The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-14

heart must have told her she was wrong TO
have assumed.
There is little doubt that she would have
! shruuk from the task OF betraylng the
| murderer, but that must have seemed moth
ing 20 her to the dread Of allowing such to
go free and perhaps repeat his horrible
| crime.
The tone of her training, to do right how
| ever much 1t cost, and her own sense OF
justice must have carried her through,
knowing as she did how the taking of the
| oath had been forced upon her.
AS 1t was, loss of her eYeslght acted upon
her as much for Royals safety as If she had
not been bound by the conditions which he
had imposed upon her. 10 the midst OF her
great and terrible affection her sadness and
helplessness, she forgot, OF rather put aside,
all else.
She had submitted almost without ques-
| ton TO the care which her unknown father
had placed over her, hardly doubling the
story of it which be had caused to be told
her that she had been found lying ill on a
doorstep, and taken in and nursed. The
tale was as likely as any other.
Her eyesight destroyed the murderer had
no fear Of her. What was more likely than
that he should have cast her out into the
street, TO live or die as it might chance
! Nor was 1t at all strange that she should
not wonder the charity which had taken
! her in and nursed her, and seemed to have
no will but to guard and protect her, for
sne had lived In close association with
sisterhood, and in her ohildlike faith never
doubted but that charity was in all the
world.
So much had suff1ced for the present.
It was not until time had taken off the
| first keen edge Of her affection that the old
| hopes and longing for the future, crushed
down by the dread weight Of the calamity
which had overtaken her, began to awake
and stir in her heart.
The change in her was the more pitlful
| because, unlike the lads case, it was more
in manner than in actual appearance. The
unstinted care and attention which her un~
known father caused to be lavished upon
her, had in a measure repaired the ravages
which her illness had made in her She
was but little thinner in figure. The terri
BILE mark which the liquid had made upon
her face at first had faded little by little,
| aud now. sa We when she was very agitated
scarcely showed at all, and gave no fear of
leaving permanent scar.
Neither were the beautiful blue orbs
themselves apparently at all injured. The
long golden lashes were slowly growing
again. Two things alone betrayed her
affection. There was a lack In her features
Of that delicate pink flush which had added
so greatly to their charm as il what she
had seen that night had driven the blood
from her face to her heart, and there was
that terrible helplessuess and timidity with
which such an afflictton always brings,
that aimless stretching forth Of the hands
as IL to seek to ward off danger, above all
that terrible blank which in even the fair
est face not the sweetest smile can hide, be-
cause those windows Of the soul are closed,
the impulses and thoughts Of the mind
which only they can mirror forth, impris-
oned within.
Recalling her az she had first set foot in
the big city to meet her father, so gay, SC
fearless, SO innocent of evil, could any
greater contrast have been foundl
And was It a wonder that the tie, incom-
prehenhble at fret, which had drawn her
and the lad together both venturing forth
| for the first time into life, both bent on
| finding a father, should have been drawn
| more strongly when chance had thrown
them In each others ay-chance-or waG
1t providence.
The meeting had been brought about
| simply enough.
had swept over him as he realized that he
was indeed a murderer, Leo had not RiveI
| thought to the cause IN which he suffered
| though IL was the very reason which, *
his mind, made his guilt seem 80 obvious.
Over and over again he played judge anc
jury to himself, pleading mot guilty, be-
| cause Of a terrible mistake He knew now
could not gain credit was TOO wildly ro
mantle and sensational TO bear upon 1t tn,
| stamp Of truth, while, worst of all, he knew
| that IN his heart he was not guiltless en-
tirely, for though the weapon had indeed
exploded by accident, his horror Of the
hunchback and the treachery Of which ht
| deemed him capable were such that, though
far from meditating the deed. he had actu-
ally wished him dead. OF what use then tC
take his trial.
Earthly punishment to him could bring
no mitigation of that hereafter; none bt
greater than the agony OF self-acousatiou
which ne was already enduring. AS Roya
had cunningly warned him it could bring
only new grief upon the fathers hear
which was already breaking for his sake.
But perhaps none of these reasons weighed
with him so much as that unconscious In.
fiuence which the real fact Of his guiltless.
ness had raised up to keep him safe, despite
Royals evil Vaccinations.
Yet to make up his mind to endure rather
than to fight was easy work compared with
what it cost him to stand true to his resolu-
ton. Day by day the greatness of his sin
the horror of his punishment, the Danish
ment, the death to every hope, struck hin
more and more until at length it seemed be
| must give In or go mad.
For his fathers sake he chung to his re
solve with heart and soul, and then per
haps for q little while his senses did forsake
him. For the first time in his heart arose q
thought against her for whose sake he bort
his burden. 1t was only a moment that hi
heart and chivalry rose thus In rebellion.
1t was one of the short constitutional
which he had forced himself to take for feal
his health should break down entirely under
the strain upon it. As a rule he chose hi
time after dusk. when he could hurry
along in the dim light unnoticed, almos
unseen. But one night the darkness proceed
ing a storm deceived him, and he founC
himself involved in that itransient glow
which for a While blinds the eye to the pres
ence Of the night clouds.
1t was the first time ne had been actually
free in the sunshine since that day when h.
had first come to Lond on. Then it had beer
q dreary winters day and the splendors O
the greatest city in the world had been hid
den from him beneath a thick veil Of fog
Now the passing glory of day which tolC
OF the coming OF spring revealed to him th
wonders which had hitherto been unnoticed
and the new awakening of the world TO life
The soul must, indeed, have been deal
which did not feel IN at least part. one o.
the greatest influences that ever shines upot
the paths of men. Insensibly the poo
prisoner did 80. Little by little bis hasty
fearful footsteps tagged, the dropping heaC
was lifted, something of the sunsets glow
crept into his pale gray face, something o.
it too into his cold, heavily laden heart
| For those few blessed moments be was FIRE,
! fndaed the terrible load which was fast he