The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1878-07-30
THE TIMES NEW BLOOMFIELD PA JULY 80 1878.

and you were too, a sort OF preacher
and teacher"
" Yes" tlffr.A
"1'hat was all.n W. I
What ! was that all that YOU heard
OF mep
And his piercing eyes seemed 10 read
the very secrets OF Willis Boynton's
cowardly soul.
"Of course"
DO you dare say that with delibern.
ton, Mr.. Boynton ~
" What do you mean 7"
"Thls that IL was told you by every
body-and you remember It too--that
was an innocent man. Not one OF the
colonlsts, not one--even the most hard
ened among those felons, many OF them
transported for llfe--but believed In my
entire innocence. You know / was al
ways pointed out that my story was
always told; that had bitter enemy,
against whom was powerless In Eng
land. Willis Boynton, look at me In
your inmost soul, you do not believe that
am guilty of the crime charged against
me-
" / know that you were transported"
said Willis, red light cleaning In his
eyes.
And you know, such was the lean
ing toward mercy In England, though
could get no proof, that my punishment
was almost commuted that ten OF the
fourteen years were cut of. Yes, you
know-you know all this. Now why
do you persecute me ?p
Because you have not yet been
proven innocent"
=" But l shall be, SO sure as there Is
God In heaven. i am biding my time,
that will one day come"
Boynton laughed insultingly.
- In the meantime" he said, sneer-
ingly, "with this cloud upon your repu.
tatlon,you would take that innocent and
confiding girl to the altar, and make her
the wife of convict"
"Nol" thundered Gilbert. "You in
terpret my motives too readily by your
own sinister thoughts. / should have
done no such thing. Whatever am,
am not coward. Suffice it that / should
have been honorable y
Honorable 10 he sneered " honora-
BILE, indeed."
Gilbert controlled himself. He had
very nearly laid hands upon him; but
insanely, wickedly as Willis was acting,
he remembered that he loved Florence,
and it saved him.
" Yes" he said calmly, "I love her
too well to cloud her life even by a sus-
picion. / believe she loves me, and
would be willing to wait the issue of the
evidence pending in my behalf"
The eyes of Willis Boynton blazed
again all the evil passions of his nature
were reused. He too believed that Flor
ence loved this man, who in weeks had
won what he had toiled for years with
patience and assiduity and selfdenial
that had been admirable in loftler ma
ture. I4f,
1 swear Florence Maynard shall not
be your wife!'' he cried, fiercely. "She
shall not bend her pure head to the
caresses of a felon. L will brand you,
sir. You are law-breaker: you have
worn the chain = the badge of penal
servitude and outrageous crime That
is enough to make your name a by
word ~
Gilbert Arlington shivered from head
to foot. His eyes were wild, his hands
cleDched involuntarily. He came to-
ward Willis, and even he was dismayed.
Don't lay your hands on me ~ he
said, hoarsely. "I won't submit to it,"
Gilbert regarded him for moment
His face changed, his hands fell, his
eye lost its fire.
never struck q man yet" he said,
in strange, earnest whisper. =" 1 never
will while God gives me reason = much
less you,f for whom feel sovereign con-
tempt. You are unworthy to be touched
by me. Go spit your foul venom, If you
will go ruin me. There's God above.
/ believe in him, serve him. You are
powerless before him, and you cannot
harm me ultimately. Your curses will
fall upon your own head. You too per-
haps will some time feel that lofty pride
bent low; you too may shed the bitter
tears of regret, and still be innocent. /
do not hope this. / only say, as you