Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-05-29
VERY smooth at this place.

Cut w tuC fiioSOi A~N
young Max STOPPING over his uncle's
body in the brook; and when they
raised the body. there was the purple
mark upon the throat which might
have been the imprint Of throttling
finger. '-L - I7'ra :,
And the young fellow was wild and
dazed, and shivering like man in an
ague; spoke OF quarrel between
them, and if he had known it was
coming to this-and gave no heed
when they warned him that his words
would be used against him. 60
After all, what could be proven7
Only that the body was there, dead
aud drowned; that Max was there
when the neighbors came by; and
that Max was his tyrannical old uncle's
heir. .r.
Bright-eyed Rose said, with the in.
dignant fire flaming in her cheeks and
and flashing in her glance, that that
was nothing to prove; Just nothing at
ALL ..
Against Max! Max, the truest and
bravest heart. ,.
Tears quenched the FIRE in her eyes,
and blinded her so suddenly that she
missed her footing on the slippery
hillside, caught her heel in the loose
root of vine; fell and might have
plunged headlong from the steep into
the brook, if some one who had been
sitting unobserved under the shelter
of great rock beyond had not sprung
up and caught her in his arms. t..
For one instant they frightened about
her, as he stuck his heel sharply into
the yielding earth, and flung himself
backward against a firmly rooted sap
Hing, keeping his balance SO" Then
| when he saw that she had caught the
sapling, he gently loosed his hold Of
her. Tt. e.. u.ii .t .ai tas.
He was lifting his hat, and turning
away from her without word, when
she stopped him. .
MAX Dering, what have ! ever done.
that 1 deserve to have you turn your
back on me like thatp, 20 .l"
.What-have you-done-
Then. mastering his astonishment,
and steadying his voice: a... aa~
1T is what am believed to have
done which makes my touch q vile
contagion to my old friends, Miss Lee.
I suppose you are just back from
school, and are perhaps not yet fully
informed-you have come back for
your birthday party he added, glanc-
ing at her resplendent costume, now
draggled and torn. nm ~. @lj1
Party, indeed! She flashed an
indignant glance up at him. .And
May day, and Max Dering not therel
The idiots, to think that I would play
at being queen o the May, and all the
while Max ..,i .,.t. "A t.u' ..3..s
An indignant throb had her by the
throat. She struggled an instant for
the mastery over it, then dropped down
on the ledge over which Max had
saved her from plunging, and burst
into very storm of tears. .t..'
The young fellow stood over her, in
sore strait whether to go away or
not, before she came back to her
shocked senses, and remembered every
one believed him to be sordid mur-t
derer. ..,....
She lifted her wet face presently,
with quivering smile. ,l,4.
The idiots, Maxi Do you think
they would have had sense enough to
take in the object lesson came near
giving them7' .t, n...
The object-lesson,' he repeated,
vaguely. ." .
Don't you see that your Uncle John
Dering-
He WINGED at the name, but she re-
peated it boldly, not suffering her
eyes to fall from his flushing face,
sY Your uncle, John Deering, must
have done this very thing ] came 80
near doing myself. And this ledge
Of rock is the very thing he must have
struck his neck against, that gave him
that ugly purple bruise But for you,
Max, 1 should have been in the brook
too, face downward, just IS likely as
not; and dead and drowned
She spoke with assurance, and the
eager light kindled in his eyes.
I But it died out the next moment.
He shook his head. z,-..s ,.r...,.
'Isuppose we .nightall have thought
of that; only nothing would be so un-
likely as that a man Of his years, and
stiff and gouty besides, would be
clambering up steep hillside like
this 1i.e rl'al s.i''f (.
But suppose I had seen him at it7'
Rose! Rose! You we're away at
school; you could not know
The last summer, in the holidays,
when was at home, he was at it. l
saw him, more than once. Yes, he
was stiff and gouty; but what he was
using his cane for when l stood watch
ing him was to dig away at the bits
Of rock and earth. I believed, then,
it was just spite against the pretty
ferns and MOSES; he never did see
the sense of anything pretty, you
rnow p1t NOW am a11ro snra IL