San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-03-16

The judge was past 50 years of age.
There was a life his wife knew little of:
a life his wife and child would smile at
IL they knew of it. His fingers were
white now and soft, no longer gnarled
from hard manual labor, and his topgue
volubly took up the language and made
it sonorous or simple as he willed.
Was it vanity that now and then made
him wonder if there were people in that
village who recognized in the 'puisne"
judge the hard scrabble boy of long ago?
Did the place look as it used to? Why,
he believed, he was sure, he knew every
foot of the ground, could find all the old
landmarks even now. And then the
little girl of that far off time! 1t had
been calf love, to be sure, but, let him
acknowledge it or not, he had loved her
as he had loved no one since. For had
he gained another love like hers? Had
he not loved her when she stood before
him and asked him if he wished to mar
ny her? Had he not so wished? Had
he
What nonsense! 1t had all been boy
ishness, veritable childishness. She was
probably a grandmother by this time,
the consort of Mr.. Dunlap.
Dunlap! Had the name of the accused
man whose case had been before him
this week led to these "reminiscences?
What would his wife say if she knew
what was passing in his mind? Yet did
he know what was passing in her mind?
Had she thoughts he never dreamed of,
tender thoughts Of the young love that
is last forgot?
He glanced at her as she sat there in
the amplitude of her mature charms and
magnifceace Of apparel, her still fine
eyes bent upon the flare. No, her life
- s..---s.-As---- - 90.
had no episode in it Of which he was
ignorant, of that he was assured. How
well she looked as she thought-very
likely of Estelle and Elwyn. And he
had deprecated Elwyn! Had that young
man ever treated any one as he had
treated that young country thing years
ago? Had the man whose case had made
his evenings writing ever so treated a
girl? Judge thyself"' came the ad-
monition.
He heard Estelle. singing; his wife's
diamonds flashed in his eyes, the scraps
relating to himself which she had cut
from the evening papers We're in his
wife's hand-she would paste those
scraps in the book where she Kept every
reference the papers made to him,
whether they were complimentary or
not, and studied them together, and
thus obtained the worlds estimate Of
him and found his safe way to fresh ad-
vancement.
"Do You want to marry me- No, no;
he could not have married the girl, she
being as she was, and he hoping to be
what he had since become-thanks to his
wife's strength that made his.
And yet who had sent him from the
country? Who had told him to be a
lawyer, a judge?
Well, he went on with his writing,
mistily hearing the music in the room
beyond; mistily conscious that his wife
now and then changed her position, but
never took her eyes from the fire.
Now, was this man Dunlap a hardened
criminal? In the given evidence there
was nothing against his former life. He
had voluntarily confessed TO taking the
money, and confessed without tremor,
looking his deceived employers in the
face with calm assurance, as though de-
spite his downfall and disgrace there
was something that kept him up. Peo-
pie might say he was sustained by the
fact that he had safely put away the
stolen money and, young yet, would en-
joy it after the term of his incarceration.
every man has his price," these pes
simists would argue, and it was worth
few years in prison cell with the mod
ern conveniences for what might be en-
joyed afterward. Disgrace? The world
is wide and money is an open sesame to
much that makes life worth living
Conscience? What is conscience in these
days of Pluto and the veneration of the
kings of stock speculation? Ultimate
accountability? Old men Join church
when pleasure has ceased to allure, and
are sincere in the belief that There is
more joy in heaven over one repentant
sinner than over ninety and nine Just
persons" etc, etc.
No clew to the money, no reproach OF
the trust reposed in him, no promise of
leniency could get the slightest hint or
lie from the man. What power upheld
him? The judge knew that men consid-
cred strongest are often weakest and
sustained by force not their own. Was
not his wife his own strength, his love
f,r his 5ouUbtar Spropdorv IN that2 So
he wrote and thought, and cited cases
supposed to be analogous to the one in
hand, the simplicity of which making