Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-02-20


thou INT Of their deaths troubles act thp,'
vino srnd them forth to fight. Men ki.Ioach
other for revenge, for money, for point o
honor, and the killer lives on like other mon
live! Trust his man To The v',untoi array
of justice. He is innocent, and viii conc
rom the ordeal unsca,hcl If found rullv.
let him die. lie viii not bo the first mno-
cent man who has died nor will he he the
Inst to die. II is hut one livel Tie isnu'hug
10 YOU; think of him no more. Come what
nay, NouviII always have your sum, h'mn
an The woman You love. Her chil.lr II viii
gro" up around YOU. w hrsj'at"i \
/ iiie's happiness is To be- won by simply seal
ing your lips. It's cost is but SunuoSng
Justic, hlunlcrs to- bear the burden Of one
mans dcath- paltry rriccl
Inns was the temptation with which !
wresticd during those long hours Again
and again | was on the point OF Yielding.
Once or twice | rose to my feet with tine
fixed determination of destroying that
paper, and letting things take Their own
course. Once pr twice / even forced my
steps some distance in the direction ii home,
but each time | turned, went back to the
sheltered spot, threw myself again ON tn
ground, and fought the bn'tic anew.
No, | Coull not do this thing | was n
gentleman ard man of honor Pattry as
the price was when compared with what it
might buy, could not pay it. Although
my whole soul was merged IN Philippians wei
fare, | could not. even for her sake, suffer
an innocent man to be done niustly to
death. The crime was too black, too base,
too contemptble! felt sure that. with the
mans blood morally ON my heal the SUI
premest joys which life could give would
not lul my conscience to rest knew it
would not he long before remorse and shame
drove me to commit suicide.
Let the preachers say that sin is easy: that
wrong is more alluring than right. There
may he some sins W ich are easily com
mitted, but ! dare to say that there are
others which the average man, educated by
the code OF honor, and drea1ing shame and
Cowardicr, fin is it far easier to avoid than
to bring himself to commit. No, every sin
is not c0sy,
But all the same my struggle was n r.orta
/ one. NJ time, | fancy-it may he hut fancy
that even now my mind bears some traces
of that conflict: a conflict in which my vic
tory meant ruin to my nearest and dearest
Was ! not right when sail that my tnnpta-
ton WAS an all but unuar llolcd one: Net in
reassrrtinL this let me humblv di-rlaim all
credit for not having yielded. | strove to
yield, hut could not.
1t was oulv when Ihql conquered and put
. the tpmrtHtiOu from mo that ! WAS able tn
see how utterly useless such Crime a, that
ur-cd upon m" would have bean. Doubtless
Philiyua, sooner or later. would have learned
that Sir N"rvyn F,7rnnl's supposed muir
d"rcr had paid the penalty OF tn crime.
How would it have Jared with us then
ll''ll, NlcD I'iI'tl ION WIS Illfi''l tlUl b lIlV
question? Knowing ms did every thought
of nv vi'eS, every turn of h.r iwlusivo
sensitive nature, | was tain t. tell myself
that such news would DO simply her deatl
blow.
But what was to bn done' Finding that
could not compass the treacherv which
dared to m"dtate ! cast about or another
loophol" OF escape. What if were to return
to England and acc,iSe myself of the crime
To insure Phiippa'S safety would right
willingly give away my own life. 1t shovel
. the state to which my mind was reduced
when say that considered this scheme il
all its hearings, and ior a while thought il
furnished solution to my difficulties!
wonder il my brain was wandering:
laughed i'll bitter merriment as the alb
surdtv o. MY now plan forced lis II upor
me. ! hid forgotten Phiiippa, and what tn,
effect of such a sacrifice would he upon her
| had forgotten that she loved me-. even MS
loved her: that my dying for her Sake--for
tie sake Of saving her from the consequence
. of that glueS pme night-wu uld make an ex
piation, j; any were due from her, the most
fearful which human or diaboical ingenuity
could devils"
No! Neither by shining against my fellow
/ man nor hv a voluntary sacrifice of my owl
life could ! ave her After all my pro-
tractcd mental struggles, all my 'onely hour
of anguish and wild schemng, | was forced
TO return TO the point from which | started
rhIlippa must surrender herself. and FIRE,
this innocent man. There was, indeed II,
alternative!
And n day gone, or all but gone! TIL,
trial on the 2Othi 70 reach Englaud-t,
reach TeWnham in time TO stop that trial
we must travel day and night. Day an,
night across sunny or starlit Spain-aCroS
pleasant FrauCe-we must speed ON, unit
we reach Il our own native land, now lyin
in all the rich calm of the early autumn
must lead my wife; my love. to her dooml
| rose from the ground. felt weary, an,
rs if had been cudgeed in every limb.
dragged myself slowly back to my home
"Sh- must he told: she must he told. Bu
how to tell herr | muttercl as went alon.
My apI carance must have Teen wretched
for ] received the impression that srvera
grave looking Sevilanos turned ami locke,
after me rs passed by. Even as coward,
felon who dragS himself slowly to the scat
fold | dragged myself t. the gate of m
pleasant home, and ON totterny feet pHSSe,
into that fragrant space in VIII oh the hap
piest hours of my life had been spent.
As ! entered, the remembrance Of som
tale which once had Rad tlH,ue throug
my mind--a tale of the fcrucitv of lvgun
age. II WIS of pr Soner who was forcc
by his caUtOrS to strike n dagger into tn
heart of the woman he loved. | know no
where the tale is to lie foun or whore
read it,
But it seemed to me that mine was
parallel case.
itI-t mol