Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-28

Once shown that there is at least reasonable
ground for suspicion against another, and the
| opinion, at any rate of all who know Mervyn,
| would at once veer round"
VERY well, father; now you have done your
do mine by following it up. Fortunately, Ruth
Powlett is very superior sort of girl to any
one In the village, and can make friends with
her heartily and without pretense. i should
have found it very hard if she had been a rough
sort of girl, bnt she expresses herself just as
well as do and seems very gentle and nice.
One can see that even that sharp-voiced STEP
the apple of the millers eye. But you must not
be impatient, father; two girls can't become
great friends all at once"
II think, on the whole, Miss Armstrong" her
father said, You are quite as likely to become
impatient as am, seeing that it is your busi-
ness much more than mine"
"Well, you may be sure / shall not lose more
time than can help, father" Mary Armstrong
laughed. You don't know how joyous feel
tonight, / have always been hopeful, but it did
seem so vague before. Now that we have got
what we think to be clew and can set to work
at once, feel ever so much nearer to seeing
Ronald again."
The consequence of this conversation was
that Mary Armstrong went very frequently
down to the mill and induced Ruth POwlett,
sometimes, to come up and sit with her.
Powlett said, one evening, when they hap
pened to be the first two to arrive in the snug
gerry, that my Ruth seems to take to your
daughter It's real comfort to Hesba and
me. You would have thought that she would
have taken to some of the girls she went to
school with, but sine hasn't. suppose she is
too quiet for them, and they are too noisy for
her. Anyhow, until now she has never had a
friend and think it will do her world of
good. It's bad for girl to be alone, and espe-
cially girl like Ruth. don't mind telling
you, Mr.. Armstrong, that Hesba and have an
idea that she has got something on her mind,
she has been so changed altogether since Miss
Carne's murder. | might have thought that she
had fretted about that scamp Forester going
away, for at one time the girl was very fond of
him, but before it happened she told me that
she had found out that she was wrong, and
that she would break it off altogether with
him; SO you see don't think that his going
away had anything TO do with it Once or
twice thought she was going to say something
particular to me, but she has never said it, and
she sits there and broOds and brOods till it
makes my heart ache to see her. Now she has
got your daughter to be friends with, perhaps
she may shake it off,"
Il hope she may, Mr.. Powlett. It's a bad
thing for girl to NOPE. l know Mary likes
your daughter very much. Perhaps, if she has
ANYTHING on her mind, she will tell Mary one of
these days. You see. when girls get to be
friends they open their hearts to each other as
they won't do to anyone else"
81 don't see what she can have on her mind"
the miller said, shaking his head. 1T may only
be fancy of mine. Hesba and / have talked
it over a score of times"
VERY likely It's nothing after ALL" MIR.
Armstrong said; girls get strange fancies into
their heads, and make mountains out of mole
hills. 1t may be nothing after ali; STILL perhaps
she would be all the better for the telling
of it."
Hiram Powlett shook his head Ruth isn't
a girl to have fancies." he said. IF she is
fretting, she is fretiing over something serious.
7 l-,,nt rruhrr o. nj To- NJ
Armstrong, for have never spoken to anyone
else about it; but your daughter seems to have
taken so kindly to Ruth that it seems natural
for me to speak TO you"
Il am glad you have done SO, Mr.. Powlett,
and hope that good may come from our talk"
1t was not until fortnight after this chat
that Mary had anything TO communicate to her
father. She had told him that whenever she
turned the conversation upon the topic of the
murder of Miss Carne. Ruth evidently shrank
so much from it that she was obliged to change
the subject.
To-day. father, took the bull by the horns.
Ruth had been sitting there for some time
working without saying word, and asked her
as if it was what had been thinking
over while we were silent: What is your opin-
On. Ruth? Do you think that Captain Mervyn
really murdered his cousin? She turned pale.
She has never much color. you know. but she
quite sure that he did not do it, but don't like
talking about it, No, of course not l said.
i can quite understand that after the ter
-ible shock you had. Still, it is awful
should have been driven away from his home
and made an outcast of if he is innocent 1t
serves him right Ruth said passionately.
How dare he insult and threaten my dear
Miss Margaret? Nothing is too bad for him.
i can't quite agree with you there said. M
1oubt he deserY ed to be punished, and he must
have been punished by being tried for his cous-
ms murder; but to think of man spending all
MS life, branded unjustly with the crime of
murder, is something too terrible to think or
1 dare say he is doing very WELL she said after
pause Doing well,' said. doing well! What
,an you be thinking of, Ruth? What sort OF
doing well can there be for man who knows
at any moment that be may be recognized, that
his story may be whispered about, and that his
neighbors may shrink away from him: that his
wife, if he ever marries. may come to believe
that her husband is a murderer; that his chill
lren may bear the curse of Cain upon them?
It is too terrible to think of. If Captain Mervyn
IS guilty, he ought to have been hung; if he is
innocent he is one of the most unfortunate men
IN the world Ruth didn't say anything, but
;he was so terribly white that thought she was
going to faint. She tried to get up, b i could
see she couldn't and ran and got her a glass
Of water. Her hand shook so that she could
hardly hold it to her lips. After she drank some
she sat for a minute or two quiet then she
something about sudden faintness
aud that she would go home. persuaded her
TO stay few minutes longer At last she got
m. I am subject to fainting fits she said; it
S very silly. but cannot help it. Yes, perhaps
what you say about Captain Mervyn is right,
put never quite saw it SO before Goodbye
md then she went of, though l could see
The was scarcely able to walk |
teadily. Oh, father. l feel quite. quite sure |
hat she knows something; that she can prove
hat Ronald IS innocent if she chooses; and l |
hink that sooner or later she will choose First |
If all she was SO decided in her assertion that |
Ronald was innocent; she did not say 1 think |
Or believe she said i am quite sure She |
would never have said that unless she knew |
something quite positive. Then the way that |
he burst out that it served him right seems to
ne, and have been thinking about it ever |
ince she went away an hour ago, as if she had |
been trying to convince herself that it was |
light that be should suffer, and to soothe her |
,wn conscience for not saying what would prove |
lin innocent"
''lt looks like 1t, Mary; it certainly looks like
{. We are on the right trail, my girl. l am |
ure. That was very heavy blow you struck |
Ter to-day, and she evidently felt it so. Two |
" three more such blows and the victory will |
,e won. have no doubt now that Ruth Pow |
EFT somehow holds the key of this strange mys- |
cry in her hand, and l think that what you |
lave said to her to-day will 90 long way to- |
ward inducing her to unlock it. Forester was |
he murderer Of Miss Carne, / have not a |
hadow of doubt, though how she knows for |
certain is more than ! can even guess"
f7o be continued.
ONE of the incest and best tonics and