Bill Porter here, an sent you here,
an sent me into this room tonight. Now,
for the sake o him and Markiss-dee, 60
back and tell the tr,Hhr'
Speaking the word truth" she van
ished across the light to her dark place of
rest
Next morning the Colonel examined
and copied the confession while a buggy
waited for him at the door Respecting
the evident wishes Of Mrs. Ruggles, he
went away with no attempt to express
the feelings that were uppernost in his
heart
She sleeps beside her husband in the
orchard. Her old log house has been re-
placed by large white box, of which her
son, the Marquis, is the proprietor. Each
year adds to his acres or his stock. An
able. bodied wife, whose industry and En-
glish are equal TO his own, sits near him at
the door on summer evening, while he
smokes his pipe, takes an oakum- headed
child upon his knee, and gazes quietly in
the direction of the spring and across the
grain fields where once he SAVIOR rather
heard without waiting to sea- forest
down in moment. He smokes and gaZes
as he sees again a dazzling creature ride
down the dreary road, and wonders where
on earth that face can be, and how much
it has changed, and whether, through SO
many years, any memory of him can lin
ger in her heart. He says nothing. But
he hugs closer the eakum- headed child as
he remembers the one romance in his
hard, humdpum life.-Lippincott's Maga
osnD