Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-11-29

date OF the execution being alone omitted
Augusta got up on the fat stone where
she had been seated during this torture fol-
something like five hours, and, staggering
into the hut, threw herself down upon the
sail and went off into dead faint. It was
indeed only by a very strong exercise OF
the will that she had kept herself from
fainting long before.
The next thing she was conscious Of was
dreadful smarting in her back, and on
opening her eyes found that it was quite
dark in the hut. So weary was she, how
ever, that after stretching out her hand to
assure herself that Dick was safe by her
side, she shut her eyes again and went fast
asleep. When she woke, the daylight was
creeping into the damp and squalid hut,
revealing the heavy form of Mr.. Meeson
tossing to and fro in a troubled slumber
on the further side. She got up, feeling
dreadfully sore about the back; and,
awaking the child, took him out to the
stream of water and washed him and her
self as well as she could. 1t was very cold
outside; SO cold that the child cried, and
the rain clouds were coming up fast, so
she hurried back to the hut, and, together
with Dick, made her breakfast off some
biscuit and some roast penguin's eggs,
which were not at all bad eating. She
was, indeed, quite faint with hunger, hav-
ing swallowed no food for many hours,
and felt proportionately better after it.
Then she turned to examine the condi-
ton of Mr.. Meeson. The will had been
executed none too soon, for it was evident
to her that he was in very bad way in
deed. His face was sunken and hectic
with fever, his teeth were chattering, and
his talk, though he was now awake, was
| quite incoherent. She tried to get him to
take some food, but he would swallow
nothing but water. Having done all that
she could for him, she went out to see the
sailors, and met them coming down from
the flagstaff, They had evidently been at
! the rum cask again, though not to any
| great extent, for Bill looked sheepish and
shaky, while the ill-favored Johnnie was
more sulky than ever. She gazed at them
reproachfully, and then asked them to col
lect some more penguin's eggs, which
Johnnie refused point blank to do, saying
| that he wasn't going to collect eggs for
landlubbers to eat; she might collect eggs
for herself. Bill, however, started on the
errand, and in about an hours time re-
turned, just as the rain set in in good earn
est, bearing six or seven dozen fresh eggs
| tied up in his coat.
Augusta, with the child by her, sat in
the miserable hut attending to Mr.. Nee
son; while outside the pitiless rain poured
| down in steady, unceasing sheet of wa
! ter that came through the wretched roof
in streams. She did her best to keep the
dying man dry, but it proved to be almost
an impossibility; for even when she sue
ceeded in preventing the wet from falling
on him from above, it got underneath him
from the reeking floor, while the heavy
damp of the air gathered on his garments
till they were quite sodden.
As the hours went on his consciousness
came back to him, and with it his terror
for the end and his remorse for his past
| life, for alasl the millions he had amassed
could not avail him now
81 am going to die!'' he groaned. 81 am
! going to die, and I've been bad man; I've
been the head of a publishing company all
my life"
Augusta gently pointed out to him that
publishing was a very respectable bust
ness when fairly and properly carried on,
and not one that ought to weigh heavy
upon man at the last like the record of a
career of successful usury or burgling.
Meeson shook his head eyes, yes,'' he
groaned, ''but you are talking Of private
| firms. They are straight-most of them
far too straight, 1 used always to say.
| But you don't know Meeson's-you don't
know the customs of the trade at Nee
son's''
| Augusta reflected that she knew a good
deal more about Nelson's than she liked
'Listen," he said, with desperate energy,
sitting up upon the sail, land I will tell
| you'll must tell YOU"
Asterisks, so dear to the heart of the
| lady novelist, will best represent the con-
fession that followed; words are not equal
to the task.
X
Augusta listened with rising hair, and
realized how very trying must be the life
of private confessor.
ooh, please STOP" she said family, at
last. II can't bear it can't, indeedr'
"Ah!'' he said, as he sank back exhaust
ed. 81 thought that when you understood
the customs at Nelson's you would feel
| for me in my present position. Think,
girl, think what [ must suffer, with such a
past, standing face to face with an IN
known future"
Then came silence.
''Take him away take him awayl'' sud-
| denly shouted out Mr.. Meeson, staring
around him with frightened eyes.
! 'Who?" asked Augusta; ''who?"
"Him-the tall, thin man, with the big
book I know him; he used to be No. 25-
he died years ago. He was a very clever
doctor; but one of his patients brought a
| false charge against him and ruined him,
SO he had to take to writing, poor devill
We made him edit medical encyclopedias
4 rolx al, v-a1
| pounds, to be paid on completion; and he
went mad and died at the eleventh vol
ume. So, of course, we did not pay his
widow anything. And now he's come for
mel know he has. Listen! he's talkingl
Don't you hear him? Oh, Heavensl He
says that am going to be an author, and
he is going to publish for me a thousand
years-going to publish on the quarter
profit system, with an annual account, the
usual trade deductions, and no vouchers.
Oh! OIL Look!-they are all coming
they are pouring out Of the Hutches, they
are going to murder me-keep them off!
| keep them OFF, and he howled and beat
| the air with his hands.
Augusta, utterly overcome by this awful
sight, knelt down by his side and tried to
| quiet him, but in vain. He continued
beating his hands in the air, trying to keep
off the ghostly train, till at last, with one
awful yell, he fell back deadr'
And that was the end of Meeson. And
the works that he published, and the
money that he made, and the house that
he built, and the evil that he did-are they
not written in the Book of the Commercial
Kings?
"Wen," said Augusta family to her
self, when she had got her breath back a
little, II am glad that it is over: anyway,