The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-07-31
ALMOST OUrLAwED.

ALMOST OUrLAwED.
Hartman was by no means bad man
Youth, love and opportunity made him
criminal. That pocket book full of ban
bills had been left in the counting room
There was no one present and the youn
man had quickly seized it.
All that happened more than fou
years ago.
Strange that no suspicion had falle
on him. 1t is true, he enjoyed the col
fdence and favor of his employer, an
also happy chance had good deal t
do with it. 1t happened that just a
that time an office boy had been detccte
in some misdemeamor and forced to leave
Naturally, of course, he was suspecte,
of having committed the theft like
wise.
An able young lawyer had been re
tained to investigate the case, and hewa
not a little chagrined az his failure +
discover the perpetrator.
Hiram experienced a moment of relief
but only moment, as burden of lea
seemed to weigh on him.
Might not some new clue be found
some unforeseen occurrence throw ligh
on the matter? The torture lasted fo
four horrible years. The very though
of it made the perspiration start on hi
forehead in the coolest days.
"Why did he not invent some pTetex
of going abroad? He was often on tn,
point of doing so, but the fear o
arousing suspicion by any singularity o
conduct prevented him from putting thi
idea into execution. So he lived on will
this threatening specter ever befor,
his eyes, unable to dispel it or hide him
self from it.
"The othersi-he would not ever
| himself use a more definite expression
''are in Jail for their wrong doing-dt
they suffer more? They are deprived o
freedom, indeed; the blow has fallel
heavily upon them with the sentence o
the court: but afterwards there is peac,
around and within them"
To accuse himself? That would b,
foolish. Chances had favored hin
hitherto; why should it not continue t.
do so?
So more hoping, more trembling.
Hartman had become by his misde
meanor, strange to say-a dUetdntte il
matters of law. He had furnished him
self with book on the criminal codt
and the criminal procedure, together
with various commentaries. These
books formed his favorite reading after
shutting his door at night. With {
hasty eagerness he devoured their con
tents.
As chess player would treat al
interesting problem, so he treated hi'
case. Mitigating circumstances, tho
chances in trial, everything possible
and impossible that laymen could ex
tract from this juristic material, were
brought into action. More than once he
caught himself declaiming q brilliant
defense in loud tone, and then he won {
listen anxiously; somebody might have
heard him.
Hartman bad also his favOritc chapter
which treated of the statute of lin
itation. Then he read: "The prosecu
ton for crimes that are punishable will
no more than three months imprisOn
mcnt must begin within five years, etc.
Although he lnew the passage by
heart, yet he read it again every day, a'
if its contents might have changed il
one night.
Four years and half have passed; si1
months more and he will be frce-legallN
free. The voice of conscience woulC
soon learn to be silent when the pres
sure of anxiety should be removed. Sil
months-why should they not pass as {
moment; why might not miracle happeI
and time for Just once make leap?
The almanac become from that tint
on his best friend. lie could sit ben
over it for hours counting first tn,
months, then the weeks, then the day.
again and again.
l., ,ff h.. -, t1,,
would strike him that lie had made
mistake in counting; the lamp wa
quickly lighted and his work bogul
anew.
Time never passes slower than whel
one counts the minutes. 1t seemed t.
Hartman sometimes as if it stood still o
rs if the minutes grew maliciOusly t.
hours, the hours to days.
If he could only spend few hours il
sleep. The thought led him to ca
opium, and now many day an,
almost every night was passed in artiti
cial slumber. A moment of relief cam
when he woke and realized that so man
hours had passed,
The continual excitement could no
fail to undermine even such powerful
constitution as Hartman possessed
With every day that brought him neare
to the longed-for goal he grew feeble
and paler. 1t seemed to him as if hi
limbs were lead, as if his head was to-
heavy to bear. He dragged himsel
heavily from the sofa to the chair, froT
the chair to the sofa. When pain in til
back seized him he called for phys
clan.
'You are going to have a severe sick
ness was his decision.
"Of what kind? BE perfectly franz
| am alone in the world, and must max
my arrangements"
''Well, the symptoms look lil'
typhus."
Hartmans face became even pale
than before; his eyes started wit
the expression of horror upon til
speaker.
"a slow fever in which one does II,
lose consciousness; is it not so, doctor
Certainly sop
"If my fears are likely TO be realized
| could wish to the contrary The few,
begins violently, you are delirious at Il
crisis, and the worst is over, when yC
recover consciousness"
TO be deliriOusl Hartman shuddere,
To be delirious, not to be master of II
thoughts and words, to betray his seer
motives, in spite of himself to reve
that with which his mind had incessant
: occupied itself-no, for heavens sal
. anything but that. 81 want no sister
mercy, no attendant: look after me
4 intervals of several hours" he sal
turning to the physician.
/ He smiled at the notion.
Hartman determined not to fall sic
he struggled terribly, and fought with
the strength he had left against t
app oaching foe.
There he lay shaken by the fever, b
Is i'll conscious.
4 That's the nurse, that's the cha
now | am stretching out my hand,
know exactly what / am doing" he
Il peated every hour.
N "And if it turns out otherwise, won
they give any weight to feverish dream
Nurses who have to hear so many thin
s will not notice it at all.
81 have not committed the theft;
know nothing of it. That / will Ike
repeating to myself continually; perha
that will influence the deliTium. Til
say the mind runs usually on things I'll
are the fartherest removed from
normal thinking, but my thoughts {
still perfectly clear"
Then veil fell over the reali
Instead of the sister of mercy, I
\ attorney in his black gown and cap
down before the bed. Through
Il sharp glasses the still sharper looks W,
directed against him. Like glOwi
steel, they bored themselves into
brain.
"You will be deliriOus, my boy, s.
the attorney, and nodded his head.
u 81 shall not" thought the sick yol
: and chung TO his bed.
q Day after day the tormcntor sat the
- staring at him, and listened. Then m
land more of his colleagues came, a
n Judges in their robes. and all sea