Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-11-03

tbs chiid's babblinys unrolled to his
gaZe-all the great little events of his
three years, all told-hiS childish trou-
bles, JOYS. thoughtS-each secret of
the little crystal mind laid bare be-
fore him. | wonder how many there
are of us who could bear such scrutiny
as that to which a child unconsciously
abandons itself. We stihe our i'm
pulses or disguise them, but the child
has no art to hide his. II we had time
to pause and study the drama of the
child, we should no longer dream of
God but understand Him; and so long
as tnere IS an innocent little one IN our
MIDST; there Is not one among us who
snail dare to say it has not been given
TO hlm to look into an angels heart.
And While he tossed in his little bed,
Josephine, grown old and haggard-look-
ING IN the night, passed to and fro. mis-
lreSS OF the situation, virtually of the
house, recognized even by those who
shrank from her, as the sole person who
had been able to meet the awful emerr-
gencies Of the night and day.
To the questions of the detective
who had already arrived from town. She
replied with brevity and sense that
c0ntraSted favOrably with the confusion
OF manner exhibited by the other Serv-
ants, and even when asked if she had
made that speech to Digges, to which
the cook sWore, she replied in the az
firmative, but remarked that the man
had no more to do with the crime than
herself.
If it had already crossed more than
one mind that she herself. with DiggeS's
assistance, had committed the crime,
no one dared utter the accusation in
her presence; though when she was
al ON aNyfIll lOOl- OF faar nop,a into
her face. and shuddering memory of
the gal,owS she had seen erected for
Janet St0rk, took possession of her
mind.
All that day Justice waited, or moved
in the wrong direction, while the search
for the missing diamonds was carried
on from attic to cellar, with the eXcep-
ton of that room in which the dead lay
and the nursery.
AS the night drew on. DOdy became
much worse, and wandered mOre-tak-
ed of his little kitten, begging Joseph
inc to take care OF 1t while he was away,
and lay it in her bed each night to keep
it Warm-thOught it was prayer-time,
and repeated a verse of his evening
hymn, breaking off into a merry laugh
as he crieu out, Sac the Princess of
Wales, mummy" then, as though in
answer to some question of his mother,
added earnestly, "She looked very
lu6IyP'-babbled OF his little baby-girl
and of how he would wheel her about
in his little ''pram' '-WhiSpered in
Franks ear that he was going to get up
early to pick mummy a birthday flower,
but he must not tell DOune; then, as he
grew weaker, talked less, but lay quiet
ly in Franks arms. patiently enduring
those useless remydlrS that had been
man ceased, feeling them to be need
less cruelty.
Doune looked on with a bursting
heart, he knew they were going to put
his mother in a great black box like the
one that had taken away grandfather,
and he feared they were going to take
DOdy away in it too. But mother was
silent, and Dody could talk and laugh;
perhaps it was all a ugly dream, and
he would wake up tomorrow TO find
everything just as uSual-and he climb
ed into his brothers bed al last and fell
asleep beside him. But as the night adj
vanced Dolly grew RAPIDLY worse, and
Frank, who had sent JOS phinn to bed,
took the little restless body III his arms
and walked with him to and fro.
In the deadest hour of the night,
when the silent house showed from the
dOWS, for the diving the unconscious.
and the dead, Frank heard footsteps
coming heavily up the stone steps from
the garden, and a moment after a hand
grOping for the lock.
His heart beat so violently that DOdy
stirred in his uneasy dOZp: in that mo-
ment he knew the awful fear that had
haunted him, and which now took
shape inWhat stood without. not daring
to knock and demand admission.
For awhile he stood rigid, his eyes
| fixed on the door, half expecting it,
| though locked, to pare and disclose a
terrible figure to his eyes; but the mo-
| mentS passed, and an absolute silence
! prevailed.
He sat down with the child in his
| arms, and mOistened the feverish lips
| with cooling drink, carefully covered
| up the little burning limbs, all with no
sign of haste, but intensely conscious
| OF one thing only, that outside that
locked door something crOuched, and
he must see it. He crossed the room
ana laid Dody down by his brothers.
side, and DOune. half waking, clasped
his arms about him. so that they looked
but two happy little lads fallen asleep
on one pillow as Frank turned away.
He lifted corner of the blind and
saw OpDOSltC llIIll inc ll5SllJ DuIuluH Ill
the room in which his lost, his murder
ed Madcap lay; his heart grew cold as
ice. and the blood seemed to stagnate,
and grew chill in his veins as he moved
toward the door; and after minute, in
which his hand refused its office, I'M
locked the outer door. and SET it open.
Something raised itself up, and came
slowly toward him, then falling back.
said. in a hollow. starved voice, like
one in whom the life has sunk too low
to furnish strength with which to cry
out
Il wanted Josephine"
By the light that came through the
door Dehlnd nm, he saw ner pIalnly-
haggard, wildfaced. and travel-stained,
while about her right hand. on stretch
ed as in fear. was tied handkerchief
soaked through and through with blood
AS he stood not speaking, but with his
arms Outstretched as barrier to her en-
trance, change came over her features;
she tOttered. and almost fell, then
He is dying-he is deod" she cried.
Gle is ILL.," said Frank; but why do
you come to him like thief in the
night? Where have you been all yester-
day and to-day"
She half looked over her shoulder to
that light which burned in the opposite
wing, then with a shudder and gasping
cry, pushed past him, and ran into the
nursery, where, seeing the little BROTH
ers asleep, and leaning their heads to
each other, she fell down on her knees
beside them, uUtering faint THANK
GOd!' Outcast, and something in
tangible that in Franks eyes shaped
itself to guilt, were written on her face
when she looked up and met his eyes;
then as one whose thoughts escape her