The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-25
CHAPTER XXXvIII.
AFTER THREE YEARS.

] 011AI AAAt LII.
AFTER THREE YEARS.
To the traveller whose eve is stated with
the glow and color of the fervid east.
the soft green meadows, the gray skies, and
placid streams of an English laDdscape. are
apt to seem at times too pale and monoton-
Gus, and at times indescribably refreshing.
The last sentiment was uppermost in
George Eastwood's mind, as he walked
along the country road between Wexford
and Hexham, a few days after his return
from foreign lands, an absence which had
lasted fully three years. For, after his
soJourn in the Black Forest, he had trav-
eled eastward and south again and he had
rested little until his arrival in Bombay,
where for the first time during many
months he had an opportunity of seeing an
English newspaper.
be was not very anxious to see the news
papers. He had avoided letters on his Jour-
ney, and had lost many by not giving his
address. His friend, the banker, had kept
him amply supplied with money, and had
maintained a discreet reserve on the subject
of jess and her child. Hence it had come
to pass that Eastwood had not learned
Jess fate, until he saw a mention of it in
paper in Bombay club. 1t was a terri
BILE shock to him. At first, he did not know
what to believe. She had been condemned
so much he saw at the first glance-but
to whats The paper contained merely a
passing reference to the event; it sneered a
little at some evident miscarriage of JUS
tice. George felt that he could not rest I'M
til he knew all.
1t was easy enough to obtain full &C
count Of the proceedings, which were al
ready many months old Jess Armstrong.
as she called herself, had given herself M
for the murder of Stephen Eyre. 1t was a
nice point as to whether she bad really
killed him or not: for, supposing that he fell
accidentally out of the window, was it at all
possible that be could have got back again
without the help of several strong mens
The jury were rather disposed to believe
that the unknown party Of men in the room
| were guilty OF the murder, and cold sweat
broke out upon Eastwood's forehead as he
realized the danger that he had run But
he soon perceived that jess had been faith
full. She had been Obliged to acknowledge
him as her lover, but she had said nothing
about the marriage, or his presence in Num-
Der Twenty, Mill street. There was nothing
to impllcate him-his name was barely
mentioned. He drew an involuntary
breath of relief when he found that this
| was the case.
''Manslaughtern was the verdict The
jury could hardly convict of murder under
the circumstances And the sentence-three
years imprisonment, with hard labor. Not
a very hard sentence as sentences 90
l
admission into penitentiary at the end of
three years. The penitentiary was evil
IDENTIFY thought suitable for woman who
seemed never to have denied that she had
led an evil life. One or two kindly disposed
persons wrote letters to the newspapers to
say that they would lcok after the girl
when she came out of prison, and would
help her to lead decent and honest life. by
procuring some sort of situation for her
And thence sprang a long series of letters
about the treatment of women criminals,
all based upon that trial of Jess Arm
strong, and her Unexpectedly lenient SEN
tence. The life of women in prisons and
penitenIiaries was described in other letters.
and discussion on the rules and manage
ment of such places, filed up the columns
of several papers, at time when London
was empty, and in want of a new sensa-
ton.
BY the time that George Eastwood had
read all that he could find, he was in an
utterly dazed condition. The facts that he
had read seemed to stun him. Could it be
that Jess-the beautiful creature in white.
with the long golden hair, whom he had
painted and caressed and admired-was
now one of these fallen women for whose
benefit prisons and penitentiarles had been
builta He shut his eyes and saw her as
such women were described in the letter
that he had read, with hair cut short under
| q Close CAP, Win COdFS0 gown ana apron
and hands stained or reddened by manual
labor of various kinds; above ali with that
vacuous or vicious look which one writer
declared to be stamped upon the faces of
all who became inmates Of those drearv
walls. Was it possible that Jess sweet
face could be branded with that look of
guilt and shame!
He had no doubt concerning her guilt.
Had she not herself avowed to him that she
had pushed Stephen Eyre from his hold
upon the rotten window silll Some of the
details given in the papers shocked and
sickened him. They brought back to him
his own vague remembrance of the scene
and also faint, vague consciousness, which
he could never understand, of his own
share in it. This consciousness was not suf-
ficiently clear to be of any determining
value: but it served to deepen the sense Of
horror ard revolt with which be regarded
Jess crime. 1t seemed to him now almost
impossible that he should ever have loved a
woman Of her tvpel
And yet-was there anything that he
could do for her2 When the shock of his
discovery died away he began to think
hopelessly and helple sly-of the possibili-
ties of the future. He could not get di-
vorce from her. He must be separated
from her-yes; bus he was separated al
ready. He hated to think of publicity and
scandal. Surely, as he and his wife, the
|
ashamed, and for whom no spark of love
now fingered in his breast as he and his
wife were already SO far apart, there was
no need to let the world know that they
had been so near She had not betrayed his
secret: he would not 'betray hers.
Strangers they must ever be, one to the
other, and no one should ever guess the link
between them.
There was Meenie, however, to be ac-
counted for: what had become of MGenie?
She would have to be found and provided
for. Consulting the papers again, the only
mention of Meenie was contained in Jess
voluntary statement that, her child was
with friends IN the country Jess had no
friends in the country. So what did that
meant
The first thing to be done, apparently,
was to write furious letter to Mr.. Field.
the banker, asking why he had been left to
learn these heart-rending details from a
common newspaper. He did not find out