The Florida agriculturist., 1889-09-18

again.
After pause Pauline said, IF he
were to come back do you think he would
be arrested on that old charger"
Speaking from the legal point of
view, suppose he would be-"
"But suppose he were to come back
suppose he were in New York now
would it be unsafe for him to be seen or
to have it known? Would he have to
keep in hiding until his innocence could
be proven?'
"My dearest wife, replied the judge,
gently, 1.-The law cannot be affected by
sentiment. If it were so, it would cease
to be the law. do not say that, in
ceasing to be the law. it might not, in
certain instances, become something bet
ter and higher. Only in certain in
stances, mind you! AS to Percy's case,
there is no reason to suppose that he
would be treated with any special sever
ity. Quite the contrary. 1t is almost
certain that the original prosecutor
would not appear; and the government
would scarcely take up the matter. No;
Percy would be arrested and certain for
malities gone through with, and-but,
bless my soul, / am talking as if the poor
boy were still in this world! God bless
him! He is far beyond the reach Of
worldly justice or injustice nowv
With these words the good Judge got
up. and after kissing his wife's hand in
chivalrous fashion of his, he went into
the library TO smoke his cigar,
Pauline loved her husband but she
was glad to be alone at that moment.
She was wrought up to high pitch of
dealing with her thoughts and emotions
IN private She went up to her boudoir
and locked herself in
Since the occurrence of the day before
she had more than once been on the
point OF revealing the whole matter to
her husband Had it concerned herself
alone she would have done SO at the
outset But the secret was Percys in
the first place, and she could not tell
how she had been blackmailed without
revealing his presence in the city No
doubt the judge would keep the secret.
for her sake. if for no other reason;
but she had reflected that it could
do no good to Percy to have him
know it: and if Percy's presence should
happen to be discovered in any other
way it might prove awkward for the
judge to have been found in the position
Of sheltering fugitive from Justice On
the other hand, she could not tell Percy
of the insult that had been put upon her,
because he would undoubtedly sacrifice
everything to infict summary punish
ment upon the blackmailer She had
therefore decided to pay the latter sum
Of money. giving him to understand that
no more would be forthcoming for a
month; and in the coarse of that month
she intended to turn all her energies to
the task of clearing Percy. by some
means or other. of the old charge which
so hampered and obstructed him. She
would then be free to deal with the black
mailer at her leisure. and she intended
to punish him to the full extent of the
law
But the revelation of the blackmailer's
identity changed the whole aspect Of the
case To Pauline it had been totally un-
expected; and yet in looking back she
could fancy that she had known him in
tuitively from the first. Be that as it
might. it was triumph more complete
than she had ever dared to anticipate.
Dupee was the man who had murdered
her brother Jerrold; he (as she believed)
was the man who had cast q nearly fatal